Melaina Patenaude

Melaina is a Métis herbalist and Abdominal Therapy Practitioner with a deep reverence for the traditional wisdom and ancestral skills that have sustained us for generations. She connects deeply to the importance of fostering collective stewardship for the natural world and values cultivating meaningful relationships with people, animals, and Mother Earth. Melaina holds a B.Sc. in Nutrition and Food Science and an M.A. in Community Development. She has worked for over fifteen years in the non-profit sector as a community developer. Melaina has worked in food security, alongside Indigenous communities across Western Canada and the Territories, helping to strengthen local food systems and empower local knowledge keepers. She has also worked in the homelessness sector, influencing systems change using a decolonizing lens. Melaina came to Abdominal Therapy while on her fertility journey. Her and her partner were struggling to conceive and it was recommended to them. Not too long after experiencing the powerful medicine of this work, the practitioner closed her practice and Melaina felt that loss deeply. She thought if I am feeling this loss, then I'm sure others in our community are too, so she figured out what she needed to do to get trained. That was in 2022 and since then she has completed the Practitioner Training, Advanced Practitioner Training, Spiritual Healing, and most recently, the Pregnancy and Postpartum Training with Rosita Arvigo.