Holli Norberg is a Selkirk College graduate and current instructor. She prepares students for in-demand nursing careers.
Building Connections
Holli shares how connection and collaboration inform her teaching practice and help foster a strong learning community. She talks about her approach to decolonizing her teaching and the importance of relationships, reflection and accountability.
*This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What do you do here at Selkirk College?
I’m a nursing instructor in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program. I pop around between the classroom, psychomotor skills centre and clinical practice settings in our communities.
Along with teaching, I’m involved in a couple of different committees and projects related to Indigenizing education and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).
How did your education at Selkirk College prepare you for the work you do today?
I gained foundational skills I still rely on today, both in my nursing practice and in teaching and learning. It also helped me build lasting relationships with faculty and fellow students, now colleagues.
Coming back as an instructor feels meaningful because I understand both the student experience in this program and nursing in our local communities.
How do you incorporate decolonization in the courses you teach? Why is it important?
For me, decolonizing my teaching starts with relationships—by building community in the classroom, learning from one another and making space for lived experiences. I aim to take a trauma-informed, inclusive approach, incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and be respectful in how Indigenous knowledge is included. I also collaborate with Indigenous Services and incorporate experiential learning with Elders in the Gathering Place when possible. I try to build in flexibility, so students have a choice in how they engage with and demonstrate learning, recognizing that there isn’t one “right” way to learn or show understanding.
I’m still learning, and I’m transparent about the fact that this work is ongoing and requires reflection and accountability. The Teaching and Learning Centre has been an incredibly helpful resource in this journey.
This work is important because it supports a more inclusive and respectful learning environment and helps promote culturally safe care in a health care system still shaped by ongoing colonial impacts and inequities.
This work is also personal to me. My own family experienced trauma from residential schools, and that’s a big part of why I’m committed to teaching in ways that reduce harm and promote safety and belonging.
How do relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples help expand your efforts to decolonize education and practice?
Relationships absolutely inform how I teach and practice—I’ve learned so much through the connections I’ve made, along with engaging with Indigenous scholarship and resources.
Decolonizing education depends on listening to what Indigenous Peoples have already shared about their experiences and the very clear guidance they’ve generously provided.
At this point, the work is about follow-through: putting that into practice to make education safer, more equitable and more accessible. Relationships help keep us accountable and remind us that decolonization is shared work that institutions and all educators need to carry forward.
How does the uniqueness of local communities and our region impact what you teach?
Because our region is relatively remote, nurses here often need to be strong generalists with excellent relational and critical-thinking skills. I emphasize humility, inquiry, relationship-building and advocacy—especially in situations where resources may be limited, and care may involve transfers between facilities or communities.
Compassion, leadership and effective collaboration are essential skills in this context. Students learn quickly that “knowing everything” isn’t the goal, but being adaptable, communicative and patient-centred goes a long way.
How does the Nursing Program reflect connection and collaboration—both among students and between students and community partners?
I feel that the Nursing Program is built on strong connection—students learn alongside each other for four years and form lasting, supportive relationships. We also rely on meaningful partnerships with community practice sites locally and beyond. Many graduates continue to support students in the field through mentorship, and for some, returning to Selkirk College to teach.
The goal is to foster a strong learning community where students are supported by peers, instructors, graduates and practice partners, and where collaboration continues beyond the classroom.