This week on Calling in the Healers, I sit down with Vanessa Johnson (Diné), Assistant Director at Lawrence Montessori School and proud Haskell alumna, to reflect on her journey from New Mexico to 20 years of community-rooted life in Lawrence, Kansas. Vanessa tells us about her journey as an , partner, mom and educator and her work supporting families and peers in early childhood, Vanessa brings wisdom about balance, healing, and the everyday magic of raising children in community.
We talk about:
- Growing up “making it work” and how it shaped Vanessa’s skills of resourcefulness, gratitude, and persistence.
- The role of Haskell Indian Nations University as a beacon for Native students seeking both education and family.
- The Diné teachings of Hózhó (walking in beauty) and what balance means in spiritual, emotional, physical, and community life.
- Montessori as a healing philosophy: independence, empathy, and natural consequences as pathways for children (and parents) to learn new ways of being.
- The crisis in early childhood education—cost, scarcity of care, educator burnout—and the deep healing that comes from trusted, community-rooted schools.
- Vanessa’s own healing journey after a running injury, and what it means to embody “She Who Runs” in a new season of life.
- The Diné tradition of the First Laugh Ceremony, and why laughter is medicine that connects us to ancestors, community, and joy.
- A shoutout to young Indigenous entrepreneur at Apache Selections, and the power of Native-led fashion and business.
