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 Speaking & Events

Upcoming Events

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Saturday, 11 July 2026
Book Fair by the Sea

(Part of the Read by the Sea Literary Festival)

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11am-2pm

River John Fire Hall 

32 School Street, River John, NS

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Thursday, 8 October 2026
Blind Date With a Book Speed Dating Night
 

6:30-7:30pm
Dartmouth Book Exchange
1187A Cole Harbour Rd, Dartmouth NS
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For our Speed Dating event, Blind Date books use their first line(s) as their “pick-up” lines, so Michelle will be here to tell us all about first lines: how she came up with her first line and their importance. She’ll also discuss her novel, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. There will be games and lots of laughter. Dress to impress.

 

This is an adult event. A $12.60 fee- pre-registration is required for this event to monitor numbers. You can register at the store, by phone with a credit card at 902-435-1207, or by e-transfer to dbex1187@gmail.com. 

Speeches & Media 

Michelle Hébert has an MFA in creative nonfiction and a Master of Social Work degree. She combines this background with her lived trauma experience to provide creative insights and approaches to healing and resilience, as well as informed discourse on the mental health system, social policy, and the impact of misogyny and stigma.

 

She is available for interviews, articles, podcasts, and speaking engagements, where she shares her expertise on trauma recovery, women’s resilience, stigma, and the healing power of creativity. 

Mental Health & Trauma

​Topics for media, speaking engagements, and university lectures can include:

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  • Trauma-informed writing: caring for yourself & your reader when writing about difficult things

  • The cost of not being believed: Misogyny, rape culture, and women's mental health

  • “You don’t look sick to me”: Women, Masking, and Complex Trauma

  • Trauma-Informed Workplaces: Why saying ‘Let’s Talk’ ​isn't enough

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The History of Social Work & Social Policy in Canada
 

My book, Enriched By Catastrophe: Social Work and Social Conflict after the Halifax Explosion, describes how social work and social policy developed after the worst human-made explosion prior to the atomic bomb – in the Atlantic Canada port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917. I've spoken to national and international media and conferences about how policy decisions made over a century ago still shape Halifax, disaster relief, public health, and the profession of social work.​

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Topics for media, speaking engagements, and university lectures can include:

 

  • The development of social work and public health as a result of the Halifax Explosion

  • How racist and classist policy decisions made in 1917 still impact Nova Scotia today

  • The lessons of the 1917 Explosion for current disaster response

  • Women's roles in developing social work in Canada

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Have other ideas about how we can work together? Contact me!
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