She/Her
Natasha Aruliah identifies as a racialised, immigrant settler, living on the unceded and traditional territories of the sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nations, otherwise known as Vancouver, Canada. She is a Sri Lankan Tamil, who was born and raised in the U.K. and is part of the global Tamil diaspora.
As a psychologist and therapist, Natasha worked in healthcare, higher education, and community settings working with international students, immigrants, refugees, and other marginalised individuals, couples, families, and groups. Working with these individuals and their communities, she witnessed the impact of systems and structures on them and the related trauma. This led to her current work as a trauma-aware facilitator, organisational consultant, educator, and leadership coach focused on JEDdi (social Justice, Equity, Decolonising, diversity, inclusion), and transformational organisational change. With over 25 years of experience, her work is focused on lasting systemic change, grounded in intersectional, interdisciplinary practices integrating cultural humility, emotional intelligence, embodied practice, critical thinking, leadership/management development, transformative organisational change, and equity, social justice, decolonising, and anti-oppression.
She facilitates workshops and retreats; coaches leaders, staff, and board members; conducts organisation assessments; policy and process reviews; and facilitates Affinity/caucus/EGR spaces. This work has included addressing recruitment and selection processes, anti-harassment policy and implementation, progression and retention, client services and outreach, organisational change, team building, organisational climate, culture and psychological safety, conflict resolution, and leadership development. She strives to create spaces for all voices to be brought in and supports dialogue, often difficult and courageous, across difference and on topics that are usually avoided, taboo, and challenging. In particular, she seeks to support organisations and leaders to transform and change in service of their staff and the people they serve.
She has worked in government, union, non-profit, community, and corporate sectors, in the U.K., Europe, Canada, and the U.S.A., and specifically in the areas of education, healthcare, law, public service, and the environment.
Natasha has also taught at several institutions, including the Centre for Intercultural Studies at the University of British Columbia, the Justice Institute of BC, and Simon Fraser University, where she is an associate with the Centre for Dialogue. She is the past president of SIETAR BC (Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research) and still active in the global SIETAR network.
Finally, her work is informed by her personal experience as an immigrant, woman of colour, a parent of bi-racial children, and caregiver to aging, immigrant parents.