Reintegration Through Relationship Society

About Reintegration Through Relationship Society

Our Mission

The Reintegration Through Relationship Society is a registered non-profit organization in British Columbia dedicated to fostering healing and resilience in our communities by providing transformative support for incarcerated men reintegrating into society. Our mission is to empower individuals through trauma-informed individual and group counselling/programs, provide scholarships for children of incarcerated parents, and continuing education/supervision opportunities for clinicians specializing in trauma-informed care with this population.

We believe in the profound impact of relationships as a catalyst for change, not only for individuals but also for the safety and well-being of our communities at large. By addressing trauma and promoting healing through prosocial and purposeful connections, we aim to reduce recidivism while breaking the cycle of trauma and building a brighter, safer future for all.

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Our Vision

Our Mission

The Reintegration Through Relationship Society envisions a world where justice-involved individuals are supported in reducing a return to criminal behaviours through compassionate, ethical, and trauma-informed care—centering relational connection, personal accountability, and human dignity as pathways to healing and meaningful reintegration. We strive to transform systems of punishment into opportunities for growth, restoring both individuals and communities through the power of relationship.

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Our Philosophy

At the heart of the Reintegration Through Relationship Society is the belief that connection is the catalyst for change. We recognize that harmful behaviour often stems from unaddressed trauma, unmet needs and disrupted attachment, and that healing must occur in the context of safe, respectful, and attuned relationships.

Our approach is ro

Our approach is rooted in:

Trauma-Informed Practice: We understand the impacts of trauma across the lifespan and acknowledge the role that systemic, interpersonal, and intergenerational harm plays in shaping behavior. Our work emphasizes safety, choice, collaboration, trust, and empowerment at every level of service delivery.
Relational Ethics: We center relational accountability, mutual respect, and reflective practice as essential tools in both client support and professional development. We believe that relationships built on consistency, compassion, and boundaries foster the conditions for change.
Cultural Humility and Decolonization: We are committed to ongoing learning, unlearning, and advocating for practices that challenge colonial narratives of justice. We center Indigenous knowledge systems, prioritize cultural safety, and create space for communities to define what healing and reintegration look like on their own terms.
Wholistic Wellbeing: We approach reintegration through a biopsychosocial-spiritual lens, acknowledging the interconnectedness of physical, mental, emotional, relational, sexual, and spiritual health. Our programming fosters whole-person development, not just behaviour modification.
Humanization of Care: We reject dehumanizing labels and punitive frameworks. We see each individual as more than their worst act—worthy of support, dignity, and the opportunity to create new relational narratives.

It is our philosophy that trauma does not excuse behaviour, but it does help us to better understand behaviour and plan for more effective outcomes going forward. Through education, advocacy, and community-based programming, we seek to rebuild relationships, reduce recidivism, and reimagine justice through the healing power of connection.

We are inclusive of race, culture and sexual identities. While we currently offer services to those incarcerated in male facilities, we acknowledge and offer tailored affirmative support to the transgender and Two Spirited individuals who reside there, regardless of documented gender identity.

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Our Team

Our Philosophy

Our team is made up of licensed clinicians who specialize in a variety of areas, including emotional regulation, addiction, relational dysfunction, trauma (childhood trauma, adult-incurred trauma, intergenerational trauma, sexual trauma, etc.), stress-related disorders and problematic sexual behaviour.

We are dedicated to providing person

We are dedicated to providing personalized wholistic care to each of our clients, and are committed to ongoing training and education to stay up-to-date on the latest research and techniques.

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Honouring Truth and Reconciliation Through Practice

The overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the correctional system is a direct outcome of colonization, forced disconnection from culture, intergenerational trauma, and ongoing systemic violence. If we are to offer ethical, meaningful care, we must begin by recognizing this reality.

But recognition alone is not enough.

As clinicians and facilitators of healing, we are called to take action. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) issued 94 Calls to Action to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of reconciliation.

As Reconciliation Education explains:

“The 94 Calls to Action are actionable policy recommendations meant to aid the healing process in two ways: acknowledging the full, horrifying history of the residential school system, and creating systems to prevent these abuses from ever happening again in the future.”
(Reconciliation Education, 2025; TRC, 2015)

At Reintegration Through Relationship Society, we are deeply committed to integrating these Calls to Action into our programs and values. Several of them directly inform our work:

Call to Action #11 emphasizes the need to end the backlog of Indigenous students seeking post-secondary education. RTR Society intends to launch a bursary program to support the children of incarcerated parents in accessing higher education—breaking cycles of systemic harm and investing in future leaders.

Call to Action #19 urges all sectors to close the gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Through our trauma-informed, culturally grounded SOTX programming, RTR Society aims to support emotional, psychological, spiritual, and relational health for Indigenous clients who have been underserved by conventional models of care.

Call to Action #22 calls upon those who can effect change within the health-care system to recognize the value of Indigenous healing practices and collaborate with Indigenous healers and Elders where requested. We honour this call by teaching clinicians to meaningfully incorporate ceremony, land-based healing, and Elder wisdom into primary treatment interventions as a central component of wholistic care.

Call to Action #30 speaks specifically to the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in custody. Our commitment to this call lies in creating intervention programs which reduce recidivism by supporting identity, community connection, and meaningful rehabilitation guided by restorative and transformative justice practices.

Calls to Action #31 and #37 urges governments to provide funding for community-based alternatives to incarceration for Indigenous peoples and to address the underlying causes of offending, while expressing a need for greater support for Indigenous programming in halfway houses. RTR Society is actively working to develop culturally grounded, trauma-informed programming to be delivered both in custody and post-release, with a focus on continuity of care, transformative justice and relational repair.

Call to Action #34 focuses on the need to better support individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) within the criminal justice system, including access to responsive programs and adequate evaluation mechanisms. RTR Society addresses this by teaching clinicians to prioritize responsivity principles when recognizing and adapting programming to support diverse client needs, which will contribute to individual success and long-term community safety.

Call to Action #35 calls on government and correctional agencies to eliminate barriers to Indigenous healing practices in correctional programming. RTR Society’s group and individual therapeutic programs—designed in collaboration with Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and community partners—seek to offer culturally relevant healing inside institutions and throughout the process of reintegration.

Call to Action #36 requests culturally relevant services for Indigenous clients around substance abuse, family violence, and sexual trauma. The Reimagining Rehabilitation program prepares clinicians to offer such services in a trauma-informed manner which centers Indigenous knowledge, honours client autonomy, and builds relational safety.

Call to Action #57 mandates public servants—including justice and health professionals—to receive education on the history of Indigenous peoples, treaties, and residential schools, as well as Indigenous law and Crown-Indigenous relations. The RTR Society responds to this call through training content like today’s module, which equips clinicians to meet their responsibilities with humility, knowledge, and cultural responsiveness.

By integrating the Calls to Action into clinical training, centring Indigenous knowledge systems, and inviting relational accountability into our practice, we begin to lay the foundation for these systems. This is slow, sacred work, and it begins with each of us.

References

Reconciliation Education (2025). What Are the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s 94

Calls to Action & How Are We Working Toward Achieving Them Today? Retrieved from the following website 2025-05-25: https://www.reconciliationeducation.ca/what-are-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-94-calls-to-action#6

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). (2015). Honouring the truth,

reconciling for the future: Summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Retrieved from:

http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Final%20Reports/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf

Meet our Executive Director: Shauna Burns-Thomson, MSc., RCC

Shauna Burns-Thomson (she/her) is a Clinical Sexologist, Registered Clinical Counsellor, Certified Somatic Sex Therapist and Certified Clinical Counselling Hypnotherapist with a passion for advancing trauma-informed care in forensic rehabilitation.

Her commitment to public safety and mental health extends beyond private practice and the non-profit sector. With nearly a decade of experience working in male federal institutions with the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), Shauna has witnessed firsthand the systemic gaps in offender rehabilitation. It was through this experience that she observed how pro-social relationships can lead to a reduction in recidivism, help break cycles of trauma and contribute to safer communities upon release. Shauna’s passion for trauma-informed advocacy in correctional environments led to the formation of the Reintegration Through Relationship Society, a non-profit organization supporting the wholistic reintegration of incarcerated men through compassionate, trauma-informed care.

Shauna’s leadership is reshaping the intersection of correctional rehabilitation, forensic mental health and trauma-informed care. She is passionate about supporting both clients and clinicians, ensuring those who work in this field feel equipped, supported and valued for the enriching services they provide.

Under Shauna’s guidance, the Reintegration Through Relationship Society continues to grow, advocating for ethical, effective and wholistic rehabilitation. Her work is changing narratives, challenging biases and creating real pathways to healing and reintegration.