Author ArchiveMarch 9, 2019
So pleased to share this new publication by HARC collaborator and soon-to-be-physician, Val Ward, and Dr. Sarah de Leeuw: Web of culture: Critically assessing online mental health resources for Indigenous youth in northern British Columbia using digital storytelling “Traditional sources of health information are no longer meeting needs of young generations, including Indigenous youth, who are increasingly turning to the internet with health–related questions. Research has shown that culturally–tailored health …
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We are thrilled that HARC’s own Jessie King is set to defend her dissertation “‘Niit nüüyu gwa’a: Deconstructing Identities” this coming April! Please join us on April 15th at 9:00am in the Gathering Place on the UNBC campus (room 5-123) to learn about this exciting work. Jessie is a candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences. Chair: Dr. Todd Whitcombe( University of Northern British Columbia); The examining …
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We are thrilled to share a new publication by Dr. Sarah de Leeuw, Dr. Courtney Donovan and Nicole Schafenacker (MA) and featuring nine cross disciplinary pieces including poetry and graphic medicine: “In recent years, both within and beyond academic and clinical spheres, medical and health humanities have become increasingly influential. Drawing from interdisciplinary fields in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts, medical and health humanities present unique lenses for …
Read MoreWe are very happy to share a recording of the “Health Humanities and Unsettling Colonial Medicine” webinar, a joint effort between National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (NCCAH) and the Health Arts Research Centre (HARC)! This online recording is available on a number of platforms: Please see the link available on the NCCAH website here. The recording is also available to watch on YouTube (click here), or alternately to listen …
Read MoreFebruary 10, 2019
Notions and Bundles: The Biases and Gifts We Bring to a Blanket of Cultural Respect is a three-hour, open-ended and strengths-based workshop designed to encourage storied critical self-reflection about cultural respect, especially as enacted by non-Indigenous settler peoples with Indigenous children, families, communities and people. The workshop is anchored in two simple premises. First, every person has biases and gifts, both of which inform cultural relationships. Second, when heads, hands, AND …
Read MoreOctober 11, 2018
This September marked the culmination of two tremendous thesis projects by HARC researchers Katriona Auerbach and Melissa Johnson. We are thrilled to now have Katriona onboard as a HARC Research Associate where she will continue working with the Northern Medical Program to provide future physicians with immersive experiences in Indigenous communities and on the land, and we wish Melissa every success as she begins her PhD on rhetorically pathologized bodies …
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On September 26th, over 30 youth from northern BC and interested community members attended a night of performances dedicated to imagining healthy environments and communities in northern BC. Before the evening performances, Filipino youth from Prince George joined in an arts and music workshop led by Kimmortal. Appreciated by local Filipinx as a “rare opportunity for youth in the community,” the participants were encouraged to use rhymes, writing, and drawings …
Read MoreOctober 3, 2018
In September the Health Arts Research Centre staff had the opportunity to take part in the Carrier Sekani Family Services Carrier Culture Training – Nowh Guna’ Tseh. Led by Elders and healthcare professionals Sarah Hein and Barby Skaling in collaboration with CSFS Director Marlaena Mann, this training was both deeply informative and connected to the history of colonization and injustice in the Prince George and surrounding area. Including personal stories …
Read MoreSeptember 27, 2018
Students and staff associated with the Health Arts Research Centre (HARC) joined with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) to offer a fun and family friendly creative outlet to evacuees staying in Prince George. All were invited to attend the Saturday session and given the supplies and space to create their own unique t-shirt, and the results were truly inspiring! Participants chose from a variety of fabric markers and fabric …
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This spring, the Health Arts Research Centre staff was involved in a Northern Medical Program student-led project entitled Brains on Canvas. This project was the result of UBC’s FLEX curriculum, a mandatory research component of the Medical Undergraduate program for students in years 1, 2, and 4. The project team includedfirst-year medical students Daveen Panesar, Deanna Klonarakis, and Nick Brocher, Dr. Alina Constantin, Assistant Director of Anatomy with the NMP, and Charis Alderfer-Mumma, a board-certified Art Therapist and …
Read MoreJune 11, 2018
The Health Arts Research Centre is very excited to share about a recently developed partnership project with Dr. Terri Aldred, Indigenous Family Physician, and the northern BC community of Nadleh Whut’En. The “Envisioning Health with Nadleh Whut’En” project began in the spring of 2018 and will gather monthly over the coming year, employing arts, community- and strengths-based approaches to explore what optimal health and wellness means to community members of all ages. Evening gatherings include socializing around a meal and participating in individual and group expression through a variety of …
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This spring, the Health Arts Research Centre, Prince George Native Friendship Centre and First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) worked together to gather and highlight Indigenous youth artwork in a colouring book provided to attendees of the FNHA Northern Regional Caucus. The multi-day caucus brought together Indigenous Knowledge Holders and Elders and northern BC healthcare leaders to discuss accomplishments, needs, strengths and goals related to health and healthcare services in northern …
Read MoreApril 23, 2018
We are pleased to share two recent publications by Dr. Sarah de Leeuw: Writing as righting: Truth and reconciliation, poetics, and new geo-graphing in colonial Canada and Challenges in health equity for Indigenous peoples in Canada by Sarah de Leeuw, Margaret Greenwood and Nicole Lindsay. Take a moment to delve into these arts-based research informed pieces as we as Canadians navigate our collective responsibility within reconciliation. As de Leeuw says in Writing as righting, ”Undertaking logical, linear, or even coherent …
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We are very pleased to share the work of Victoria Bass, a student of the Southern Medical Program at UBC. In a true example of the meeting point bewteen art and medicine she has designed a research poster, What’s Happening to Me? Exploring Transformation in Medical Education Through Poetry. An intersection of autoethnography, poetic inquiry and grounded theory, Bass uses graphic means to capture the journey of transformation to becoming a physician. Go Victoria! Victoria Bass is a …
Read MoreJanuary 23, 2018
It’s with great pleasure that we are sharing the newly completed thesis How We Die in Canada by HARC committee advisor, Caroline Shooner, a family physician based in Haida Gwaii. She undertakes the challenging terrain posed to physicians by the topic of medically assisted suicide through a literary analysis of All My Puny Sorrows written by Canadian author Miriam Toews, and inquires into the complexity of patient and caregiver narratives when facing this …
Read MoreJanuary 3, 2018
Happy New Year from HARC! One of the highlights of 2017 was our 5-session series of Art Days at the New Hope Society. Participants crafted wind chimes and wire tree sculptures (with or without bead embellishments) and hand-dyed card-making paper just in time for the holidays. As usual, it was amazing to see the art creations that came out of our time together! Thank you to everyone at New Hope Society …
Read MoreNovember 21, 2017
Hoping this finds you enjoying these soft, reflective November days. HARC director Dr. Sarah de Leeuw, and Dr. Margot Greenwood have recently published “Turning a New Page: cultural safety, critical literary interventions, truth and reconciliation and the crisis of child welfare.” Have a read or, better yet, a listen! Turning a New Page_de Leeuw-Greenwood For the audio version (ie cozy listens!), click below:
Read MoreSeptember 7, 2017
HARC is over-the-moon-excited to introduce our newest crew members Omolara Odulaja and May Farrales: Omolara is beginning her PhD with us and is an internationally trained physician with an MBBS degree from University of Ibadan Nigeria (equivalent of MD in North America) and a Master of Public Health degree from Western University, London, ON. She is interested in the health of marginalized populations and while completing her masters in Ontario she …
Read MoreAugust 6, 2017
We have some new goodies to share with you for your reading pleasure by HARC director, Dr. Sarah de Leeuw. Check out these recent publications! Gender, Place and Culture: Critical geographies and geography’s creative re/turn: poetics and practices for new disciplinary space Canadian Geographer: Going unscripted: A call to critically engage storytelling methods and methodologies in geography and the medical-health sciences Where it Hurts: Essays
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HARC is honoured to be working with Indigenous healthcare providers to engage in dialogues on creating safer and more inclusive work environments for Indigenous peoples working in healthcare. Read more about this initiative and the creative brainstorming that took place at the BCNU Convention this past spring: https://issuu.com/bcnursesunion/docs/update_jul-aug2017?e=7272743/50953323
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