Patient & Community Voices Workshops: A Meaningful Close to this Year’s Series
The Patient & Community Voices (PCV) workshop series concluded with two final workshops: Rural Health: Beyond the City Limits on February 26 and Substance Use Care: Addressing Stigma in the Health System to Improve Patient Outcomes on March 19. Together, these sessions brought the 2025–2026 series to a close, engaging 90 students across health and human services programs.
For the first time this year, we introduced a new workshop to the PCV series: Rural Health: Beyond the City Limits. This pilot session brought together five panelists with lived experience of rural life across British Columbia, including Fort Nelson, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, and Rossland. They generously shared their stories and perspectives, highlighting both the challenges and strengths of rural healthcare.
Twelve students from Nursing, Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Dietetics participated in the workshop. Through panel and small-group discussions, they engaged directly with panelists and developed a deeper understanding of rural healthcare. Students particularly valued the small-group conversations, describing them as meaningful and impactful. This pilot workshop marks an important step in expanding conversations about health equity, access, and community-centred care in rural settings.
Following a one-year pause, the Substance Use & Stigma workshop—delivered in partnership with the BC Centre on Substance Use—focused on how stigma and discrimination impact individuals and families navigating substance use care. The session featured two community partners with lived experience, whose reflections created space for honest and thoughtful dialogue.
Fourteen students from Nursing, Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, Dietetics, Medicine, Speech and Language Pathology, Dental Hygiene, and Science participated in the session. Through facilitated and small-group discussions, students explored how stigma is experienced and internalized, and reflected on their responsibilities as future healthcare providers in addressing it.
Student feedback across the workshops highlighted the impact of learning directly from lived experience. Participants described the sessions as meaningful, real, and deeply impactful. One student reflected on “the importance of interconnectedness and support of communities and healthcare workers,” while another valued the authenticity of the panelists’ experiences, sharing that “it felt genuinely meaningful and real and raw and as though these are the conversations that need to happen in order to push us forward.” Students also appreciated the opportunity for small-group discussions and expressed a desire for more time to continue these conversations.
Together, these final workshops reinforced key themes that emerged throughout the PCV series: the importance of connection and trust, the need to address stigma and systemic barriers, and the value of centering lived experience in health professions education.
PCPE extends sincere thanks to the community partners who shared their stories so generously, and to the students who participated with openness and curiosity. Across all eight workshops this year, the PCV series continues to play an important role in shaping more compassionate, reflective, and equitable approaches to care.
