Research Training And Speaking
At Omora Healing, we’ve seen that while Black knowledge, healing, and wellness are vital, they are often underfunded, under resourced, culturally inappropriate, not community-specific, and not harm-reductive. By this, we mean approaches that are either insensitive to the community’s needs, actively retraumatizing, dismissive of lived experiences, or imposing external solutions that don’t fit with the community’s reality. As a result, many programs unintentionally replicate the very traumas they seek to heal.
To address these gaps, our work in research and community intervention is focused on uplifting existing knowledge and creating culturally relevant healing approaches. Our “for us, by us” services are afropositive and afrocentered. Through initiatives like Community Centered Knowledges: Fostering Black Wellness in Montreal (CCK)—a partnership between Black-focused community organizations and Concordia University—we aim to develop a virtual and physical knowledge hub that documents and disseminates Black community-based approaches to addressing the psycho-social impacts of anti-Black racism. Additionally, through the Black Entrepreneurs Knowledge and Hub (BEKH), we are researching the mental health challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs. Our project, “Validating, Adapting, and Sharing Black Collective Care Circles – The Entrepreneur Edition,” adapts the proven Black Collective Care Circles (B3C) model in order to better understand and serve the unique needs of young entrepreneurs and their business coaches.
Our community interventions, developed in partnership with organizations like the Black Healing Center (BHC), include programs such as collective care circles, Working with What Is, Healing Trauma, and the Healing Our Stories retreats. These initiatives are designed to provide spaces where healing is rooted in the lived experiences of Black individuals. Our interventions prioritize cultural safety, trauma-informed care, and the creation of environments where participants feel seen, supported, and restored.
With the Black Healing Center (BHC), we developed training through initiatives like Collective Care Practitioners (CCP), which equips practitioners with the tools they need to work effectively in Black communities, focusing on afropositive practices and culturally responsive approaches.
Dr. Ndejuru has also contributed her expertise to Lifespeak, a leading provider of on-demand mental health education, by creating comprehensive learning modules on topics such as depression, trauma, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and BIPOC mental health. In addition, Dr. Ndejuru has partnered with PESI, a prominent provider of continuing education for mental health professionals, to develop professional development programs, such as From Bias to Connection: Using Polyvagal Theory to Cultivate an Effective Therapeutic Alliance with Racialized Clients.
Our goal is to equip both community members and practitioners with the tools to cultivate wellness and build healing systems that truly serve.