REDI’s Education and Training programming supports the Faculty of Medicine Strategic Plan commitment to transforming our culture through our working and learning environments by raising awareness, encouraging self -reflection and supporting members of our community to enhance their skills to enable participation in change.
Our work supports individual and systems change and aligns with recommendations in UBC’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force Report and in particular with the identified need for sustained Anti-Racism education and training across the University to increase knowledge and skills necessary to reduce and prevent racial discrimination.
REDI has developed a core program addressing foundational issues and topics designed to support change and that can be delivered to groups across the Faculty. These core sessions have been presented to a variety of groups of faculty, staff, and learners. Sessions can be delivered as presentations or workshops and can be presented virtually, in-person or via a hybrid model.
The core sessions can be adapted to combine topics or we can work with you to custom design a session or series of sessions that will help your department or unit support change by embedding EDI and Anti-racist tools in all your activities.
Core offerings
EDI
Demystifying EDI
What do we mean by our commitment to changing our culture to make our community more equitable? What are the barriers to creating our aspirational inclusive and respectful leaning and work environments? In this session we raise awareness by clarifying foundational EDI principles and encourage self-reflection to explore issues such as unconscious bias, power and privilege, white fragility to increase our understanding of what is needed to transform our culture. Participants will develop a personal and /or group action plan to support change.
Learning objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify the characteristics of our aspirational work and learning environments.
- Discuss the barriers to creating and sustaining respectful environments
- Recognize the major concepts related to anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion
- Explore the impact of implicit bias and your positionality on how you relate to others Plan different strategies to enhance and promote anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion in your environment
Unpacking Racism and Engaging with Allyship and Anti-Racism
How do we move from awareness and self-reflection to act to eliminate racism in our community? How do we transition from being active bystanders to being effective allies and anti-racists? How do we change behaviours and systems to reflect and embody principles of equity, diversity and inclusion and to support culture change across our Faculty? In this session participants will obtain a deeper understanding of the roots of racism and of the behaviours and systems that perpetuate racist attitudes and racial discrimination. Participants will be encouraged to incorporate anti-racist action into their daily interactions.
Indigenous Perspectives
Overview of the Core Offerings in the Context of Truth and Reconciliation
These core offerings in the context of Truth and Reconciliation are key presentations that offer a summary and respective look at how to best approach the work and processes involved with the redress between Indigenous peoples and Canadians. All of the presentations include a unique and thoughtful perspective specific to First Nations in British Columbia, and consider the work involved within academic and health systems.
Each of the presentations are general in description and can be adapted to the particular needs of any given department or group. Depending on the learner objectives and needs of the department or group each of the presentations run from one hour to three hours in length, and each presentation includes a description, learner objectives and recommended readings.
The presentations are offered virtually or in-person, and are subject to the provincial restrictions and directives in response to COVID-19. All participants are expected and encouraged to adhere to a basic set of virtual or in-person meeting guidelines to engage and participate in a true spirit of respect, professionalism and courtesy.
Once the REDI Service Request Form has been submitted the Indigenous Initiatives Advisor will work with the respective department or group to organize the details of the presentation that has been requested. It is important and recommended to reserve core offerings in the context of Truth and Reconciliations in advance given the volume of requests in any given part of the academic year.
Please consider utilizing the important and engaging virtual program titled the Indigenous Speakers Series for any planning and academic needs. All of these sessions are recorded and can be utilized as a useful way for students, staff and faculty to participate and engage on Indigenous related issues. To date, we have hosted and engaged in a meaningful conversation with respected and knowledgeable Indigenous leaders on a selection of topics relevant to the processes of telling the truth, reconciling for the future, and creating the opportunity for an honest redress between Indigenous peoples and Canadians.
The Indigenous Speakers Series will continue with a schedule of notable Indigenous leaders speaking on a range of topics appropriate to the processes of Truth and Reconciliation and Indigenous health, and will feature a speaker every month from September 2022 through to May 2023. Please see the events calendar for all up-to date information.
We Haven’t Even Begun the Conversation Yet: Establishing Meaningful Relationships
This session will consider the importance of creating meaningful conversations about the historical and current context of the processes involving Truth and Reconciliation and Canadians. It’s appropriate to consider – why should we bring ourselves into this story? This story, this narrative, this chapter in our current history that we’ve labelled truth, reconciliation and redress.
Learning Objective
You will learn about how to best approach the work of telling the truth and reconciling for the future with compassion and purpose.
Benign Bedside Manners: Insight into In Plain Sight
This session will provide a summary look at the report In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care with the goal to inform about how to best approach this important work with compassion and purpose.
Learning Objective
You will learn about how to best approach the work set out in the report In Plain Sight.
Recognizing and Reaffirming Our Commitment of Reckoning with the Truth: Outlining the Context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action
This session will provide a summary look at the commitments made by the UBC Faculty of Medicine in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action Report. With the combined efforts of key strategies and with an intensity of the core values of respect, integrity, compassion, collaboration, and equity, there is hope to create a new chapter in the Faculty’s history that speaks to a recognition and reaffirmation of the commitments of reckoning with the truth and working together for a better future for all Indigenous peoples and Canadians.
Learning Objective
You will learn about how to best individual and collective approach the work set out in the report Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action.
It’s Not Knowledge We Lack: Edifying Cultural Safety, Humility and Humanity
This session will provide a summary look at the context of the recent processes to develop and implement cultural safety and humility standards within BC health and academic systems. In an effort to create professional and learning environments that resolves to eliminate racism against Indigenous peoples it is important to consider our individual and collective perceptions and sensibilities about what is means to be a settler or colonial settler in an era of telling the truth, reconciling for the future and creating a proper redress for Indigenous peoples.
Learning Objective
You will learn about how to best approach the work set out in the development of cultural safety and humility standards within BC health and academic systems.
We Welcome The Children Back Home: The Legacy of Indian Residential Schools in Canada
We Welcome The Children Back Home: The Legacy of Indian Residential SchooThis session will provide a respective look at the strength of resolve, redress and conciliation in our own First Nations communities in coming to terms with the continuing legacy of the Indian residential school experience in Canada. The individual and shared experiences of this legacy are complex, overwhelming and seemingly irreconcilable. But with our combined determination and compassion we can begin to create a new chapter in our history that describes how we came together to welcome each other home, and to ensure that this horrific history is never again repeated.
Learning Objective
You will learn about how to best approach this important work with determination and compassion.
Respectful Environments
Respectful Environments
Respectful Environments- How do we define Respectful Environments in the Faculty of Medicine? How do we create and sustain our optimal work and learning environments so that we can support excellence and foster a sense of belonging. Respectful environments are the foundation of our Strategic Plan commitment to each other. Respectful Environments support each of us to be our best selves so that we may do our best. They are essential to realizing the Faculty’s vision and values and fostering excellence in all that the Faculty undertakes.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify sources of conflict in the work and learning environment
- Define the key concepts related to effective communication
- Recognize different strategies to deal with conflict situations
- Describe the principles of conflict engagement
- Demonstrate how to effectively engage in conflict.
Creating Inclusive Spaces
Why do we need inclusive spaces? Who are the individuals and groups routinely excluded from full participation in our community? Inclusion is built by individual and institutional responsibility through continuous engagement with diversity to inspire people, ideas, and actions for a better world.
Inclusive learning and working spaces allow people to feel both physically welcomed and psychologically included. Our optimal environments celebrate the diverse experiences of our members and respond to a variety of cultural and personal needs. When we embrace the differences amongst us and actively seek to welcome and amplify the voices of those adversely affected by a lack of inclusion, we support culture change and create space for belonging.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize the characteristics of optimal inclusive environments
- Identify barriers to inclusion
- Explore how to foster inclusive and psychologically safe environments
- Identify ways to engage in individual and systemic change to increase inclusion
Conflict Engagement
Why is dealing with conflict so difficult for most people? How can we develop tools to overcome barriers to effective engagement? Conflict occurs in all interpersonal relationships, and effectively addressing conflict is crucial to supporting healthy working and learning environments. This skill is essential when standing up to injustice and supporting our commitments and values. Approaches that view conflict as something negative, unwanted, and harmful can lead to ignoring the reality of conflict and its root causes. Instead, Conflict Engagement aims to reframe our approach to conflict in a more positive way empowering us to engage in change.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify sources of conflict in the work and learning environment
- Define the key concepts related to effective communication
- Recognize different strategies to deal with conflict situations
- Describe the principles of conflict engagement
- Demonstrate how to effectively engage in conflict.
Upstander Engagement
Why has the Faculty of Medicine adopted Upstander Engagement? UE is a social justice tool that challenges harmful, oppressive behaviours and builds stronger communities. By encouraging those with power and privilege to speak out in the face of injustice, we model our values and create opportunities for more vulnerable members of our community to speak out. UE supports our values and commitment to creating learning and work environments which recognize human rights and in which all members of our community feel included, valued, and have a sense of belonging. Developing a community of Upstanders creates psychologically safe spaces that encourage and empower all members of the community to participate fully.
Optimal Learning Environments
Creating an Inclusive Residency Learning Environment
What are the unique attributes of the residency learning environment? How do power and privilege, power imbalance and the hidden curriculum affect resident learners? Creating optimal inclusive learning environments is the responsibility of our educational programs, teachers and learners. This session explores the characteristics of optimal learning environments and discusses ways that both learners and preceptors can engage in supporting those environments. We will review and discuss scenarios from residency to highlight strategies to address issues of the hidden curriculum, learner mistreatment, conflict resolution and accountability.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify common barriers to inclusivity
- Promote inclusive and respectful environments by challenging inequities in power and privilege
- Understand the importance of using inclusive language in a clinical setting
- Discuss the strategies for challenging non-inclusive conduct and recognize different ways to seek help and advice in challenging situations in the clinical environment
Addressing Learning Environment Concerns (for Learners)
What are the characteristics of effective learning environments? What are the barriers? What are the responsibilities of learners and teachers in promoting respectful and inclusive learning environments? How do we address individual behaviours and organizational processes and systems that undermine our optimal learning environments? In this session we engage in an in-depth discussion of the different options for reporting learning environment concerns that you have witnessed or experienced and of the process for addressing these concerns.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize the characteristics of respectful environments
- Identify the characteristics of an optimal learning environment
- Discuss the barriers to achieving an optimal learning environment
- Describe the process for reporting and responding to learning environment concerns – including distinguishing between anonymous, confidential and 3rd party reports
- Know and understand the possible interventions that may occur
Addressing Learning Environment Concerns (for preceptors)
What are the characteristics of effective learning environments? What are the barriers? How do we support preceptors to promote respectful and inclusive learning environments? How do we address individual behaviours and organizational processes and systems that undermine our optimal learning environments? In this session we engage in an in-depth discussion of challenges in the learning environment and will explore ways to support preceptors to respond to those challenges. We also review the process for reporting learning environment concerns that you have witnessed or experienced and review what happens after these concerns have been reported.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify common learner complaints about the learning environment
- Identify common preceptor concerns related to evaluation of learners and learner complaints
- Discuss ways to effectively give and receive feedback
- Explore basics of conflict engagement
- Review processes for managing faculty concerns they have experienced or witnessed
Engaging in Difficult Conversations
How do we identify and call in harmful conduct? How do we react when we are approached about our conduct? How does feedback support excellence and culture change? Feedback is the information we receive about ourselves. It is critical to how we learn and grow, but it is valuable only when it is authentic and reflects our experiences. Stone and Heen, authors of Thanks for the Feedback (2015), comment that, “When we give feedback, we notice that the receiver isn’t good at receiving it. When we receive feedback, we notice that the giver isn’t good at giving it.” In this session, we explore why feedback is challenging for givers and receivers. We will examine strategies to authentically engage in the process of using feedback to support our values and foster inclusive excellence in our work and learning environments.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify importance of feedback to support individual and systems change
- Explore why feedback is challenging for givers and receivers
- Examine strategies to support authentic engagement in the feedback process
REDI Service Request Form
If your unit is interested in working with REDI to support change please use the on-line request form and we will contact you to determine how we can best meet your needs.