Nancy Harn

Nancy Harn is Mi’kmaw from the community of Ugpi’ganjig, and since 2019, she has been the Coordinator of the Ntulsonawt Wellness Centre. Ntulsonawt is a Wolastoq word that translates into English as “One’s personal path to strength and wellness” – it was gifted to the centre by Elder Imelda Perley. As Coordinator of this essential space within the Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre, Nancy provides Indigenous students with culturally appropriate counselling services as well as opportunities to gather and to participate in a variety of workshops and events that are rich in Indigenous traditions and ways of being.

In 2004, Nancy moved with her family to Fredericton to pursue her own post-secondary studies. She began in the MWC Bridging Year as a mature student and went on to complete her First Nations Business Administration Certificate and her Bachelor of Business Administration. From watching family members proceed through their own Business degrees and certifications, she knew that these programs could offer her with a powerful and practical foundation for getting organized, being resourceful – and for recognizing what she needed to do next. The path towards her counselling practice was ultimately determined through her interactions with Indigenous students as she gained a deeper understanding of the needs of many of those students along with her own desire to help meet those needs.

The Ntulsonawt Wellness Centre was a direct result from Nancy’s practicum in the MEd counselling program, and after completion of this program, she helped create the curriculum for the Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Counselling. Today, she teaches courses in that program, and she is part of many working groups on campus, including the Ekpahak group, the student BIPOC group, the TRC Nursing team, and the UNB Student Intervention Team. She is a Certified Canadian Counsellor (through the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association), and her professional experience includes more than 25 years of work in the field of First Nations education, both in community and post-secondary institutions. She provides counselling services to the larger Indigenous community through the Under One Sky Friendship Centre.

Nancy resides in Fredericton with her husband, Charles, and she has three grown children, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. She values her role as an Indigenous Student Counsellor and embraces every opportunity to assist students with their overall wellbeing as they seek to manage their journeys as well as their time at UNB.