Interactive Story Session: Cultural Considerations and Intersections in Substance Use Care

Formerly titled Substance Use Simulation - no change to course content

Join us for an interactive story session featuring Trish, a young Indigenous teen coping with the loss of her family member. After being found unconscious in a field, Trish is transferred to an urban hospital under the mental health act. This session explores cultural safety, care planning, and withdrawal management through a video showcasing Trish’s journey, a clinical interaction, and an interview with the actor portraying her.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Assess how social determinants of health affect the unique needs of specific populations
• Reflect on how colonialism, bias, and stigma impact healthcare provision.
• Recognize and evaluate withdrawal symptoms and suicidality by utilizing appropriate tools and interventions.

Format & Delivery:
Interactive video-based session with pause periods for reflective discussions and valuable insights from peer educators with lived/ living experience. Facilitated by a Nurse Educator and Peer Educator, this session is available online or in person (alternating throughout the year).

Takeaways:

• Approaches to asking sensitive questions about substance use to develop client-centered care plans
• Enhanced understanding of how non-medical factors influence health outcomes.
• Integrating Cultural Safety to provide respectful and effective mental health and substance use care.

Session dates generally open a few months prior to the course date, so if you do not see a session date listed that works for you, please feel free to reach our team at RegionalAddictionProgram@vch.ca, or check back again at a later date.