Alaina is deeply grateful for the privilege to call nature connection and cultural repair her life’s work. A cis-gendered woman of Irish, Scottish, English and Metis ancestry, she is deeply grateful for all the teachers she’s had in her life, who directly and indirectly inspired her on this path. As the Owner and Director of Thriving Roots, she is inspired by the journey of life-long learning and the multi-generational quest to cultivate community anchored in connection to place. Questions that keep her up at night include “how do we live in reciprocity with land” and “how can we reconcile our deep relationality with the more than human world while still in a modern paradigm that takes more than it gives?”  

Growing up on traditional Sto:lo Nation Territory in the Fraser Valley, Alaina’s connection to nature was sparked through magical camping trips with her vast extended family and watching her mom affectionately tend her gardens and the all birds, bees and insects around the house. She grew up self-motivated and driven towards leadership mainly in the realms of music, theatre and dance.  At 18 when asked to make a serious decision about what to do with her life, she decided to study Political Science in a French immersion undergrad program at SFU so she could help the world through politics. That inspiration soon fizzled into disillusionment, and after completing her degree and studying in Paris, she turned toward the world of food systems, native plants and ecology as a new framework for seeing human existence and health.

She began teaching food systems and ecology in inner-city public schools of Vancouver, guiding therapeutic horticulture programs at the BC Children and Women’s hospital, and teaching beekeeping in inner city community gardens.  Her continued quest for deeper meaning led her to study at the Wilderness Awareness School for 2 years which blew her inner world wide open. This experience was deeply transformative, and laid a new life path for her in nature connection mentoring and cultural repair. 

On returning to Canada in 2015, she began mentoring with Thriving Roots in Victoria and Wisdom of the Earth on Salt Spring and has been guiding deep nature connection and cultural repair work ever since. She’s continually inspired by Bill Plotkin’s approach to eco-based depth psychology (Animas Valley Institute) as well as Non-Violent Communication and Attachment Parenting. She has done many trainings with Animas Valley and is currently a student in their “Yearlong Soulcraft Immersion: Cultivating Soul-Infused Artistry and Leadership in a Time of Global Change.”

In 2018 she began what became a 5-year quest to secure and purchase land in Victoria for deep nature connection, community, and cultural repair. After 5 tumultuous years, the stars aligned and the land was purchased. Her and her partner Joe Craig now co-own 54 acres in the Highlands with another visionary couple: Stephanie Marchal and Allon Beck. This place is now the primary home for Thriving Roots along with other eco and soul centric retreats, workshops, and community events.

Now committed to this land, her deeper queries are towards right relations with our W̱SÁNEĆ Indigenous Hosts and collective repair and healing for all our future generations.