Christie Ladouceur was completing her Master of Counselling at the University of Lethbridge, on the path to becoming a psychologist, when she applied for a Belcourt Brosseau Métis Award (BBMA). At the time, however, the awards did not fund students in graduate or professional programs.
Ladouceur decided to apply anyway, using her application to make the case for why graduate students should be considered. She remembers talking with BBMA founder Herb Belcourt about her decision. “Maybe this is the next phase of our dream,” she recalls him saying.
Her application was successful. In 2010, Ladouceur became the first person in a graduate program to receive a BBMA. Today, she is the recipient of the inaugural Orval Belcourt Anniversary Award for Social Work, recognizing a BBMA alumnus who reflects the compassion, integrity, cultural pride, and commitment to service of its namesake.
“If I hadn’t received a BBMA, I would unequivocally not be a registered psychologist,” she says. For her, the award also meant “that my community supported me and felt confident in investing in my future.”
That investment helped Ladouceur pursue a career in a field where Métis people are significantly underrepresented. She has built a career around culturally responsive care, becoming a registered psychologist in 2014 and opening her own practice, Red River Psychological, in 2017.
Ladouceur works with children, youth, adults, and families, including people from Métis and First Nations communities, and has provided services for Edmonton Public Schools and children in care. “I have the ability to braid my culture and my clinical training and my community together, to provide counselling and assessment that is culturally responsive and respectful,” she says.
Ladouceur has also stayed connected to the BBMAs, helping support the next generation. She has volunteered as a BBMA reader, emcee, and panel member, and served on the celebration planning committee. She’s now chair of the BBMA panel, helping select the students — including graduate students — who will receive the same support she once advocated for.
She also makes time to mentor young Métis people interested in psychology, offering guidance she did not have access to. Whether it’s psychology or a different field, Ladouceur says it’s inspiring to see more students breaking the mold and pursuing education in fields where Métis people have not traditionally been represented.
For Ladouceur, the opportunities she and other BBMA recipients have had are a direct result of the award founders’ dream. “None of us would have these opportunities if it wasn’t for our three founders, who had the vision, the creativity, and the financial generosity to make it possible,” she says.
