Help Others Remember How to Heal

Often, at the end of presentations—and there are many, given his various roles as university administrator, scholar, social worker, practitioner and teacher of mindfulness—Michael Yellow Bird displays a favorite slide: an image of the brain. Specifically, the slide highlights the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. For there, behind and above the eye sockets, is the site of cognitive resilience, the locus of emotional regulation, the place where stress and fear are processed—and the focus of Yellow Bird’s work to reverse effects of chronic stress on Indigenous people and restore resilience.

At the University of Manitoba, he serves