Melissa is an Indigenous woman, mother, and business owner from the Misipawistik Cree Nation (new window), and she owns Onikaniw Consulting (new window), where she teaches and talks about the intergenerational effects of colonization and the residential school system in relation to complex cycles of addiction and trauma.

She is an Applied Counseling graduate, and is also a graduate of Management Development and Business and Administrative Studies from Red River College. Her late father was a residential school survivor, and her mother was a day school survivor, and she shares that her family was deeply affected by hydro dam developments resulting in high cancer rates due to polluted water.

In 2002, Melissa was diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) and anxiety, the result of childhood trauma that included physical and sexual abuse.

After years of struggling and seeking help for recovering from and overcoming trauma, Melissa now runs a successful consulting business where she transformed life’s negativity into a positive livelihood. She shares her candid story of survival to try help others who also struggle — she strongly feels that not enough is known about how trauma affects the mind, body, and spirit, and her work aims to help provide better insight and understanding.

Previously, Melissa was nominated by her local community to receive a customized website created by a professional marketing team and she needed to learn how to manage it herself because she felt too nervous to make changes on her own.

She had first heard about Neil Squire from Community Futures – West Interlake (new window), the organization that helped fund and start her business in 2017. Melissa was interested in participating in Neil Squire’s Digital Jumpstart program because she recognized a need to take her business online due to the pandemic and she needed to learn how to independently manage her website to become self-sustaining. Learning to maintain her website was an important task that she knew she needed to make time to focus on.

Melissa explains that she needs help to get unstuck at times, and she appreciated her Digital Jumpstart instructor giving her this “push” to get her computer goals underway. With her instructor’s assistance, encouragement, and support, Melissa overcame hurdles that she was dealing with for some time.

“I still have a long way to go, but I am capable even though sometimes I don’t feel like it,” she shares. “I have overcome huge obstacles that were holding me back, and for that I will forever be grateful.”

The biggest challenge was learning how to access and manage her website on her own and learn how to add and remove content. Her instructor helped her access her website and maintain it using WordPress, and provided supports and resources for building her website, along with information on upcoming webinars to help her take advantage of the e-commerce side of her website.

Melissa enjoyed working one-on-one with her instructor and she appreciated the patience and understanding she received from Neil Squire staff. Melissa shared that she desperately needed a new laptop and the equipment and internet support she received through Digital Jumpstart will go a long way as she navigates her changing business needs through the pandemic.

As for adaptive technology, Melissa received a wireless headset and mouse and she learned how to navigate her laptop and make use of her Microsoft Office programs.

Melissa now networks with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (new window) and St. John’s Ambulance Opioid Response Training (new window). Melissa offers crystal meth awareness training sessions, and she is happy to share that she now has proper equipment and the computer skills to create an updated PowerPoint presentation.

“I can feel and look professional to try to continue my healing journey, my sharing and attempts to be more self-sustaining despite my past, despite my challenges,” Melissa says.

Melissa completed the Digital Jumpstart program, and she plans to continue working to become self-sustaining by taking her business further and providing more options for e-commerce and resources on her website.