Myrna McCallum's Healing Imperative

Healing is not optional.

It is the only way forward.

I work with leaders, teams, workplaces and communities navigating conflict, trauma, disconnection, fractured relationships and broken policies.

We are being called to heal ourselves, our lineages, our families and our communities. We are also being called to heal the places where we spend most of our lives. Our workplaces. Our practices. Our professions.

Professions carry wounds too. They get passed down through training, through culture, through what we were taught to tolerate and what we were taught to ignore. They get passed down through inaction, through denial, and through a determination to keep doing things the way we have always done them. They also get passed down through policy. Harm becomes procedure. Exhaustion becomes normal. People become files.

This is the work Myrna has been calling us to since the first episode of The Trauma-Informed Lawyer. What began with lawyers and judges has grown to reach leaders, teams and communities, in boardrooms and classrooms, on conference stages and in community gatherings.

Myrna travels. Talks, trainings and gatherings happen in person wherever we are invited, in Canada and internationally, and online anywhere.

A member of the bar in British Columbia since 2007, with a career spanning defence, prosecution and adjudication. Creator and host of The Trauma-Informed Lawyer podcast and the Justice as Trauma Summit. Published by the American Bar Association, CanLII and Routledge.

Myrna McCallum

Myrna McCallum

Myrna McCallum is a Métis and Cree speaker, educator, author and lawyer, and the founder of LoveBack™.

For more than two decades she has worked with leaders, organizations and communities on what sits beneath conflict, harm and dysfunction at work.

Most of what gets named as a people problem is a leadership problem, or a policy problem, or both.

Few leaders set out to cause harm. Many were never taught how conflict builds, how harm travels through a team, or what their own power does in a room. They lead the way they were led.

The cost shows up elsewhere, in grievances, in high turnover, in investigations, and in meetings where nobody says what they actually think. The people carrying that cost already know what is happening. Most have said so, more than once, and learned what saying it costs them. Silence on a team is rarely agreement. It is usually the safest thing available.

None of this changes until leaders are shown how to recognize the people in front of them, and how to respond with humility and care.

Where the Relationship Happens

Centering humanity, together

I Share

Leaders, teams and workplaces.

Keynotes, training and advisory for organizations navigating conflict, harm, burnout, and policies that are hurting the people they were written to protect. Health care, education, unions, public service.

I Gather

Communities, Nations and teams.

LoveBack™ retreats and gatherings where we slow down and do the work together. In community, and inside organizations, including gatherings for Indigenous, Black and racialized teams who are carrying things at work that nobody else in the building is carrying.

See Upcoming Gatherings →

I See

One to one, for leaders.

Kinship Guidance Sessions for leaders and emerging leaders navigating change, conflict, or being the only Indigenous or racialized person in the room. Space to be heard, to be seen, and to gain perspective on what you are navigating.

Explore Kinship Guidance →
Justice as Trauma

A global gathering Myrna created, three years running

Since 2024, judges and lawyers, law enforcement and physicians, educators, advocates, survivors, helpers and community leaders have gathered from around the world to confront what our systems cost people, and to bring the evidence for what real justice actually requires. Trauma-responsive practice. Emotional intelligence. Revolutionary love. Liberation. Healing.

3summits since 2024
100+speakers from around the world
900+have answered the call
Explore Justice as Trauma →
A full room at the Justice as Trauma Summit
LISTEN NOW

Conversations on Healing & Justice

Tune in to the podcast changing the way professionals lead, advocate, and care.

S4:E10
01:03:05

The Road to Liberation with Resmaa Menakem

What does it mean to walk the road to liberation when the structures we live within have been shaped by extraction, extermination, and extinction? In this episode, I chat with Dr. Resmaa Menakem and…
September 25th, 2026
S4:E9
01:00:13

Building a Culture of Care: Compassion, Community & Law with River Shannon

In this episode, I’m joined by River Shannon, a lawyer with QMUNITY and a member of the trans community she serves. River’s work offers a powerful example of what it can look like when…
August 23rd, 2026
S4:E8
00:59:27

Curiosity as Resistance: Nonviolent Communication with Leonie Smith

We don’t talk enough about how the systems we work inside shape whether we ever feel safe enough to be honest — with ourselves or with each other. In this conversation, Leonie Smith and…
July 30th, 2026

This is not a call to run the same system more gently.

It is a call for our professions to repair what they have broken, to humanize what they made procedural, and to move toward liberation for everyone they impact, including the people who work within these systems.

Explore Virtual Programs →
Recognition

Honouring the Work

Acknowledged by legal institutions for transformative contributions to justice and victim support.

  • Bridge Builders AwardPancouver
  • Cecilia I. Johnstone AwardCanadian Bar Association Women Lawyers’ Forum
  • Award of ExcellenceCanadian Bar Association BC Women Lawyers’ Forum
  • Game Changer AwardSaskatchewan Ombudsman
  • Special Contributor AwardCanadian Bar Association BC Aboriginal Lawyers’ Forum
  • Excellence in Legal Practice & Victim SupportFederal Department of Justice
Publications

Publications & Contributions

Contributing to the academic and practical evolution of the profession.

CanLII Open Access

Canadian Law, Indigenous Laws and Critical Perspectives

A critical examination of the relationship between Canadian state law and Indigenous legal orders.

View Publication →

American Bar Association

Trauma-Informed Law: A Primer

Essential reading for lawyer resilience, healing, and ethical practice in a high-stress profession.

View Publication →

Routledge, contributed chapter

Justice, Indigenous Peoples, and Canada: A History of Courage and Resilience

Myrna contributed a chapter exploring the historical and ongoing intersections between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian justice system.

View Publication →

Words from the Community

“Well spoken, all while being very honest, raw and unfiltered in sharing her thoughts, pain, and perspectives on healing.”

“I have attended many conferences and webinars on reconciliation and residential schools, and this is probably one of the most impactful talks I have ever heard.”

“Myrna provided invaluable insight and shared difficult but necessary truths that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

“A very important subject to cover, and it should be mandatory for managers.”