Samanta describes themselves as a Black queer being who hails from the mountains for Rwanda. They are an artist and community organizer whose mission is to facilitate and co-create intentional spaces that center a healing justice framework for people who are, and have been historically marginalized.

The motivation to open the Black Healing Centre comes from my want to create the world that I want/ deserve to live in. A world in which our structures and systems are rooted in care & love instead of violence. As Gwendolyn Brooks reminded us “we are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond”.

Katya Stella Assoe is a promising legal professional in Montreal, soon to be a licensed lawyer. Beyond the legal realm, she co-founded the Black Healing Centre, a non-profit dedicated to destigmatizing mental health in the black community. Her creative touch has left an impact on various black organizations in Montreal such as WIBCA, Black Girls Gather MTL and Cultur’elles. Honoured in 2023 as a CBC Black Changemaker, Katya’s passion for advocacy and creativity shines through, making her a catalyst for positive change.

Dr. Lisa Ndejuru is a psychotherapist, psychodramatist and theatre practitioner. Her practice is about creating accessible, non-medicalized, scalable strategies for healing and change in our communities, impacted by the violence of anti-blackness in all its forms. Violence flattens our lives and creates silences. Lisa wants to work on intergenerational transmission of trauma, breaking the silences and repairing trust within our communities. Lisa works to open pathways to wellness, emancipation, and finding one’s voice in a post-colonial context of everyday oppression, systemic racism, and large-scale political violence. Lisa’s work on trauma started in her community with survivors of organized violence and colonial violence. She was one of the 2017 Concordia public scholars and the first John F. Lemieux fellow for genocide studies in 2018. As the 2020 Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto’ faculty of information, she is working with the “Vansina collection” of Ibitekerezo tales.

Najma Kahiye is a Registered Nurse (RN) and Psychotherapist based in Toronto, Ontario. Throughout her 15 year career, Najma has worked in various roles and settings to support individuals and families seeking housing assistance, income and employment supports, and counselling and addiction services. Most notably, Najma worked as a Counsellor at the Sexual Health Information Line Ontario, and as a Registered Nurse in Moss Park's Consumption and Treatment Service in downtown Toronto, where she provided health and counselling services to people who use drugs. She is formally trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and operates from a strengths-based and trauma informed approach. She is a firm believer in the power of human resiliency and our innate ability to reflect, process and overcome life's challenges.

Brooklyn is a honors Art History and history student at McGill University. She is originally from Atlanta, Georgia and is largely impacted by her Jamaican grandparents who are currently located in the Montréal area.

Brooklyn started at the Black Healing Centre as a volunteer in January of 2023 and currently works as our Events intern. She is passionate about the promotion of Black artists and giving them platforms and opportunities to expand their network and portfolios.