How to Work with Interpreters
March 2016
Healthcare Interpreting is a professional skill. Healthcare Interpreters are bilingual, trained in medical terminology and perform under a strict code of professional ethics, which ensures their services to be impartial and confidential. In this workshop, a healthcare interpreter will share her specialty and experience to enhance participants’ understanding of how to work with healthcare interpreters in multicultural clinical settings.
Positive Reflections and Voices Unheard: Learning from Persons Living with HIV
March 2016
This workshop will introduced students to the challenges of living with HIV through personal stories and reflections of community members living with this health concern. Students will also receive information about support and advocacy resources available within Vancouver-based community organizations serving persons living with HIV. The workshop was led by community educators from the Positive Living Society of BC.
Talk is Cheap: Living and Communication With Aphasia
February 2016, March 2016
The meeting gave students the opportunity to learn what life is like with aphasia – a communication disorder that is the result of brain injury, most commonly stroke. Experts with aphasia presented information about their communication challenges and describe their experiences. Next, workshop presenters and attendees will broke into small groups to allow for more intimate discussions and provided students with a chance to ask questions.
Cold Water Bath Ceremony
May 2015
Students were invited to participate in a First Nations Cold Water Bath Ceremony, where they learned about the ceremony’s cultural significance and role in First Nations life.
How to Work with Interpreters
March 2015
Healthcare Interpreting is a professional skill. Healthcare Interpreters are bilingual, trained in medical terminology and perform under a strict code of professional ethics, which ensures their services to be impartial and confidential. In this workshop, a healthcare interpreter shared their experience to enhance participants’ understanding of how to work with healthcare interpreters in multicultural clinical settings. Students learned from and with other students in different disciplines about how an interpreter fits in in the health care team.
Stereotypes, Truth and Moving towards Reconciliation: What health professional students need to know about First Nations history.
March 2015
First Nations people are one of the fastest growing populations in Canada. Relationships between health care providers and First Nations’ patients are complicated by cultural differences and enduring effects of colonization, such as residential schools. As health care providers students will have interactions with many First Nations and it is important to first have an understanding of their history and how this information can be used to help build trust and improve services to Aboriginal clients. This workshop provides students with the opportunity to hear from survivors of the residential school system, break down professional and personal stereotypes, speak with students from other health professional programs, and participate in a holistic learning experience. There is also an opportunity to reflect on the role of health care providers in the reconciliation process.
Personal Experiences With Epilepsy
March 2013, March 2012, November 2009, March 2009
Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the brain that is characterized by recurrent seizures. In this workshop, community educators from the BC Epilepsy Society shared their lived experiences with this health concern, including impacts on lifestyle, employment, relationships and activity. Students also learned about some common approaches to management of epilepsy and identified health professional approaches to create positive interactions with clients who have this health concern.
Talk is Cheap: Living and Communicating with Aphasia
February 2013, November 2011, June 2011
The meeting gave students the opportunity to learn what life is like with aphasia – a communication disorder that is the result of brain injury, most commonly stroke. Experts with aphasia presented information about their communication challenges and described their experiences.
Positive Reflections and Voices Unheard: Learning from Persons Living with HIV
November, 2013, February 2013, November 2012, January & February 2012, November 2010, June 2010
These workshops introduced students to the challenges of living with HIV through personal stories and reflections of community members living with this health concern. Students also received information about support and advocacy resources available within Vancouver-based community organizations serving persons living with HIV. The workshop was led by community educators from the Positive Living Society of BC.
Living a Life of Recovery with Mental Illness
February 2012, November 2012
Members of the Recovery Narrative Project shared their varied life experiences both in and out of the community mental health system. Students learned about mental illness and recovery, including the stigma of mental illness, how quality of life helps the journey of recovery, and the holistic care needed for mental and physical health. This workshop emphasized the shift in the mental health system (Consumers, Family/Supporters/ Service Providers) from a medical model of mental health and illness (‘something is broken, try to fix it’) to a recovery model (patient-centred, building upon the individual’s strengths).
A New Tale on an Age-Old Issue: Meet Four Faces of Arthritis
March 2012
Did you know that “arthritis” refers to not just one disease, but more than 100 different diseases affecting the joints as well as other parts of the body? Often misunderstood as a disease of the elderly, arthritis can start as early as infancy and last a lifetime. In this workshop, Community Educators living with four different forms of arthritis in various stages of the life-course will share their lived experiences and expertise. Students will learn about the daily challenges of living with arthritis, identify ways to empower and support future clients, and learn strategies for early diagnosis.
Linking Bridges: Mental Health Awareness Workshop
March 2012, January 2011, October 2008
This workshop introduced students to some of the challenges of living with mental illness, through personal stories and reflections of community educators from the Richmond Mental Health Consumer and Friends Society (RCFC). Students learned from community educators’ personal experiences of peer support, recovery and stigma, as well as (mis)communication in diagnosis and life-time management of mental health issues.
Residential School Survivors Community Educators Workshop
January 2010, June 2009
Community educators presented sensitive material around stigmatization, discrimination, trauma, abuse and violence.
Rheumatic Diseases Community Educators Workshop
November 2009, April 2009
This workshop introduced students to patients living with different types of rheumatic disease.
Canadian Mental Health Association Community Educators Workshop
November 2008
This workshop introduced students to some of the challenges of living with mental illness through creative and interactive activities designed by community educators.