Breaking the Cycles
BY CREATING THE CIRCLES
Stardale empowers former participants, once vulnerable girls, to step forward as powerful leaders. We are closing the circle and creating a new opportunity for growth and empowerment amongst these young women. Their lived experiences bring authenticity and credibility that traditional service models cannot replicate, embedding Indigenous perspectives into mainstream systems and creating systemic change.
Building Your Bundle
Welcome. As you prepare to walk through the lessons and activities of this curriculum, we invite you to understand its heart and its structure through a powerful Indigenous concept: the bundle.
What is a Bundle?
In many Indigenous cultures, a bundle is a sacred collection. It is not merely a group of objects but a living, breathing vessel of responsibility, knowledge, prayer, and spirit. Traditionally, a bundle might be wrapped in hide or cloth and contain items of profound significance: medicines, pipes, feathers, stones, or relics used in ceremony. These items are not souvenirs; they are physical manifestations of relationships, histories, and covenants with the Creator, the land, and the community.
The bundle itself is considered alive with the energy and intention poured into it by its keepers. It is cared for, spoken to, and opened with ceremony, for it carries the prayers and the growth of all those who have contributed to it across generations. It is a sacred trust.
The Stardale Bundle: From Sacred Tradition to Healing Practice
This concept resonated deeply with the creation of Committing. As you will read, the work at Stardale is not just about putting on a play or completing a workshop. It is a foundational practice rooted in community and sisterhood. At Stardale, traditions have grown from shared experiences – like harvest gatherings and feasts, decorating together, or gift-giving at Christmas. These acts are not ceremonies in the traditional Indigenous sense, but meaningful rituals created and cherished by the group, weaving connection and belonging into the fabric of their shared journey.
Helen’s simple traditions, like annual burger outings and group chalk drawings, transformed everyday moments into sacred, joyful acts of belonging and creative expression, embodying Stardale’s practice of making each gathering, story, and artwork a modern bundle infused with connection, resilience, and shared purpose. Elder Wanda teaches that the spaces and stories created at Stardale are sacred. Helen McPhaden reflects that every creative project, performance, book, and video born from Stardale functions as a modern bundle. Each one carries the personal growth, the courageous storytelling, the tears, the laughter, and the committed energy that the girls and facilitators pour into it.This curriculum, therefore, is itself a kind of bundle. It is a collection of sacred knowledge, hard-earned wisdom, and practical activities designed to cleanse energies, align spirits, and help sustain life differently. We offer it to you with that same sense of purpose and respect.
Who is the Stardale Curriculum Bundle For?
The Stardale Curriculum is designed for educators, companies, educational institutions, professionals, and community members who want to deepen their understanding of Indigenous youth suicide, violence, and abuse prevention. It is a culturally respectful, trauma-informed learning tool that equips teachers, workplace leaders, service providers, and practitioners with practical knowledge and awareness to better support Indigenous youth and families. The curriculum is also for anyone committed to becoming more informed, breaking stigma, and contributing to safer, more supportive environments grounded in understanding, respect, and prevention.
“We have created bundles… We flip harm back on itself, cleansing and enlightening every girl-child who touches the work. We put all those energies in, and it becomes almost like a sacred bundle.”
-Helen McPhaden
This is not a path of passive reading. This is an active journey of gathering and reflection. As you move through the Four Directions – Hope, Belonging, Meaning, and Purpose – you will be invited to pause and add to your own personal bundle.
Your bundle is your own. It might be a physical journal, a digital folder, or a collection of meaningful objects you gather. In it, you will collect your insights, answers to reflective prompts, and the pieces of wisdom that resonate with you.
Throughout these pages, you will encounter Reflective Pauses marked with this symbol: ✧
These pauses are your moments to sit with the material, to look inward, and to consciously add a new layer of understanding to your bundle. You might be asked to:
How You Will Carry the Bundle Through This Curriculum:
Reflect on a word from your ancestor's language.
Remember a place where you felt true belonging.
Create a recipe for acceptance.
Prepare cards to harvest your thoughts on hurt and strength.
Each of these activities is designed to help you externalize your learning and create a tangible record of your journey, your own bundle of healing and knowledge.
The Intention of these Activities
The activities within are not simple exercises. They are invitations to engage in a process of:
Decolonizing Learning: Moving away from extracting information and toward building personal and collective wisdom.
Storytelling as Medicine: Honoring your experiences by reflecting on them, shaping them, and understanding their power.
Holistic Growth: Engaging not just your mind, but also your spirit, emotions, and physical being, in alignment with the Four Directions.
Creating a Takeaway: Ensuring that when you finish, you have not just a certificate, but a deeply personal collection of insights that you can carry forward into your life and work.
You are about to begin. We encourage you to find a beautiful journal or create a special space for your bundle. Approach each activity with an open heart and the knowledge that what you are building is sacred unto itself.
You are now a keeper of this bundle. Treat it with care.
