We care- Your healing is our healing.

Sawubona! Thank You for Being Here.

I was born Simangele in Zimbabwe, where my roots were planted and nurtured within the Ndebele community. When I immigrated to Canada in 2004, I renamed myself Shayla, hoping a Western-sounding name would open doors to employment. Like many immigrants, I discovered how the pursuit of belonging can sometimes require us to compromise parts of our identity.

Guided by Sankofa, I continue to reclaim my roots, identity, and ancestral ways of knowing. I use she/her pronouns, while we/us honours the Ubuntu philosophy of umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, meaning “I am because we are.” I am not self-made, but a product of my Creator, ancestors, family, and community.

Before my professional titles, I am a granddaughter, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, wife, and mother to three beautiful humans. These relationships ground my identity and remind me that our humanity is relational.

As a multidimensional critical clinical social worker, I walk alongside individuals, practitioners, communities, and organizations through clinical practice, teaching, supervision, consultation, and advocacy. Rooted in Africentric ways of knowing, my work challenges colonial and oppressive systems while honouring cultural wisdom, collective healing, and self-determination.

I believe our well-being cannot be separated from the historical, social, cultural, and systemic conditions shaping our lives. My commitment is to cultivate spaces where dignity, belonging, and collective liberation can flourish.

Beyond your titles, what you do, and what society says you are, who are you?

I invite you to reflect on this question as we honour the past, embrace the present, and co-create liberated futures.

Siyabonga! I look forward to connecting with you and welcoming you into our e-village.