Latest Projects: Expanding Interprofessional Learning Through Real-World Health Advocacy
In the spring of 2025, PCPE’s Community Engagement Coordinator Mandy Young posed an important question to two long-standing faculty collaborators: What would it look like to expand the Health Advocacy Workshop? How might this learning experience support interprofessional education?
That question sparked the interest from Kara Vogt, Undergraduate Dietetics Program Lead in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, and Tanya Fawkes, Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy. Both instructors have previously co-led the Health Advocacy Workshop. With the support of Mandy, they made the leap to adapt the workshop for interprofessional learning with Dietetics and Occupational Therapy students together.
At the heart of the workshop is a case study drawn from Mandy Young’s family and health journey with her 14-year-old son. Over time, this case study has undergone many iterations and, this year, was thoughtfully customized to support shared learning between Dietetics and OT students. Grounded in real experiences of navigating the healthcare system, the workshop offers students an opportunity to explore advocacy not as theory, but as lived reality.
On Tuesday, January 20, PCPE partnered with the Dietetics and Occupational Therapy programs to host the first-ever interprofessional Health Advocacy Workshop, engaging 155 students across both disciplines.
Feedback suggests the workshop was a success, particularly in its ability to foster reflection, dialogue, and collaborative learning. Students highlighted the value of learning directly from lived experience:
“Bringing in experiential knowledge around advocacy and first-hand experience was extremely beneficial to understand the importance of advocacy in the healthcare system.”
Equally important was the opportunity for students to learn with and from each other.
“We didn’t just state our perspectives—we compared and contrasted them with the goal of learning from one another.”
Another student shared, “I deeply appreciate the opportunity to develop teamwork and connection through learning like this.”
The workshop also drew interest from Kelly Allison, Director of Education at UBC Health and Chair of Field Education in the School of Social Work, who attended to explore how this interprofessional, patient-partnered model might be adapted to support Social Work students in the future.
Next Steps & Call to Action
Building on the success of this pilot, the next step is to explore opportunities to engage additional programs who may be interested in “taking the leap” and joining this interprofessional model in the coming year.
If you are an instructor or program lead curious about integrating patient-partnered, case-based, interprofessional learning into your curriculum, PCPE would love to connect. Together, we can continue to create meaningful learning experiences grounded in real people, real systems, and real collaboration. Please reach out to mandy.young@ubc.ca
