Through a rich spread of stories, this interactive workshop series will explore narrative as a vehicle for self-care and care of others.

As practitioners, what fuels us so we can do the demanding work of healthcare without burning out? As patients, what feeds us so we can live full, healthy lives? And how can we interdependently cultivate self-care and our care of others?

Narrative-based medicine offers transformative, accessible, and often under-utilized methods for exploring professional stress and promoting well-being. Through engaging with literary and artistic texts, reflective writing, and sharing in supportive collegiality, we will develop tools for sustainable resilience that you can use personally and in professional practice.

The 4 workshops that comprise this series will encourage us to slow down, unwind, de-stress, and practice self-care through creative expression and allow breathing space for us to reflect on our work at a deeper level. Through our work, we’ll appreciate how nourishing the individual at the root of the system can build more resilient healthcare communities.

Learning Objectives

This series will encourage participants to:

• Promote self-care through narrative-based medicine
• Explore the connection between reading, writing, and well-being
• Enhance skills of attention, reflection, and representation through hands-on activities

Target Audience

The series is open to healthcare providers, educators, and all who are interested in narrative-based medicine. Both people with experience in narrative-based medicine and those new to it are welcome.

Session Dates & Times

This is a relaxing and interactive workshop series that will involve group discussion along with guided reading and writing exercises. The bi-weekly format allows for a deeper and more longitudinal exploration of this topic, as well as opportunities to build narrative skills in day-to-day life between the 4 sessions

Sessions will take place online from 6:00 – 8:30 pm ET. The dates are:

• Wednesday, October 9, 2024
• Wednesday, October 23, 2024
• Wednesday, November 6, 2024
• Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Instructor

Alisha Kaplan is a poet, educator, and practitioner of narrative medicine. Using the arts, she works with health professionals and patients to reinvigorate medicine with care and humanity.

Alisha holds an MFA in Poetry from New York University and an MS in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. Her debut collection of poems, Qorbanot: Offerings, a collaboration with artist Tobi Kahn, won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award from the League of Canadian Poets.

Alisha is a recipient of a Rona Jaffe Fellowship and winner of the Hippocrates Prize in Poetry and Medicine, the W.B. Yeats Society of New York Poetry Competition, and the Eden Mills Writers Festival Literary Contest. Her writing has appeared in PRISM International, Carousel, Fence, Lilith, The New Quarterly, and elsewhere. Alisha splits her time between Toronto and Bela Farm. Learn more on her website.

Fee

The program fee is $660 CAD plus 13% HST.

All amounts are in Canadian Dollars (CAD $) and are subject to 13% HST.

Cancellation

Cancellations will be accepted until October 2, 2024 and are subject to a processing fee of $60 plus applicable taxes. Refunds will not be processed after this date.

Requests for cancellation must be made in writing to cpd.programs@utoronto.ca .

Registrations are not transferable.

The University of Toronto reserves the right to cancel events. Registrants will be notified at the earliest possible date in the event of a cancellation. Registration fees for events cancelled by the University will be refunded; however, the University will not be liable for any loss, damages or other expenses that such cancellations may cause.

Accreditation

Continuing Professional Development (CPD), Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, is fully accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME), a subcommittee of the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS). This standard allows CPD to review and assess educational activities based on the criteria established by The College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Royal College) has established agreements with each of the American Medical Association (AMA), and the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®) where activities approved for Royal College MOC Credits are eligible for conversion to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ and UEMS-EACCME European CME Credit (ECMEC®) credits, respectively.