t´ɘxʷ mi kʷu nsuxʷnaʔɘəm ɘnwixʷ
(let us understand one another.)
We are mypənum ṕʔax — Learning to Heal.
We are an Indigenous-led nonprofit rooted in land, culture, language, story, and community care. Our work moves through four interconnected pillars: Healing, Education & Learning, Land Stewardship, and Storytelling — not as separate programs, but as one living practice.
Because culture, land, literacy, and community are not separate from wellness.
They are wellness.
ɫax̌tmnt
(we do this together.)
Co-Founders
Joy (sənma̍lqs) Abrahamson, B.Ed
Executive Director
Bio
Joy grew up on the Colville Reservation, raised by traditional grandparents who taught her that culture is something you live — through dancing, hunting, gathering traditional foods, caring for the land, and staying connected to the people who came before you.
She carries that knowledge not as history, but as living practice.
As a barrel racer and Indian Relay rider, Joy understands horse medicine from the inside. Her background in Elementary Education and American Indian Studies gives her another way to carry that medicine forward: by teaching, mentoring, and creating spaces where young people can remember who they are and where they come from.
As Miss CCT 2023–2024, Joy represented her tribe and carried those relationships onto an international stage. In this work, she brings culture into the room with clarity, humility, and care. That is what makes Learning to Heal more than a program — it is relationship, practice, and responsibility.
Joy’s happy place is on her horse, fishing, hunting for traditional medicines, or sitting somewhere quiet with the memory of the loved ones she holds close.
Mikaela (Kae) Williams, M.Ed
Director of Development & Communications
Bio
Mikaela builds the structures that help community work last.
Her work sits at the meeting place of learning, design, communication, and systems change. With a master’s degree in Educational Technology and Learning Design and a decade in rural community health outreach, she understands that people need more than information — they need tools, language, access, and systems that actually meet them where they are.
As a graphic designer, illustrator, and communications strategist, Mikaela helps make complicated things clear and beautiful. She believes knowledge should not be locked behind confusing language, inaccessible design, or systems that were never built with community in mind.
She also serves as a communications consultant for a national resource center focused on mental health and violence prevention, bringing a survivor-centered, trauma-informed lens to everything she touches.
The common thread is simple: meet people where they are, and build what they were never handed.
Mikaela loves to cook, is happiest outdoors, and has an unquenchable thirst for learning. She is the proud mama of two little ones who keep her busy — and keep her honest about why youth work matters.
Our Board
These dedicated individuals not only guide our organization but also actively engage with our community to drive positive change.
Ms. Em (spaxʷawlx) Olguin-Abrahamson
Board Chair
Land Stewardship, Arts & Culture, and Events Committees
Chanel Somday
Board Member
Land Stewardship and Youth Advocacy Committees
Deidre Williams
Board Member
Arts & Culture and Events Committees
Rebeka Haynes, PhD
Alternate Board Member
Education, Youth Advocacy, and Development Committees
Dan Gina Graham, M.Ed
Board Member
Arts & Culture and Events Commitees