We Are IH: Indigenous cultural safety educator facilitating change

June 13, 2024

Indigenous Cultural Safety Educator, Kelsey Arnouse

Name: Kelsey Arnouse, Registered Social Worker (RSW) (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Indigenous Cultural Safety Educator
Years of Service: 8
Worksite: Sahali Mall, Kamloops
Community: Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc
Ancestral Territory: Secwépemc Nation
Favourite Quote / Advice to live by: “It’s education (that) got us into this mess, and education (is what) will get us out of it.” - Justice Murray Sinclair

Born in the traditional, unceded Stó꞉lō Nation territory and raised on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of her Secwépemc Nation, Kelsey Arnouse is a proud community member of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc.

Kelsey's maternal family is from Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and her paternal family is from Sexqeltqin; both communities are within the Secwépemc Nation. She also acknowledges her roots as a third-generation Irish settler.

In this Story…

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Learn more about Kelsey’s journey with IH

Kelsey has worked in a few roles throughout Interior Health and has a lot of pride in the work she has done in these roles. One of her proudest achievements is the relationships she built along the way with coworkers, peers and Nation members.

As an Indigenous person, building and maintaining relationships has been learning modelled to her by her families and is now instilled in Kelsey.

“Interior Health services both my maternal and paternal families’ communities. I have always felt the work I do contributes to creating culturally safe experiences and working from within the system allows me to facilitate change and directly impact those services.”

-- Kelsey Arnouse

Indigenous woman wrapped in a ceremonial Pendleton blanket holding a feather and certificate with an elderly male and female on her left and an elderly female on her right. All smiling. — Kelsey (centre) with her mother and maternal grandparents after being blanketed at Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Ceremony for graduates.

Kelsey is passionate about working with people on their journey to Indigenous cultural safety and about working with IH to achieve the recommendations from the In Plain Sight Report.

Kelsey has two daughters, both named after or in remembrance of their grandmothers.

She spends a lot of time supporting her children's extra curricular activities (which include biking, swimming, and gymnastics) saying, “Their hobbies are now my hobbies.”

outdoor Intergenerational family photoshoot for 7 placed in two rows. 5 in the back row all standing shortest to tallest to include (left to right) one adult female, two elderly males and 1 adult male holding a toddler. Front row a small female child standing next to a seated elderly woman. All smiling. — Kelsey (left) pictured with her father, paternal grandparents, spouse and two children.

Kelsey also enjoys spending time with her family and visiting, and hill biking, which is, as she describes “like mountain biking but with less mountains.”

Kelsey is an emergent beadwork artisan actively learning to revitalize some of her community’s handwork traditions. She was gifted a hand drum from her grandpa when she started working with Indigenous Partnerships and has been working towards learning traditional songs.