When it comes to culturally safe care, the Indigenous Patient-Led (IPL) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program is forging a path to improve health outcomes by increasing physicians’ ability to provide culturally safe care for Indigenous Peoples in rural and remote BC.
The IPL workshop Nawh Whu’nus’en – We See in Two Worlds: Trauma sensitive practices for collectively healing in relationship, aims to support rural health care professionals in developing cultural humility and the skills to deliver culturally safe, trauma-sensitive care. Offered through the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Division of Continuing Professional Development, the teachings are created and led by Indigenous Elders and patients, Cultural Safety Facilitators, and physicians, ensuring that both patient and clinician experiences directly inform the learning.
“This trauma-sensitive curriculum came out of a realization that many care providers were not equipped with all the tools to enter into culturally sensitive relationships with their Indigenous patients,” explains Elder Cheryl Schweizer, IPL Program Advisory Group member and Nawh Whu’nus’en facilitator. “There are so many layers of understanding to bring forward; we want to start with baby steps to explore the root causes and help providers understand where the patients are coming from and why.”
Supported by the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc) and funded through the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues (JSC), the IPL workshops are rooted in the “Two-Eyed Seeing” methodology. This practice brings Indigenous teachings together with Western trauma theory and neuroscience.
“We weave these teachings together for physicians,” says Elder Cheryl. “It’s about learning the skills but also understanding how to support themselves in this work. The aim is to decolonize the curriculum, name the systems of oppression that are the source of the trauma, and situate the responsibility on the system, not on individuals.”
Program participants have shared how the workshop has already influenced their work and interactions with patients.
“I have used what I learned to help ground a patient and family who were in flight mode during a first consultation,” says one program participant. “The energy in the room shifted. I could feel the patient becoming more present and open.”
For those working in rural and remote health care, Harley Eagle says, it can yield as much value as it does for patients.
“The work we get to do together in strengthening the trauma-sensitive capacity of rural and remote health care providers turns out to be healing for ourselves, too. It has become an activity based on reciprocity and authenticity,” reflects Harley Eagle, cultural safety facilitator.
Continued growth
The IPL program includes three levels of workshops, intended to give a progressive understanding of trauma-sensitive practices and how to support our Indigenous relatives.
Level 1 is a three-hour online workshop offered five times a year and facilitated by N’alaga (Avis) O’Brien, Elder Cheryl Schweizer, Noelle Hanuse, Harley Eagle, and Dr Rahul Gupta, with input from Dr Terri Aldred. Participants explore the systemic impacts of colonization and Indian Hospitals and residential schools, along with the neuroscience of trauma, and its effects on the brain and nervous system.
Even the foundational workshop, Dr Gupta reflects, can have a significant impact on patients.
“This experiential work seems to be helping those in the system, including me, feel more human and free from oppressive mindsets,” Dr Rahul Gupta, integrative medical physician and program facilitator.
Level 2 workshops continue to build on that foundational knowledge, while Level 3 is offered in community as an experiential learning session. These sessions are Nation-led, and build on the power of experiential Indigenous land-based healing practices.
The IPL program aims to support community development of Level 3 land- and Nation-based workshops, expand learning opportunities for those attending Levels 1 and 2 through the Community of Practice, and continue strengthening patient-centred care for Indigenous communities.
Looking ahead
Laura Beamish, senior manager for UBC Rural CPD and a member of the IPL Program Advisory Group, says supporting the program has shifted her whole understanding of the world. She says she’s inspired to see participants leave the workshop wanting to dive deeper into this learning.
An upcoming Level 1 session will be taking place on May 5. To read more about the program and to register, please visit the UBC CPD website.
This program was funded by the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues, a partnership of Doctors of BC and the Government of BC.