Samanta describes themselves as a Black queer being who hails from the mountains for Rwanda. They are an artist and community organizer whose mission is to facilitate and co-create intentional spaces that center a healing justice framework for people who are, and have been historically marginalized.

The motivation to open the Black Healing Centre comes from my want to create the world that I want/ deserve to live in. A world in which our structures and systems are rooted in care & love instead of violence. As Gwendolyn Brooks reminded us “we are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond”.

Katya Stella Assoe is a promising legal professional in Montreal, soon to be a licensed lawyer. Beyond the legal realm, she co-founded the Black Healing Centre, a non-profit dedicated to destigmatizing mental health in the black community. Her creative touch has left an impact on various black organizations in Montreal such as WIBCA, Black Girls Gather MTL and Cultur’elles. Honoured in 2023 as a CBC Black Changemaker, Katya’s passion for advocacy and creativity shines through, making her a catalyst for positive change.

Dr. Lisa Ndejuru is a psychotherapist, psychodramatist and theatre practitioner. Her practice is about creating accessible, non-medicalized, scalable strategies for healing and change in our communities, impacted by the violence of anti-blackness in all its forms. Violence flattens our lives and creates silences. Lisa wants to work on intergenerational transmission of trauma, breaking the silences and repairing trust within our communities. Lisa works to open pathways to wellness, emancipation, and finding one’s voice in a post-colonial context of everyday oppression, systemic racism, and large-scale political violence. Lisa’s work on trauma started in her community with survivors of organized violence and colonial violence. She was one of the 2017 Concordia public scholars and the first John F. Lemieux fellow for genocide studies in 2018. As the 2020 Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto’ faculty of information, she is working with the “Vansina collection” of Ibitekerezo tales.

Najma Kahiye is a Registered Nurse (RN) and Psychotherapist based in Toronto, Ontario. Throughout her 15 year career, Najma has worked in various roles and settings to support individuals and families seeking housing assistance, income and employment supports, and counselling and addiction services. Most notably, Najma worked as a Counsellor at the Sexual Health Information Line Ontario, and as a Registered Nurse in Moss Park's Consumption and Treatment Service in downtown Toronto, where she provided health and counselling services to people who use drugs. She is formally trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and operates from a strengths-based and trauma informed approach. She is a firm believer in the power of human resiliency and our innate ability to reflect, process and overcome life's challenges.

Brianna is a latina multidisciplinary artist and designer, currently based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She is in the midst of completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in design with a minor in psychology at Concordia University.

As an aspiring art therapist and writer, she aims to focus her life’s work on helping people heal and attain a holistic sense of wellbeing. She is passionate about engaging in community care, advocating for the destigmatization of mental health care, and fostering honest and healing dialogues in her work.

Lys is a student and research currently based in Tiohtia:ke/Montreal. She just started a Master in Child Studies at Concordia University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology. Her interest are centred around the experiences of children of color in schools and how they live situations of unfair treatment based on their identities.

With the research that she is involved in, she hopes to learn more about the multifaceted and how she can make a difference. She is deeply concerned about issues surrounding mental health for BIPOC folks especially. With previous experience in social work, she is developing skills to help her engage with different communities. She is eager to connect with people and help others in their healing journey.

Khan currently runs his  own business, through which he manages his clinical practice as a counselor, and offers consultation services in the areas of mental health and Inclusion. Clinically, his work is focused on supporting adolescents, young adults, the BIPOC community and the Black community in particular, by offering support that is  solution-focused & culturally relevant. His consulting work involves creating & designing workshops, trainings, presentations, lectures, educational guides/curriculum, and school-based programs (mentorship, career-exploration), along with guest-speaking, moderation/facilitation, and sitting on various committees (all focused on the intersectionality of mental health & Inclusion).