Indigenous Facilitator Certificate I
The Sacred Container
Mastering the Sacred Art of Facilitation
A six-month, cohort-based certificate program for Indigenous facilitators, helpers, leaders, and community builders.
The person holding the circle must be well. The person carrying medicine must first be in right relationship with their own healing. This has always been the teaching.
Designed and led exclusively by Indigenous professionals, this is the foundational credential in the Mastering the Sacred Art of Facilitation pathway, grounded in Indigenous teachings and western neuroscience using the Two-Row Medicine Approach,
We meet the third Friday of each month, 7:00 am–2:00 pm Pacific, beginning Friday, September 18, 2026 and closing Friday, January 15, 2027.
Why Conventional Facilitation Training Falls Short
The vast majority of facilitation training available today was designed within western, corporate frameworks that do not account for Indigenous worldviews, relational values, or the neurobiological realities of working within communities carrying historical and intergenerational trauma.
These trainings teach participants to manage agendas but not to read nervous systems. They teach process design but not energetic container creation. They teach conflict management but not co-regulation. They teach neutrality but not cultural humility.
Indigenous communities are in urgent need of skilled facilitators who can hold space for the complex work of healing, planning, and governance that sovereignty demands.
Strategic planning sessions, community healing circles, organizational development, family group conferencing, youth program design, Elder councils, and restorative justice gatherings all require someone who can create a container that is safe enough for truth, structured enough for progress, and grounded enough in cultural knowledge to honor the people in the room.
This program exists because Indigenous communities deserve facilitators who understand that space is medicine, that the facilitator's own regulation is the first intervention, that talking circles are not merely a participation structure but a form of ceremony, and that every gathered group carries ancestral wisdom that does not need to be extracted but honored.
The Six Foundations · Principles That Lead
This program understands facilitation as ceremony, a process in which the facilitator is transformed through the act of holding space, and the group is transformed through the quality of the container. Six guiding principles braid through every session and every International Association of Facilitators (IAF) competency.
Facilitation Is Sacred Work · Holding the circle is ceremony, not meeting management. The facilitator's role is to create a container in which transformation, healing, and collective wisdom can emerge. Every facilitation skill is taught as an expression of relationship and ceremony. Learn how to engage your audience through neurochemical, sensory-based, and relational means that build on the arc of the day.
The Facilitator Is the Instrument · You are the primary tool in your medicine bag. Polyvagal theory (Porges, 2011) confirms what Elders have always taught: participants' nervous systems silently read yours before a single word is spoken. Learn how to be confident, grounded, and centered while using humor, interconnectedness, and bridge-building to help your participants feel seen, heard, and honored.
Space Is Medicine · Environments shape what is possible. Physical, energetic, and ceremonial environments actively shape what unfolds. Participants learn to design spaces that support nervous system regulation, honor cultural values, and create the conditions for transformation (Cajete, 2000; Kimmerer, 2013).
Relational Accountability · Knowledge flows through relationships. Following Wilson (2008), the facilitator is accountable to the people and communities they serve. What you receive, you are responsible to pass on in a good way, through right relationship. Learn how to invite the right people into the room and how to engage the audience so that they know you are genuine and passionate.
Two Ways of Knowing Walk Side by Side · The Two-Row Medicine Approach. Inspired by the Haudenosaunee Two Row Wampum Belt and grounded in the scholarship of Dr. Karen Hill (Mohawk physician), Indigenous and western knowledge travel side by side as sovereign vessels, never collapsing one into the other. We will use the Indigenous teachings of the instructors, the knowledge of the participants, and contemporary neuroscience to build a strong braid of competency.
Sustainability Is Ceremony · Self-care is professional competency. Facilitation within Indigenous communities carries particular opportunities and challenges. This program treats facilitator sustainability not as personal preference but as a professional competency and a form of resistance to conlonial tactics and expectations.
What Makes This Program Different
Healing-Centered, Not Technique-Driven. The facilitator's own healing, regulation, and cultural groundedness are the foundation of professional practice. Techniques are taught inside that container, never as standalone tools.
IAF Competency-Mapped with Indigenous Grounding. Each month maps to one of the six International Association of Facilitators core competencies (A–F), creating a credentialing pathway recognized by the international facilitation profession. But every competency is taught through an Indigenous lens first; western frameworks serve as supporting evidence, not as the primary frame.
Embodied, Neurochemically Aware, and Experiential. This is not a lecture series. Every segment is designed with explicit attention to the neurochemistry of the room: oxytocin for bonding, cortisol management for safety, dopamine for engagement, serotonin for belonging. Talking circles, somatic practices, breathwork, role play, and skill labs engage body, heart, mind, and spirit.
Designed and Led by Indigenous Professionals. The Juniper & Pine Consulting team brings expertise in behavioral health, Tribal vocational rehabilitation, traditional healing, mind-body medicine, early childhood development, higher education, and Indigenous research ethics through their own Indigenous teachings, cultures, and lineages.
The Cohort Is the Medicine. Participants form Practice Pods of three to four that meet between sessions for peer learning, skill practice, and structured feedback, building the relational infrastructure that sustains practice long after the program ends.
Built on Indigenous Science. Neurodecolonization research (Yellow Bird, 2013) confirms that traditional contemplative practices create real neurobiological change, strengthening the prefrontal cortex, reducing amygdala reactivity, and restoring the brain's capacity for regulation and presence. Western science is running to catch up with what our ancestors knew.
This program was designed for Indigenous Practitioners, leaders, helpers, and community builders, facilitators whether or not they currently identify as “facilitators”.
This Certificate Is for You If…
▪ You are a Tribal leader, governor, administrator, or program director who facilitates planning, governance, and decision-making.
▪ You are a behavioral health provider, clinician, or licensed therapist who facilitates groups, circles, and community processes.
▪ You are a social service, child welfare, or ICWA team member who facilitates family group conferences and case planning.
▪ You are an educator, early childhood staff member, or youth worker who facilitates learning circles, staff development, and community engagement.
▪ You are a traditional healer, cultural worker, or natural helper who holds space for community healing.
▪ You are a Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation counselor or employment staff member who facilitates person-centered planning.
▪ You are a community advocate, peer support specialist, or frontline helper who leads meetings and coordinates services.
▪ You are a non-Indigenous ally committed to culturally responsive, healing-centered facilitation practice.
No prior facilitation training is required. Although deeply comprehensive, this program builds progressively and meets participants where they are. What is required is a willingness to show up honestly, to sit in circle with others, to do your own healing work alongside the learning, and to commit to the full six-month journey.
What You Will Carry Forward
▪ A transformed understanding of facilitation as sacred, relational, and embodied work.
▪ Practical, culturally grounded skills for co-creating safety, designing healing spaces, reading nervous systems, and guiding collective wisdom.
▪ A personalized Sacred Facilitation Agreement, a session design portfolio, and a medicine bag of facilitation tools.
▪ Professional competency mapped to all six IAF core facilitator competencies (A–F).
▪ Neurochemical literacy: the ability to design facilitation experiences with explicit attention to the biology of safety, trust, and engagement.
▪ A sustainability practice with daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal rhythms grounded in both Indigenous ceremony and neuroscience.
▪ A peer network, a community of practice, of Indigenous and allied facilitators committed to healing-centered work.
▪ Qualification for co-facilitation under mentorship and readiness for Certificate II.
Program Format and Logistics
Duration · 6 months · One full virtual day per month · Approximately 6.5 contact hours per session · 39 contact hours total
Schedule · Third Friday of each month, 7:00 am–2:00 pm Pacific · September 18, 2026 through January 15, 2027
Format · Virtual cohort, intentionally limited to 12–18 participants to preserve the intimacy and safety of the circle
A Day Together · 7:00 Opening Talking Circle · Morning Teaching & Practice · Nourishment Break · Afternoon Practice & Application · Break · Closing Talking Circle
Between Sessions · Practice Pod meetings (3–4 participants, monthly) · Reflection Journal with guided prompts · Real-world practice assignments · Optional Community of Practice gatherings · Daily grounding practice (10–15 minutes)
Materials · Monthly Participant Workbooks · Monthly Handout Packages · Slide decks · Reflection Journals · Sacred Facilitation Agreement template · Four Directions Client Engagement tools · Session Design Template · Space Design Checklist · Energetic Container Guide · Observation Rubric · Sustainability Practice Designer · Compassion Fatigue Self-Check · Pre/Post Knowledge Assessment
Faculty · Designed and led by Kimber Olson, MSW, PhD, with Juniper & Pine Consulting Indigenous teachers and specialists
Pathway · Foundational credential in the Mastering the Sacred Art of Facilitation pathway · Required core course for the Indigenous Healing-Centered Practitioner Certification · Hours may count toward IAF credentialing (though we have not coordinated directly with them)
Certificate · Certificate of Completion in Indigenous Facilitator Certificate I, awarded to participants who complete all six sessions and the capstone
Prerequisites · None
Frequently Asked Questions
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This certificate is designed for Indigenous practitioners, leaders, helpers, and community builders, as well as non-Indigenous allies working within or alongside Tribal Nations, Alaska Native communities, Native-led programs, and Indigenous-serving organizations. Allies are welcome if they are genuinely committed to the principles of the Two-Row Medicine Approach: Indigenous knowledge leading, western frameworks in a supporting role, and willing to do honest work about cultural humility, ethical engagement, and the difference between partnership and appropriation.
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No prior facilitation training is required. Although deeply comprehensive, this program builds progressively and meets participants where they are. Whether you are early in your career or have decades of experience, the teachings and practices meet you where you are. What is required is a willingness to show up honestly, to sit in circle with others, and to do your own healing work alongside the learning.
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Between monthly sessions, the learning continues through meaningful integration practices: Practice Pod peer meetings, a Reflection Journal with guided prompts, real-world practice assignments, optional Community of Practice gatherings, and daily grounding practice. The Practice Pods, formed in Month 1, are the relational container that carries the medicine between sessions and often well beyond the six months.
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Certificate I is the foundational credential in the Mastering the Sacred Art of Facilitation pathway. Completing Certificates I, II, and III earns the Master Indigenous Facilitator Certification. Certificate I also serves as one of three required core courses toward the Indigenous Healing-Centered Practitioner Certification. Hours logged during Certificate I may also count toward International Association of Facilitators credentialing, though we have not yet formally coordinated with them or applied for their certification process.
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Yes. While the open-enrollment certificate is delivered virtually to individuals, Juniper & Pine regularly contracts customized, in-person delivery for Tribal Nations, Alaska Native organizations, and Indigenous-serving agencies. Contact us to discuss scheduling, scope, and pricing. Our team is happy to travel to your community.
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Many participants use professional development, training, or capacity-building line items from federal grants including SAMHSA, IHS, ACF, OVW, OVC, BIA, RSA, and other Tribal health and human services funding to cover registration. Contact us if you need a letter of support or scope of services documentation for a grant administrator.