The Animist Therapist
Chauntell Dietrich
aka Enchaunti Waroway
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Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist
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Founder of Earth in Sky - Therapeutic Animism
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Ordained Animist Minister
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Animist Practitioner
Experience,Training, Education
McMaster University
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Bachelors of Social Work
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Bachelors of Sociology
Mohawk College
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Child and Youth Work
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Nearly 2 decades of experience working with adults and youth in therapeutic, mental health and post-trauma support settings
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Ordained Animist Minister through the Web of Life Animist Church
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Soul Psychology course with Author and Psychotherapist Thomas Moore
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Spirit Bridge Practitioner Training & DNA Warriors Ancestral Healing Program through Web of Life Animism
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Authentic Life Leadership training with Authentic Revolution
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Reiki Energy Healing and Aqualead Energy Healing
Some of the workshops/trainings I've attended:
Domestic Violence, Mental Health and Substance Use, Motivational Interviewing, Harm Reduction Training, Worry Dragons Seminar, Self-Harm Seminar, Positive Space Training, Child Life Symposium, Cultural Sensitivity Training with Six Nations, Mindfulness and Self-Care Training, Understanding and Managing Aggressive Behaviour Training, Anti-Oppressive and Anti-Racism Training , Trauma Informed Care Training. Dr. Gabor Maté Conference: Attachment, ADHD, and Addictions, True Colours and Love Languages Training, Working With Individuals that Self-Harm Workshop, Palliative Care: Learning Session - Elder Abuse Learning Session, Youth Suicide Prevention training
Hello!
Introductions typically begin with sharing a first name that was chosen for us by our parents and a last name passed down by our ancestors.
Our name symbolizes our attachment to those who came before us.
My given birth name is Chauntell Dietrich.
I have taken the name Enchaunti Waroway to symbolically represent my re-birth into the woman I choose to be. I also like to be called Chaunti!
Beginning with Personal...
I’ve been in the role of supporting others my whole life, shaped by a family lineage marked by both love and deep inherited trauma. The echoes of anger, alcoholism, depression, disconnection, and abuse were woven into my family’s dynamics, shaping the world I grew up in. As a child, I often felt out of place in “normal” reality, retreating into worlds of imagination, story, and magic.
My grandfather, Stanley, read me fables rooted in the animist world. Stories where animals spoke, rivers remembered, and winds carried intention. My aunt Janice opened the door to Final Fantasy VII, sparking a lifelong love for mythic worlds filled with archetypes, grief, love, and belonging. My cousins Amber and Crystal joined me in creating entire imaginary worlds, offering refuge from the heaviness of this one. My mother nurtured my sensitivity and creativity, teaching me to trust what others couldn’t always see.
I was a neurodivergent child with dyspraxia and dyscalculia, along with health challenges. All of this was unknown or misunderstood at the time and I grew up thinking I was just stupid and incompetent. I learned to create games, art, and rhythms that worked for me. Creativity wasn’t just play, it was survival, a way to experience capability, joy, and connection.
At 16, I experienced what would be called a depressive episode. Seeking relief, I turned to counselling and medication, but found myself frustrated by how little support or understanding I recieved. At 17, I began a personal exploration into the nature of depression and the pursuit of happiness, a journey that led me to holistic wellness, spirituality, and animist ways of seeing the world. Over the years, I gathered tools, practices, and wisdom to live in a way that feels alive, whole, and true to my nature.
Along the way, I was supported not only by therapy, nature, art, and community, but also by sacred plant medicines — particularly cannabis in my early adult years and later psilocybin and hapé in my 30s. These allies helped me soften inner barriers, deepen my self-understanding, and reconnect with a sense of wonder and belonging in the world.
I am grateful for every step of this path, especially the painful ones. They have taught me how to love myself in ways I once thought were impossible. Today, I share what I’ve learned to help others remember their own aliveness, creativity, and connection to the web of life.
And on to the Professional
My professional path began in child and youth work, supporting children with behavioural challenges before and after earning my diploma as a Child and Youth Worker. For nine summers, I worked at an outdoor YMCA day camp, and for five years, I coordinated an after-school program. Those years showed me the power of nature, creativity, and play as essential medicines — and how trauma shapes the way children move through the world. I learned that healing doesn’t always happen in a therapist’s office. Sometimes it happens barefoot in the grass, in the middle of a paint-splattered art project, or in a shared laugh that melts tension.
Following this, I pursued my Bachelor of Social Work, completing placements and positions in adult mental health. I worked in both hospital and community settings. I worked with adults carrying severe and persistent mental health diagnoses at St. Joes in patient mental health unit at the hospital and with the community outreach treatment team. These experiences revealed the limitations of mainstream mental health systems and the impact of severe trauma. I saw how systems often fail to address the root causes of suffering, how labels and diagnoses can overshadow the person, and how burnout erodes those trying to help.
It became clear to me that true healing requires more than symptom management. It needs connection, community, ceremony, and relationship with the living world. It also requires space for helpers themselves to be replenished, because care work cannot be sustained from depletion.
Alongside my social work training, I studied Sociology at university and took many religion courses, exploring spiritual traditions of healing from around the world. This curiosity has never left me as I continue studying spiritual and cultural perspectives continues to deepen my understanding of this reality and the many ways humans make meaning.
After graduating in 2012, I worked in a shelter supporting women and children affected by domestic violence. In this role, I offered counselling and education on anti-violence, healthy relationships, non-violent communication, self-esteem, anger, and emotions. These experiences further affirmed my belief that healing must address both the personal and systemic levels of harm.
By 2018, after years of working in hierarchical systems in hospitals, shelters, and agencies I reached a point of deep burnout. I witnessed how those systems often prioritize efficiency and control over relational, human-centered care, and how that environment erodes the well-being of both clients and workers. I stepped away from work for a year to recover, reconnect with my values, and reimagine how I wanted to serve. Out of that time of rest and recalibration, I began creating my own practice that would allow me to work in alignment with my ethics, creativity, and animist worldview.
During this time and the following four years, I immersed myself in trainings and programs focused on animism and energy work, eventually graduating from an Animist Ministry program and becoming an ordained Animist Minister. In my personal life, I experienced the profound benefits of integrating spirituality, holistic healing tools, mythology, and sacred stories into my own growth, which are lessons I now bring into my work with others.
My travels have also deeply shaped my work. From the mountains of Guatemala to the coastlines of Portugal, Italy, France, Spain, and Greece; from the lush jungles of Costa Rica and Thailand to the beaches of Cuba; from the vibrant streets of Mexico to the wild beauty of British Columbia, each place offered its own teachings. I experienced how culture, nature, and community can be woven together in ways that nourish the spirit. I learned from landscapes, from conversations with locals, from music, markets, food, and the rhythm of daily life in different parts of the world. These journeys reminded me that healing is not only an inner process, it is also cultural, ecological, and relational. They inspired me to infuse Earth in Sky with a sense of place and connection that welcomes many ways of knowing, and to create a space where people can feel both rooted and expansive, as if they’ve stepped into a living, breathing world of possibility.
My approach blends trauma-informed therapy, community-based healing, an animist worldview, and creative expression. I facilitate individual and group sessions, sound journeys, journaling circles, community events, and creative workshops with the intention of making healing experiential, relational, and accessible.
This fusion of professional and spiritual paths led to the creation of Earth in Sky Therapeutic Animism, a living sanctuary where social work and animist practice meet. Here, therapy can happen in conversation or in ceremony, indoors or under the open sky. It is a place to gather in person, away from screens, to reconnect with the body, land, and community. Earth in Sky also serves as a home for group offerings, trainings, and a growing vision of helping the helpers — supporting healers, creatives, and community builders so they can continue their work resourced and renewed.
As a social worker, I value evidence-based practice while also recognizing the importance of spiritual and nature-based approaches in holistic healing. As science evolves and we learn more about the origins of human history, I believe we must honour the wisdom that existed prior to colonization and industrialization. True wellness — both personal and planetary — comes from restoring our relationships with the earth, with our own deep knowing, and with each other.
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What does Enchaunti Waroway mean?
Enchaunti is a combination of 3 words:
Enchanted To bestow magic onto or to delight.
I have grown up believing in magic and it has become a big part of how I have found joy in my life.
The magic in our world right now looks different than the magic in a fantasy stories but it's still here! Magic an spirit exists all around us and it can bring miracles into our lives when we connect with it,
We have the ability to make amazing transformation happen and we are starting to wake up to knowing that magic is not fake or evil. Magic is about creating the world we want and using our energy to make it happen.
If we believe in it, it will show itself to us and we can connect with it to create an exuberant life!
Shanti Sanskrit word meaning inner peace, tranquility, bliss.
When we have a connection and trust in ourselves as well as in source/the universe/god/the force, we develop this shanti energy. This is another part of yourself that I want you to discover as a constant companion. You can be at peace while the world hustles and bustles around you and you can get control over your life rather than being tossed around by the energy of other people. May Shanti energy find you well.
Chauntell Name given to me by my mother.
My mom is a magical woman and has been an amazing teacher and support to me. People often spell my name wrong because she spelled it uniquely! It has never bothered me because it reminds me of my uniqueness and the importance to walk my own path in life. The origin of this name also means singer in french. When we sing we are in the flow and connected with the universe. Everything is made up of vibrational frequencies which means we are all one energy field. When we recognize and connect to our oneness with all, we feel fully alive.
Waroway is my grandparent's last name (my mom's parents)
My grandfather was a main caregive to me while my mom worked when I was a child. He played an integral role in my upbringing. I learned from his wisdom and the fables from around the world that he would read me as bed time stories. In so many ways, I wouldn't be me without him. This name also honours my Ukrainian ancestral roots.
"Our task is to live our life in such a way that the soul’s purpose is served by everything we do. This means recognizing the sacred in everyday life and respecting the life and soul in the world around us."
- Thomas Moore