2019 GPRC Wisdom

A UNIQUE The Blanket Exercise is used as an empathy building tool for nursing students, and is an eye opening way for the students to understand Indigenous history.

Born to a Cree mother and a German father, Ashley Rosenberger never felt like she belonged to either side.

Suffering the pain of stigmatizing stereotypes, her self-esteem was at rock bottom during much of her teens.

Today, thanks to processes of healing and self-awareness, some of which are taking place during her education at GPRC, the nursing student and mother of three is confident her children will grow up in a very different world than the one in which she was raised.

“Growing up, I was always so aware of my differences and if anyone wanted to talk or learn about them, I would be defensive,” she says. “Now that conversation is more open and we’re able to connect and come together more easily. It’s so fantastic to see how open and accepting our community, our whole world, is becoming.

“But what’s most incredible is that these discussions get to start in the helping profession. As nurses, we get to be directly involved at the root of patients’ trauma and look at what we can do to become part of the solution.”

Rosenberger recently participated in a unique ceremony called a blanket exercise, which is part of the curriculum for all first-year students in the nursing program at GPRC. Designed to illustrate historical and contemporary relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, the activity is intended to build empathy for vulnerable people whose paths in life are a direct consequence of the past.

GPRC is the only post-secondary institution in northwestern Alberta that includes this activity, which is performed by an Elder, as part of a holistic approach to healing.

Participants assume the roles of Indigenous peoples, while standing on blankets they have brought from home that are meant to represent the land.

Together they walk through the history of Indigenous