Recent Work
Recent, current and ongoing activities, initiatives and projects exploring the relationships between creative expression, the arts, health and healing in the north. Through our works, HARC, our partners and collaborators strive to create and sustain a dynamic, inclusive, strengths-based forum for innovative inquiry and practice around renewing and expanding health, wellness and well-being in northern communities.
December 2, 2022
On March 1, 2022, HARC began work on a CIHR Quadruple Aims funded project called Catalyzing H.E.A.L. Medicine: Humanities Education and Anticolonial Learning for the Transformation of Medical Learning and Healthcare Delivery in Canada. The objectives for the project are: Produce a comprehensive, accessible, fully synthesized and analyzed repository of international knowledges and evidences about roles critical health humanities have played globally in mitigating health inequities. Translate for Knowledge Users …
Read MoreNovember 29, 2022
This Fall, Lauren Aldred (HARC Advisory Committee member) facilitated a series of workshops in Prince George and Prince Rupert entitled the Creation Series, which focused on Land-based Healing and Wellness. Participants were invited to listen to Elders’ storytelling, to learn more about healing from the land through walkabouts, to create salves and soaps with ethically wild crafted sage and lavender, and to share back most of the salves and soaps …
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On November 29th, HARC Research Trainee, Kelsey Chamberlin, presented at the BC Rural Health Research Exchange (BCRHRx) hosted by the Rural Care Coordination Centre of BC. Kelsey presented on her master’s thesis research, which explores perinatal well-being of young people in rural, northern, and Indigenous geographies. The BCRHRx is a virtual half-day of rurally focused health research presentations intended to answer the question: “What sort of rural research is happening …
Read MoreNovember 22, 2022
Hosted by the Canadian Network for Arts and Learning, HARC Research Manager, Marion Erickson along with Film Maker, Kelly Roulette presented at an Eduart Hub entitled “The role of the arts in addressing health and wellbeing in schools and communities” in Vancouver on October 17th. During this event Erickson and Roulette collaborated on a presentation entitled “Creative Anti-Colonial Social Justice: Introducing Work by the Health Arts Research Centre (HARC).” Attendees, …
Read MoreNovember 14, 2022
In May 2022, HARC launched the “Be/Cause You Care Box”. Since May, we have fulfilled 102 subscriptions to the box, which contains interactive materials for health care providers in Northern BC to learn about anti-Indigenous racism in the health care system. Met with huge success, health care providers from all over BC have shown great interest in this type of learning resource. On October 13th, HARC Research Manager, Lisa Striegler, …
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HARC seeks proposals for a project entitled H.E.A.L. Healthcare: Hearts-based Education and Anti-colonial Learning. If you have ever had an idea (or an experience) that you think would be good for teaching healthcare students and/or professionals how to become conscious of their biases (that land on them via colonialism, LGBTQ2S+phobias, placeism, fatphobia, ableism, and more) and how to, well… maybe… fix/respond to/address them, then please we’d like to hear from …
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We are pleased to report another successful year of Indigenous Summer Science! This year we ran another hybrid program with over 15 youth from 5 communities participating in in-person activities at the UNBC campus and 87 youth from 3 communities joining our remote camp. Check out the 2022 Summer Science Camp Video for a recap of all the activities enjoyed by participants!
Read MoreNovember 11, 2022
On October 20th, HARC Research Managers, Lisa Striegler and Marion Erickson, facilitated a workshop entitled: All Our Parts: Learning to See Ourselves and the World Around Us with Critical Empathy. Eighteen staff members from the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCBC) joined in this interactive session in which they turned painful body parts into beautiful constellations of colour and healing; they learned Dakelh words for key body parts; they acknowledged unconscious …
Read MoreOctober 11, 2022
At the end of September 2022, PhD Candidate in Health Sciences, Christine Añonuevo led a group of students, professors, artists and health science researchers affiliated with the Health Arts Research Centre (HARC) through a basket-making workshop. The workshop asked the participants to reflect on their personal and cultural memories of weaving, what ethics of care they enliven when harvesting materials on territories and finally, what fills your personal wellness basket? …
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On September 29th, HARC contributor, Dr Darian Goldin-Stahl, presented at the 3rd annual Health Advocacy Summit held by Generation Patient, an organization that works to empower young adults with chronic medical disabilities. Darian led the workshop, “Body Books: A Therapeutic, Interactive Session,” in which attendees explored the use of art to cope with a chronic condition and maintain one’s mental well-being.
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INNOVATIONS 2022, (Group Exhibition) 31st Annual International Open Juried Exhibition of ISEA, Art Gallery of St. Albert, AB. August 2022. Connections, (Group Exhibition), Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute at the University of Alberta, McMullen Gallery, Edmonton, AB. August 2022. Medical Mythos, (Solo Exhibition), Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, BC, September 2022 Medical Mythos explores our complex stories of healthcare and illness in ways that are enstranging, surreal, and enchanting. Merging eras …
Read MoreOctober 3, 2022
HARC contributor and PhD candidate, Christine Añonuevo was part of two panel presentations at the FilipiNEXT conference at York University in July 2022. https://filipinext.ca/ Along with HARC advisory member, Dr. May Farrales, Christine engaged with approximately 60 Filipinx artists and scholars through a transdisciplinary workshop that engaged in creative and generative discussions around Filipinx Studies emerging from the Canadian context and beyond. The following questions were explored: What tensions, aspirations, …
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We are pleased to announce the publication of ‘Introduction to Determinants of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples’ Health in Canada’ edited by HARC director, Sarah de Leeuw, along with Margo Greenwood, Roberta Stout, Roseann Larstone, and Julie Sutherland. Contributions to this critical new volume are made by HARC collaborators, Christine Añonuevo, Lisa Boivin, Onyx Sloan Morgan, and Laura McNab-Coombs. Purchase your copy today at your local independent bookstore or from …
Read MoreJuly 8, 2022
A brief snapshot from Project ART (Art, Relationships, Therapy) – a collaboration between the College of New Caledonia and HARC! What an amazing year of ART!
Read MoreJune 16, 2022
On May 15, Sarah de Leeuw, Kung Jaadee, and Darian Goldin Stahl presented a 2-hour workshop at the Rural Health Conference in Penticton, BC. This interactive session entitled, “Caring to Care: Health Humanities, Cultural Humility, Storytelling, and Physician Wellness in Northern, Rural, and Remote British Columbia,” had 27 rural physicians in attendance. Workshop Description: This interactive plenary was designed to move hearts and minds: it built on the starting point …
Read MoreMay 27, 2022
On May 24th, the HARC Advisory Committee and the HARC team met online for a wonderful afternoon of art and reflection on all the workshops, projects, and activities completed over the past year at the Health Arts Research Centre. During the meeting, HARC Research Director, Dr Sarah de Leeuw, crafted a beautiful poem out of the words shared throughout the meeting.
Read MoreMay 5, 2022
On Thursday April 28, 2022, HARC contributors Dr Sarah de Leeuw, Marion Erickson, and Laura McNab-Coombs facilitated a workshop at the Realities of Northern Oncology Conference at University Hospital of Northern British Columbia in Prince George. The hybrid workshop, titled PRACTICING YOUR BEST MEDICINE: PREPARING FOR INDIGENOUS PATIENTS, had roughly 75 attendees who joined in-person and online. The workshop explored current conversations about working with Indigenous peoples and communities, applying …
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On Friday, April 29th, HARC facilitated a visioning exercise for the first in-person gathering of the Advisory Group for the Elder Wellness Project, an initiative focused on strengthening mental wellness and suicide prevention for Elders in the northern Interior. The Elder Wellness Project is funded by a 5-year $1.5M grant received in 2019 by Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) and UNBC. HARC Research Director, Dr Sarah de Leeuw represents UNBC …
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Indigenous Summer Science Application (Click to Download)
Read MoreApril 27, 2022
In British Columbia, there has been public conversation about anti-Indigenous racism in the healthcare system. There have also been nation-wide conversations and public responses to anti-indigenous racism, the role of White privilege and systemic racism, authentic allyship, and the need for more anti-racist actions. The Health Arts Research Centre in the Northern Medical Program at UNBC, Northern Health, Indigenous Health, UBC Anti-Racism Initiatives, and the team from You Need …
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