Cultivating Safe Spaces

Sarah Jessie Tucker, Level 3 Master Facilitator

I have been on a healing journey since 2012. Besides grant writing, I am a poet, storyteller, and genealogist. Throughout my journey, many things have contributed to my healing. A core aspect of the CSS framework and my healing journey is understanding self, which has been crucial in learning self-regulation to manage and recover from my cPTSD symptoms. That's why I'm passionate about facilitating the CSS framework. Check out my CSS profile. I was part of the founding cohort.

CSS directory bio

What is Cultivating Safe Spaces?

A leadership model rooted in Indigenous knowledges, neuroscience, emotional safety, and systems change. The Cultivating Safe Spaces (CSS) Framework was created in 2019 to support communities in trauma-informed facilitation. A relational leadership framework that belonges everywhere people gather — boardrooms, classrooms, councils, movements, and beyond. CSS was founded by Elaine Alec, renowned Indigenous Knowledge Keeper and author. If you are new to Cultivating Safe Spaces, please purchase Elaine's mini e-course by clicking the button below.

Sarah's CSS Offerings

Virtual

Virtual training is available for up to 30 participants. We offer 90-minute, 3-hour, and 5-hour training. When booking a 5-hour training you have the option of creating a full day or 2 half days.

In-Person

Up to 25 participants can attend in-person training. We offer 90-minute, 3-hour, and 5-hour training. When booking a 5-hour training, you have the option of creating a full day or two half days. Sarah would love to be invited to your community. When invited 90km outside of Toronto, there will be extra costs for travel and accommodations.

Areas of Practice

Sarah facilitates Cultivating Safe Spaces workshops that help teams shift from burnout to belonging. She works with nonprofits, artists, law firms, and corporate teams to build trauma-aware, values-aligned cultures rooted in empathy, trust, and accountability. With a focus on Understanding Self, one of the four core conditions, Sarah supports individuals in strengthening emotional awareness, resilience, and authentic leadership.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Cultivating Safe Spaces for?

Cultivating Safe Spaces is for all humans. The CSS framework is a worldview-shifting framework that empowers individuals who may be struggling to understand what trauma, decolonization and reconciliation look like.

What are your rates?

In-person, up to 25 participants, investment ranges from $2,000 - $5,000; virtual, up to 30 participants, investment ranges from $1,200 - $4,000. Sliding scale for limited budgets will be considered, as long as we are maintaining reciprocity for my time and energy (such as a fee, acknowledgment, marketing, or donation). Please contact us in the form below to inquire about sliding scale fees.

What's the format?

Format depends on duration booked. Tyipcially a 3-hour in-person training looks like the following:

Opening circle
Presentation
Breakout groups
Break
Presentation
Breakout groups
Closing circle

What's included?

Participants learn about the CSS framework, colonial vs. decolonial, and what is trauma diagrams. Breakout groups give participants an opportunity to discuss and brainstorm how to apply the framework to their lives and work. Everyone receives a workbook and a link to access their copy of the CSS framework.

What are the benefits?

Benefits include improved communication skills, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, trust building, self-confidence and inclusion. The CSS framework transforms spaces in the following ways:

Bridge awareness with an actionable strategy
Fosters safety, belonging and connection
Navigating hard conversations with resilience
Embeds lasting change, shifting group and organizational dynamics toward inclusivity

Is CSS appropriate for you, a Settler, to be delivering this training?

Cultivating Safe Spaces is for everyone. Sarah was within the founding cohort and is now a licensed facilitator. We pay a yearly fee to maintain our licensed certification. Reconciliation is a shared responsibility. Sarah facilitate CSS in her own way with her lived experience and stories learned through understanding self.

Where can I find more resources?

We highly recommend purchasing and reading Elaine Alec's books, Calling My Spirit Back and Coming of Age. https://www.elainealec.com/

See the cultivating safe spaces podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/5Ihvcos0TUif9BzrF9P8tHSpirit

In the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge that it is a privilege and an honour to live, work, and create on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta. At SJT Writing we are lifelong learners of Truth and Reconciliation and strive to practice decolonization.

Cultivating Safe Spaces

Sarah Jessie Tucker, Level 3 Master Facilitator

What is Cultivating Safe Spaces?