Patient & Community Voices: Our Last Workshop of 2021-2022!

On May 4, 2022, we partnered with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS), a provincial organization with a twenty-year history of providing services to Indian Residential School Survivors, to put on the last workshop of the 2021-2022 Patient & Community Voices workshop series. Stereotypes, Truth & Moving towards Reconciliation in Health Care was attended by 12 students from eight different disciplines including Counselling Psychology, Education, Medicine, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Psychology, International Relations, and Occupational Therapy. 

In this workshop students heard from a residential school survivor, as well as in intergenerational survivor. They discussed professional and personal stereotypes, learned about the historical underpinnings of the Indian Residential School system and the impacts of this system in Canada. It was an opportunity for students to reflect and dialogue on the role of health care providers in reconciliation. Students rated the workshop 4.67 out of 5 compared to other educational experiences they had about working with underserved populations.

“This was a very powerful workshop. I learned about some more resources relating to supporting clients as well as very specific actions that may be triggering or not–this was helpful.,” said a Counselling Psychology Student. 

“The most important takeaway from the workshop personally was the distinction between cultural agility vs. cultural competency. When Jeremy first mentioned and explained the term, it made a lot of sense that no one practitioner will be able to fully understand every culture that they interact with due to the mere diversity of cultures. I think that this concept may also put less pressure on providers and practitioners to be the “know-it-all” when providing care, but allows them to interact as people and helps breaks down those power imbalances created by the nature of health care.,” said a Psychology Student.

“We really appreciated the opportunity to share with the participants. Their attentiveness, insight and questions were heartfelt and mean a lot to our team of presenters. IRSSS believes this is truly in favour of Truth and Reconciliation. We look forward to future opportunities to connect and exchange ideas.,” said Wesley Scott, Resolution Health Support Worker and Workshop Coordinator, IRSSS.