Health Mentors Program
Started in 2011, the Health Mentors program is a longitudinal program for students from different health disciplines to learn from and with a mentor who has a chronic condition or disability, or is a caregiver. Groups (four students and a mentor) meet several times a semester, focusing on a specific health care topic at each meeting. Groups are self-directed with the mentor as the primary teacher. Students have a faculty supervisor from their professional program who reads the reflective journals written after each meeting.
Participating programs: Audiology, Dentistry, Clinical Psychology, Genetic Counselling, Kinesiology, Medicine, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology.
Mentors have a wide range of experiences with the health care system and expertise in managing conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, HIV, mental health, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or stroke.
Program Highlights
The program helps students learn about chronic disease and about the range of work involved in chronic disease self -management from the perspective of the patient and family. Students explore their roles as individual practitioners and interprofessional teams in supporting patients and caregivers
The program helps students develop interprofessional competencies in patient-centred care. The goal is for students to understand and value the patients’ individual experience and involve the patient as a partner in health care – sharing power and responsibility.
The program permits students to meet discipline-specific objectives in related topics such as the social determinants of health and communication skills.
