HCA 2022 Wellness Summit: Summary, Resources, and Community Report

Connecting Conversations Session, facilitated by Helen Pethrick, MA (HCA) and Cheyanne Soetaert (HCA)

This session provided dedicated space for the relationships integral to a community of practice. The first breakout intentionally paired participants with similar roles and responsibilities from different organizations to meet colleagues across the province. The second breakout group mixed organizations to give the opportunity to meet someone new and gain a new perspective.

Participants reflected on “What does community mean to someone else in the room?” Their submissions were complied and made this word cloud

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Raising the Partnership Bar, presented by Jocelyne Daw

How do we raise the Partnership Bar? We start by recognizing the existing collaborative work across the province to address the growing demands on resources and increasing complexity of issues. Participants learned practical principles and approaches to building effective partnerships for lasting impact and meaningful improvements in communities, including collaborative leadership, the need for intentionality, and a culture that supports collaboration.

Access the recorded keynote address here: 

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Jocelyne Daw is a recognized innovator and thought leader in the evolution of authentic multiple- sector partnerships to drive innovation and positive social change. She has worked in all three sectors and has helped build dozens of meaningful community partnerships and innovations. Her experience allows her to maneuver effectively across and between all sectors and organizational divides to build trust and positive results.

Jocelyne is an Accredited Partnership Broker and Authorized Practitioner Partnership trainer for the global Partnership Brokers Association. She is an internationally published author and speaker in the field of innovation and partnerships. Through her consulting firm, JS Daw & Associates, she is committed to helping organizations and people build successful partnerships through coaching, training, and facilitation.

For more information visit: www.jsdaw.com 

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Associated resources are available here:

Partnership Lifecycle and Check-In List

Partnership Compass

Further readings mentioned during the Keynote presentation include:

• The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless
  https://www.liberatingstructures.com/
• Building the Bridge as You Walk On It: A Guide for Leading Change by Robert E. Quinn
  https://robertequinn.com/published/ 

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Participants chose to attend one of three community presentations and one of three campus presentations to learn from the knowledge and expertise of peers and seek inspiration for diverse campus contexts. See a brief summary of each session and associated resources below.

Community Presentations included:

• Buddy Up from the Centre for Suicide Prevention with Akash Asif and Seth McVeity

Buddy Up promotes authentic conversations among men and their buddies. Thousands of men die by suicide every year and knowing how to have a conversation with someone we’re worried about can help make a difference in that person’s life. Buddy Up includes awareness-raising materials that direct people to a micro-site of evidence-based, expert vetted suicide prevention resources to help guide men as they talk to their friends.

Resources:

Men and Suicide Toolkit

Become a Champion

• Leading Change^TM from the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters with Alyssa Hartwell

Informed by domestic violence shelters across the province, with a specialization in primary violence prevention, Leading Change™ will provide an informative presentation with a high-level overview of the impacts of coercive and controlling dating violence on student wellness. The presentation will highlight the many ways Leading Change™ can engage with campus communities to build capacity to address student needs around dating violence, including violence prevention, bystander engagement, and creating trauma-informed pathways to support for those who have experienced violence.

Resources:

Leading Change Expansion Pack

Contact: [email protected] 

• Forward with Hope: Protecting the Health and Promoting the Wellbeing of Individuals Impacted by the Stress and Stigma of a Parents Substance Use from Starlings with Agnes Chen

Starlings Community vision is that every child in Canada who is impacted by the stress and stigma of a parent’s substance use is supported to heal.

Resources: 

Find the Forward guide and other resources

Campus presentations included:

• Collaborating for the Promotion of Suicide Prevention Training: An Experiential Learning Opportunity from the University of Calgary with Jacqueline Smith and Athena Liu

This session will share details of an ASIST pilot project being delivered in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary in partnership with the Calgary Centre for Suicide Prevention. The personal narrative of an undergraduate nursing student who witnessed the suicide attempt of a fellow student became the catalyst for her advocacy for suicide training for all undergraduate nursing students. The student project became the stimulus for further funding to expand the delivery of ASIST to faculty and staff in the Faculty of Nursing and to support well-being for all in personal and professional spaces.

Resources:

University of Calgary Suicide Awareness and Prevention 

• Campus Coalitions Role in Creating a Culture of Moderation around Alcohol from the University of Alberta with Christine Cabildo

Awarded the AHS Grant to create alcohol awareness programming on campus, a video centering around social norms’ effects on alcohol use at the University of Alberta campus and provide ways students can stay safe when they use alcohol and a glimpse into what sober connections look like for university students.

See the video here: 

Resources:

Low Risk Drinking Guidelines from AGLC

Preventing Alcohol-Related Harms on Campus from Alberta Health Services

Alberta Health Services Coalition Grant

• Grief Capacity Building Workshops for Faculty, Staff, and Students from the University of Calgary with Julie Stewart

In response to ongoing and increasing experiences of loss and bereavement in our community due issues such as COVID-19 and the drug poisoning crisis, the Campus Mental Health Strategy Implementation Committee identified an opportunity to increase capacity in the campus community to respond to grieving community members with compassion, care, and institutionally appropriate support by fostering greater understanding of the effects of grief and by leveraging the community’s own insider knowledge of living through loss. Keeta Gladue and Julie Stewart, both registered social workers, developed grief capacity-building workshops for faculty, staff, and students and began delivering the program in 2021. This presentation will describe the structure and philosophy of the workshops and how they have supported community members who are supporting others in grief, and those who are grieving themselves.

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Celebration Cards

Participants explored the power in recognizing and celebrating their own, their colleagues, and each other’s efforts behind creating caring campus communities. As part of the mailout package, participants could complete a physical postcard and share a picture of it on Padlet, or write directly on Padlet identifying an idea, program, and other piece of work they would like to celebrate as they read submissions from each other.

See all of the cards here

Share and Celebrate

Participants were invited to reflect on their learnings from the Summit and to celebrate the connection and sharing that happened as we gathered together. On Padlet, attendees shared:

• What they learned from the Summit;
• An action statement to takeaway; and
• One word to describe their experience

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