Thriving Project

The Thriving Project supports and enhances the wellness of rural healthcare practitioners, including doctors, residents, nurse practitioners and midwives, from across British Columbia by fostering connections between them and building a community of practice they can draw upon for learning, support, solace and inspiration.

Dr. Tandi Wilkinson speaking about wellness at the RCME Leaders Gathering in 2024.

“I really appreciated connecting with physicians working in mostly rural settings, with a shared understanding of the joys and challenges this can entail. The sessions offered an opportunity to connect authentically, in a way that is not usually possible or encouraged.”

Thriving Participant

Achievements

Facilitated a Wellness Conversation Series

The ‘Providers Thriving Together’ Wellness conversation series, which consists of free virtual drop-in sessions, continued in 2024. These sessions provided a facilitated space for rural healthcare providers to experience camaraderie and peer support, activating their collective resilience. Each session features presenters, who are usually peers from around the province, sharing practices, frameworks or ideas they’ve found useful. The sessions prioritize time for exploring themes in both small and large group conversations. A total of three sessions were held in 2024:

Connecting with our Feminine and Masculine Dimension with Dr. Claire Fantus
Medical Magical Thinking with Dr. Cecile Andreas
Doing the Work You Love with Dr. Trevor Janz

Hosted 'Conversations That Matter' Virtual Workshops

The ‘Conversations That Matter’ series was an interactive and experiential four week virtual workshop where participants cultivated open-hearted connection, and practiced skills that help build connections and support at work.

Rural physicians Dr. Tandi Wilkinson and Dr. Svetlana Hadikin facilitated thoughtful conversations and experiences that lead to an embodied understanding of topics such as failure and shame, vulnerability, compassion and peer support. Participants discovered new strategies, connected with others, and enhanced their own wellness and that of their colleagues by sharing experiences and collective wisdom.

Continued Advocacy for Physician Wellness

The Wellness subgroup continued its work in the BC Practice Improvement Hub (PIH). The Wellness subgroup focuses on sharing information, data, input, and opportunities related to physician and health professional wellness, through ongoing member to member communication and sharing approach.  

Furthermore, the Wellness subgroup supports and advocates for both cultural changes in healthcare and structural changes on the part of organizations as a means to support physician wellness.   

Explore the numbers

19 Providers

19 Rural providers participated in the 'Conversations that Matter' four week workshop series.

3 Sessions

In 2024, three virtual 'Providers Thriving Together' sessions were held.

Making a Difference

In May 2024, Thriving Lead, Tandi Wilkinson, together with Rola Ajjawi and Shireen Mansouri published ‘Informal peer support for rural doctors‘ in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine.

Participants have shared some of the benefits that having access to this peer support has provided them:

“I will take away the beauty and joy of deep and real connections with other physicians, even when brief and on Zoom, and an appreciation for being able to work with, and connect with the amazing people who choose to work in rural areas and with disadvantaged or vulnerable populations.”

Thriving Participant

“I would like to connect more and continue to have more heart filled connections. It's a real contrast from the usual 'lack' of connection with colleagues.”

Thriving Participant

“Connecting in a human way with those who practice medicine is uplifting and helps sustain confidence in humanity as well as medicine.”

Thriving Participant

Plans for the Future

In the year ahead, the Thriving team are planning to host three of the ‘Thriving Together’ Wellness Conversation Series. There will be one session in Spring 2025 and two in Fall 2025. The team will also host another of the four-week ‘Conversations That Matter’ workshops in a series of virtual free sessions will take place in Fall 2025.