PM – Land Based Healing Practices with Daryle Mills

Presenter:  Daryle Mills
Time: 1:30-2:45  Max: 20
Location: Camp Gilwell:  5200 Duncan Bay Main Line Road (see directions below)

Daryle will guide participants through an afternoon of land‑based teaching and healing rooted in the teachings of the Sweat Lodge.
This session offers an opportunity to step outside of the classroom and into relationship with the land at Camp Gilwell, where Daryle regularly shares seasonal teachings with youth.
Over the course of the afternoon, participants will:

• Learn about the cultural significance and protocols connected to the Sweat Lodge.
• Explore how land‑based practices support wellness, identity, and community connection.
• Experience teachings in the same outdoor space where youth gather seasonally to learn, reflect, and strengthen identity and relationships.

Participants are encouraged to:
• Dress for the weather and be prepared for outdoor learning.
• Bring an open heart and mind, ready to listen deeply and respectfully.
• Come prepared to walk short distances on uneven terrain.
• Bring water, a notebook, or anything else that supports personal comfort and reflection.

Cree, Dini – Fort Chipewyan,Northern Alberta.

Daryle carries the Cree name TipiskowPisim Muskwa, which means Nightsunbear. His family is from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta and is made up of Cree, Dini, Stoney, and Irish heritage.

Daryle has made Vancouver Island home since the Early 1990s, where he has raised his children and adopted families. Daryle has spent over 30 years immersed in traditional medicine and ceremony rights. The teachings he received are from Cree and Lakota Elders. He is dedicated to ceremony responsibilities and community processes that remove stigma and barriers for all nations.

Night Sun Bear is a well-respected Elder and mentor in our Indigenous community. He has decades of experience working with troubled youth of all ages and stages. He is a strong advocate for the traditional processes in healing, learning and transformation of harmful systems of colonization through cross cultural sharing and cultural safety. The Warrior Society Program that he offers focuses on respect of all things and transferable confidence building through land-based education. Children and young adults learn the importance of respect, teamwork through cultural mentoring and outdoor survival activities that lend to confidence building and self-regulation through Indigenous value systems.

Daryle runs the Warrior Society through his consulting business as well as in partnership with Indigenous Education SD71 and SD72, the Wachiay Friendship centre and MCFD. He supports many institutions and agencies by providing advisory and counselling ser-vices that lend to a cultural lens for decolonizing systems and practices that are harmful to Indigenous people.

Camp Gilwell: 5200 Duncan Bay Main Line Rd

Turn off of Piercy onto Forbidden Plateau Rd.
Pass Camp Gilwell sign on left and take your next right on to Duncan Bay Main Line Rd (this may be listed as Comox Logging Rd on some maps).
Take your first right down the steep drive and park next to the large A frame to the lower right of the property.
Cell service is nil to spotty in this area, please plan accordingly