August 22nd
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
St. Catherine University, Rauenhorst Ballroom
Healing is not a private act. It is communal, ancestral, and deeply tied to the work of justice. Part of Wisdom Ways; Summer of Soul series, this gathering brings together five healers whose lives and practices embody that truth.
Drawing from Indigenous wisdom, Afro-Caribbean and diaspora traditions, food and land sovereignty, body-based healing justice work, and the sacred arts, this panel offers a rare and powerful convergence of voices. Each panelist has walked through profound loss, shaped communities, and chosen again, and again, to turn that experience into medicine for others. Healing is not separate from action; it is what makes lasting change possible.
This event is for women, femme-identifying individuals, and all who honor feminine healing traditions. Come as you are, and become rooted in healing, strength, and shared humanity. Participants are invited to carry forward what they have experienced in this event into their own lives and communities. Light appetizers will be served after the panel.
MEET THE HEALERS
Briana Matrious
An enrolled member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Briana Matrious brings deep roots in Indigenous wellness, mental health advocacy, and community resilience. Her career has spanned work with the University of Minnesota Extension as a Tribal Community Facilitator and the American Indian Resource and Resiliency Team, where she has helped people across backgrounds understand the root causes of historical and intergenerational trauma. Briana is passionate about the intersection of trauma, plant medicines, and holistic healing for the mind, body, and spirit. She wholeheartedly believes that to heal ourselves moving forward, we must understand the past.
Portia Richardson
Portia Richardson is a multidimensional human, rooted in cross-cultural animist cosmologies and practices, traversing the spaces between the seen and unseen, on a mission to repair our fractured relational connections and regenerate vital ecologies. She moves in the world as an interdisciplinary healing arts practitioner, independent musician and folk artist, teacher and lifelong student of the mysteries, and ritualist devoted to fostering the flow of vital life energy throughout internal and external landscapes.
Princess Titus
A teacher, healer, community organizer, and co-founder of Appetite for Change, Princess Titus has spent more than two decades rooting herself in North Minneapolis and dedicating her life to the healing of her community. Her journey toward food justice and healing began through profound personal loss, which led her to the garden, to the earth, and to a deep understanding of how food, land, and community nourish both body and spirit. Princess has worked as an educator, HIV educator, employment counselor, and environmental justice advocate, and continues to cultivate healing spaces where people of all backgrounds can come together to grow, cook, and sustain one another.
Regina M. LaRoche
Regina M. LaRoche is the founder and director of Diaspora Arts and Diaspora Gardens, whose offerings rise from the intersection of art and the unifying stories of humanity and the earth. Her work is shaped by a life of small-scale farming, family, and community along the edge of Lake Superior on Madeline Island — as well as by her mother’s rural South Carolina upbringing and her father’s Haitian Afro-Caribbean culture. Regina is experienced in the creative dance and story work of InterPlay, trained in spiritual direction, and holds a theatre degree from St. Catherine University. Her life and art are a living invitation to cross-cultural healing and belonging.
Susan Raffo (she/her)
Susan Raffo is a bodyworker, cultural worker, and writer living in Minneapolis on traditional Dakota homelands. Working through the lens of healing justice, her practice centers on the slow, generational work of shifting deeply held patterns — the kind shaped by historical trauma, supremacy, and systemic harm — that show up in our bodies and our communities. Susan is the author of Queerly Classed, Restricted Access, and Liberated to the Bone, and has spent over a decade working alongside Cara Page on the Healing Histories Project, an abolitionist and anti-eugenics initiative. She is part of REP, a Black-led community crisis response network grounded in dignity, solidarity, and the belief that we have the capacity to love and protect one another.
Attendees will leave with:
A deeper connection to their own healing traditions and practices
New relationships with healers, practitioners, and fellow community members
Practical wisdom and resources to carry into their own lives and communities
A renewed sense of grounded hope and collective strength
Inspiration rooted in the belief that care for self and care for justice are inseparable
FEE : $35
REGISTER HERE : HEALERS PANNEL