Inspiring Light
Background & Vision
Dawn Southey Hills, a teacher, and Malcolm Hills, a District Chief with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, have faced many challenges throughout their lives. Being a blended, first responder family and raising a child with severe special needs, they have often had to seek out support from many different sources to heal their family. Being survivors of mental illness, addiction, PTSD, trauma, and cumulative grief, their road to recovery has been a long and devastating one. Dawn and Malcom tried many different modalities of healing to come back to mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health.
It has taken many incredible individuals, a “Wellness Team” to support them on their journey…Without this collaborative support, recovery would not have been possible. They believe the community is in great need of Wellness Centers that incorporate numerous approaches to healing -- conventional medicine, psychology, complementary and alternative therapies, nutrition and exercise, sleep and spirituality -- all working together to help those who suffer from trauma and their families, create a plan of action for integrated and sustained recovery.
“If a place had existed where our family could have gone to one location to have our multiple mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical needs met, our road to recovery would have decreased our suffering and increased our recovery. We want to take our lived experience and make a positive healing difference in the lives of others.“ - Dawn Southey Hills
Turning their pain into purpose, Dawn and Malcom created the Inspiring Light Foundation in 2018 to support individuals suffering from mental illness, grief, addiction, PTSD and Operational Stress Injury. The foundation started with a purpose to inspire, empower, and support underprivileged and special needs youth. Providing kids and teens with mental health tools to decrease their stress. Teaching them how to create their best lives and give them hope for a brighter future. This has now expanded to helping all who suffer.
