Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
IWK Women's and Children's Hospital · Falmouth, NS
I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to participate in the N4 program. In addition to my work with IWK mental health and addictions program, my family and I have partnered with Africa Inland Mission, both working in Africa in healthcare for many years as well as working in Canada looking for ways to engage with and support newcomer and refugee populations.
Since moving to Nova Scotia 4 years ago we have initiated an overnight summer camp (camp SOAR) to support newcomer integration, knowing there are so many valuable benefits of camp (friendships, skill building, navigating new social rules) and wanting to support families as they integrate and adjust to life in Canada. In my role with the IWK, I look forward to building on the N4 program content, aspiring to contribute to an understanding of cultural humility, social justice, and advocacy in reducing barriers to care and wellness, especially in the area of child/youth mental health. Of many joys in this work, two of the best are realizing what a privilege it is to be Canadian and being honored in sharing a part of the stories of so many who through resilience, creativity, faith, endurance ingenuity and courage have come to land here, to be neighbors, friends and fellow Canadians.
The most valuable thing I learned in the N4/Saint Paul University Online Program
I entered into the program while working fulltime. Working in a fast paced, time-sensitive healthcare setting, I had hoped that the program would just give me a practical guide of what I needed to know. As with many tools I may use in practice, when time is of the essence, I wanted to skip to the summary and jump to the algorithm that I could adapt into my work. I was looking for the details where are the programs, what are the strategies, what does the data suggest? The program however frustrated these expectations. It was not about what to do, but how to think. It provided the scaffolding of both consciousness and conscience to start to look deeper at the issues. It was less about what I need to do or offer, or what newcomers need to know, and more about how do I need to change, how do programs, systems, organizations need to adapt to support newcomers, not just in what we say we do, but in what we actually offer and what that says and means! The internships, coaching circle were highlights, fostering connection with others across Canada.