Here are the past Palliative Care ECHO sessions we have hosted. You can access the related resources by clicking through on the sessions that interest you.
Objectives
- Build upon the conversations from the 2022 All Together Symposium hosted by BCCPC
- Provide opportunities for participants to network and share their knowledge and experiences
Past sessions & resources:
Overall Learning Objective:
Participants will gain knowledge through access to specialty clinical experts, an inter-professional network, and a practice community to support the delivery of best-practice care to optimize comfort for pediatric patients with a serious illness and medical complexity. Serious illness is defined as a condition that carries a high-risk of mortality in childhood that negatively impacts a child’s daily function, quality of life, or excessively stresses their parents / caregivers (Ariadne Labs. Inc., (2012).
Dates
April-November 2021
Past Sessions & Resources
Access session resources here (password required). Email echo@bc-cpc.ca to request password if you do not have access. If you attended a session you would have been emailed a password at that time.
Overall Learning Objective:
To improve evidence-informed psychosocial care for people affected by advancing life- limiting conditions by providing increased access to education, mentorship and peer support for B.C. psychosocial palliative care providers, specifically Social Workers, Counsellors and Spiritual Health Practitioners.
Dates
January to June 2020
Past Sessions list
Email echo@bc-cpc.ca to request resources
Presenter
ECHO planning team (Kathleen Yue, Marney Thompson, Mary Coleman)
Competency
Domain 7 –Professional and ethical practice
When appropriate for role, engages in quality improvement, research and knowledge translation to advance practice of self and others; bringing a psychosocial perspective.
Participants will understand their current state of palliative competency by completing a self-assessment of their practice using the Self-assessment tool for Specialist-FEW Social workers and Counsellors (BC Centre for Palliative Care), Participants will be able to describe the format and process of an ECHO, Participants and ECHO leaders will have a common understanding of expectations for the community of practice by creating a Community Covenant, The members of the ECHO community of practice will begin to establish connection
Presenter:
Tammy Dyson (MSW, RCSW, Leader, (MAiD) Fraser Health)
Competency – Domain 5 –Care planning and collaborative practice:
Explores MAiD-related feelings, worries and hopes with people and their family.
Describe the context of MAiD including current legislation, Distinguish between Desire to Die statements and requests for MAiD, Identify areas for assessment with a request for MAiD, including the patient, family and self, Know how to contact MAiD coordinators in each health authority
Presenter – Wendy Wainwright & Kathleen Yue facilitated discussion
Competency – Supporting each other to address Domain 7 –Professional and ethical practice.
If within role, provides education and support to enhance inter-professional team member’s resilience in partnership with organizational leadership.
Participants will be aware of available resources related to providing psychosocial care and maintaining self-care during COVID-19 and where to locate them
Presenter – Mary Coleman (MSW, RSW, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice)
Competency – Domain 4 –Comfort and quality of life.
Adapts care to address person’s fears and anxieties related to past trauma.
Consider the connections between trauma informed practice and hospice palliative care, Learn a few key theories from trauma treatment that may apply in palliative settings, Understand how traumatic stress may present in the course of serious illness for patients, caregivers, and grievers, Identify appropriate assessment and interventions for role, setting, and trajectory
Presenter – Marney Thompson (Registered Clinical Counsellor, MA. Director of Psychosocial Services, Victoria Hospice)
Competencies –
- Domain 6: Loss, grief and bereavement. Expert consultant regarding loss, grief and bereavement. Assesses complex grief reactions and situations, such as multiple loss, traumatic loss, and pre-existing vulnerabilities including mental illness and addiction, abuse and neglect.
- Define and identify Complicated / Prolonged Grief and distinguish it from ‘normal’ grief,
- Understand the prevalence and psychosocial correlates of CG,
- Explore the theoretical orientations and basic interventions used in Complicated Grief Treatment(CGT)
Presenter – Camara van Breemen (MN, CHPCN, Play Therapist, Nurse Practitioner(F), Canuck Place Children’s Hospice)
Competencies –
- Domain 5: Comfort and quality of life. Provides developmentally appropriate non-pharmacological interventions within own expertise appropriate including: art, play therapy, and relaxation for relief of distress. Refers to other resources as needed.
- Domain 6: Loss, grief and bereavement. Understands the characteristics and challenges of grieving for a child or youth. Provides counselling support or refers as appropriate.
- Explore strategies to assist parents in sharing serious illness information with children,
- Discuss issues related to connection between the seriously ill person and a child,
- Review activities that may be helpful for children along the illness trajectory and at EOL
Presenter – ECHO planning team
Competency –
- Domain 7 –Professional and ethical practice -When appropriate for role, engages in quality improvement, research and knowledge translation to advance practice of self and others; bringing a psychosocial perspective.
- Understand outcomes of the ECHO pilot, Provide feedback on next ECHO program,
- Contribute to quality improvement and spread of innovation
Dates:
September 2020 – July 2021 Thursdays
Focus:
To improve evidence-informed psychosocial care for people affected by advancing life- limiting conditions by providing increased access to education, mentorship and peer support for B.C. psychosocial palliative care providers, specifically Social Workers, Counsellors and Spiritual Health Practitioners.
Past Sessions list
Email echo@bc-cpc.ca to request resources
Presenter – ECHO planning team
Competencies –
- Domain 5 – Care planning & collaborative practice. Advocates for the role of the social worker/counsellor in responding to complex situations.
- Understands and promotes bio-psychosocial perspective as integral to health and well-being, delivery of care, and goals and decision-making.
- Challenges inter-professional team, health care organizations, and public attitudes regarding psychosocial needs of people with a life limiting illness.
- Competencies – Domain 7 – Professional & ethical practice. When appropriate for role, engages in quality improvement, research and knowledge translation to advance practice of self and others, bringing a psychosocial perspective
- Participants will be able to describe the format and process of an ECHO group.
- Participants and ECHO leaders will have a common understanding of expectations for the community of practice by creating a Community Covenant.
- Members of the ECHO community of practice will begin to establish connection through introduction to ECHO Team members, breakout session, and large group debrief
Presenter – Anke Krey, Education and Research Project Facilitator, Victoria Hospice, and Wendy Wainwright, former Director of Clinical Services, Victoria Hospice
Competencies:
- Domain 7 – Professional & ethical practice. When appropriate for role, engages in quality improvement, research and knowledge translation to advance practice of self and others, bringing a psychosocial perspective.
- Educates others (teams, learners, systems, community) regarding psychosocial palliative care (PC) and palliative approach.
- Takes leadership in policy, program development and delivery of psychosocial PC as appropriate for role. Identify “teachable moments” to educate (teams, learners, systems, community) and describe strategies to advocate for psychosocial PC and the palliative approach to advance practice of self and others.
- Describe opportunities to engage and bring a psychosocial perspective to quality improvement, research, and knowledge translation.
- Describe their role and responsibility in leadership in policy, program development and delivery of psychosocial PC
Presenter – Frank Cohn, Jhevoi Melville, MSW, RSW, and Ayesha Sackey, all from VAST
Competencies
- Domain 1 – Principles of PC & palliative approach. Promotes and supports the adaptation of palliative principles in all care settings through capacity building of other care providers/community partners as appropriate for role.
- Domain 2 – Cultural safety & humility. Advocates for incorporation of the person’s and family’s cultural traditions, beliefs, expectations, and preferences into decision making, care planning and service delivery models. Advocates for changes in policy to facilitate incorporation of culture into care.
- Domain 4 – Comfort & quality of life. Adapts care to address person’s fears and anxieties related to past trauma.
- Domain 7 – Professional & ethical practice. Participates in community awareness and engagement activities to build understanding, capacity, and inclusion. Addresses micro, meso, and macro factors that influence PC (e.g., internal and external barriers, social determinants of health).
- Domain 8 – Self care. Identifies team and organizational barriers and issues and works collaboratively to address them.
- Promotes an organizational culture that is safe for expression of multiple perspectives and practicing within ambiguity.
- Define the concept of race as a social construct and identify the ways it is manifested systemically.
- Describe how to Link PC practice to Anti-Racist practice through honouring our values and each other at the organizational level. Describe the barriers to responding to racism and identify how racism in the workplace impacts individual staff, clients, client service, and organizational culture.
- Describe how to respond competently to racial comments, behaviours or policies in the workplace setting through a stance of cultural humility (compassionate, reflective, non-judgmental).
- Develop a deeper understanding of intersectionality, privilege, and marginalization.
- Describe how to advocate against racist and discriminatory remarks and systems.
- Understand and describe how end of life circumstances present challenges and opportunities in cultural understandings of “Quality of Life”.
Presenter – Frank Cohn, Jhevoi Melville, MSW, RSW, and Ayesha Sackey, all from VAST
- Competencies – Domain 1 – Principles of PC & palliative approach. Promotes and supports the adaptation of palliative principles in all care settings through capacity building of other care providers/community partners as appropriate for role.
- Domain 2 – Cultural safety & humility. Advocates for incorporation of the person’s and family’s cultural traditions, beliefs, expectations, and preferences into decision making, care planning and service delivery models.
- Advocates for changes in policy to facilitate incorporation of culture into care.
- Domain 4 – Comfort & quality of life. Adapts care to address person’s fears and anxieties related to past trauma.
- Domain 7 – Professional & ethical practice. Participates in community awareness and engagement activities to build understanding, capacity, and inclusion. Addresses micro, meso, and macro factors that influence PC (e.g., internal and external barriers, social determinants of health).
- Domain 8 – Self care. Identifies team and organizational barriers and issues and works collaboratively to address them. Promotes an organizational culture that is safe for expression of multiple perspectives and practicing within ambiguity.
- Become aware of own level of Racism profile through use of self-assessment tools and anti-racism growth chart.
- Become more comfortable with using anti-racism tools through application of ACTION tool to a case study. Describe how to respond competently to racial comments, behaviours, or policies in the workplace setting through a stance of cultural humility (compassionate, reflective, non-judgmental) in practice.
- Describe the barriers to responding to racism and identify how racism in the workplace impacts individual staff, clients, client service, and organizational culture
Presenter – Camara van Breemen, MN, CHPCN, Play Therapist, Nurse Practitioner(F), Canuck Place Children’s Hospice
Competencies –
- Domain 1 – Principles of PC & palliative approach. Utilizes a holistic approach to care with awareness of how illness, death and bereavement impacts all aspects of person’s and family’s functioning.
- Domain 2 – Cultural safety & humility. Facilitates expression and inclusion of the person’s and family’s values, beliefs, and wishes during declining health and bereavement.
- Domain 3 – Communication. Facilitates different conversations with families and members of the inter-professional team. Understands how fatigue, weakness and imminent death may impact communication and helps person/family and inter-professional teams interpret other forms of communication (e.g., symbolic communication, gestures, facial expressions).
- Domain 5 – Comfort & quality of life. Provides developmentally appropriate non-pharmacological interventions within own expertise appropriate including art, play therapy, and relaxation for relief of distress. Refers to other resources as needed. Domain 6 – Loss, grief, and bereavement. Understands the characteristics and challenges of grieving for a child or youth. Provides counselling support or refers as appropriate.
- Domain 8 – Self care. Understands and attends to the impact of death, dying, and bereavement on caregivers (self, family, team, professionals).
- Describe strategies to assist parents/caregivers in sharing serious illness information appropriately with children
- Describe issues and barriers related to connection between the seriously ill person and a child and how to address same
- Describe activities and play therapy techniques that may be helpful for children along the illness trajectory and at EOL
Presenter – Marney Thompson, RCC, MA, Director of Psychosocial Services, Victoria Hospice
Competencies –
- Domain 1 – Principles of PC & palliative approach. Utilizes a holistic approach to care with awareness of how illness, death and bereavement impacts all aspects of person’s and family’s functioning.
- Domain 3 – Communication. Provides the person and family/caregiver bereavement counselling and psychosocial education through evidence-based frameworks, if within role and expertise.
- Domain 6: Loss, grief, & bereavement. Expert consultant regarding loss, grief, and bereavement. Assesses complex grief reactions and situations, such as multiple loss, traumatic loss, and pre-existing vulnerabilities including mental illness and addiction, abuse, and neglect.
- Domain 8 – Self care. Understands and attends to the impact of death, dying and bereavement on caregivers (self, family, team, professionals).
- Identify and define Prolonged Grief and distinguish it from ‘normal’ grief
- Understand and describe the prevalence and psychosocial correlates of Prolonged Grief
- Discuss and describe the theoretical orientations and basic interventions used in Complicated Grief Treatment (CGT)
Presenter – First Nations Elder Bruce Robinson, Lexi Fisher, BSW, RSW, and Leah Walker, BSW, RSW, all with Kilala Lelum
Competencies –
- Domain 2 – Cultural safety & humility. Advocates for incorporation of the person’s and family’s cultural traditions, beliefs, expectations, and preferences into decision making, care planning, and service delivery models.
- Facilitates expression and inclusion of the person’s and family’s values, beliefs, and wishes during declining health and bereavement.
- Advocates for changes in policy to facilitate incorporation of culture into care.
- Domain 3 – Communication. Provides support, mediation, and advocacy in exploring and clarifying treatment goals and care planning.
- Domain 4 – Comfort & quality of life. Adapts care to address persons fears and anxieties related to past trauma.
- Understands, educates, and works with the person/family and inter-professional team about the interplay of spiritual, emotional, social, cognitive, and physical aspects of the person’s past experiences on their current quality of life.
- Domain 7 – Professional & ethical practice. Advocates at a system and community level
- Describe strategies and approaches people can use in their clinical practice to honour and value the stories of Indigenous peoples in a respectful way that builds trusting relationship and allyship, fosters connections, and allows Indigenous voices to be heard at all stages of life
Presenter – Tammy Dyson, MSW, RCSW, Lead, Medical Assistance in Dying, Fraser Health
Competencies –
- Domain 5 – Care planning & collaborative practice. Explores MAiD-related feelings, worries, and hopes with people and their family. May provide leadership in case reviews and debriefings.
- Leads/facilitates inter-professional team and family meetings to plan care that addresses complex psychosocial issues. Advocates for the role of the social worker/counsellor in responding to complex situations.
- Domain 7 – Professional & ethical practice. Facilitates inter-professional team reflection to identify group values and ethical practices, and the impact of these on people, families, and the team
- Describe the context of MAiD including changes with new legislation, Bill C-7
- Distinguish between desire to die statements and requests for MAiD and describe strategies for responding appropriately to each Identify areas for assessment with a request for MAiD, including the patient, family, and staff
- Understand how to contact MAiD co-ordinators in each health authority Understand where to look for additional information and resources on MAiD
Presenter – First Nations Elder Bruce Robinson, Lexi Fisher, BSW, RSW, and Leah Walker, BSW, RSW, all with Kilala Lelum
Competencies –
- Domain 2 – Cultural safety & humility. Advocates for incorporation of the person’s and family’s cultural traditions, beliefs, expectations, and preferences into decision making, care planning, and service delivery models.
- Facilitates expression and inclusion of the person’s and family’s values, beliefs, and wishes during declining health and bereavement. Advocates for changes in policy to facilitate incorporation of culture into care.
- Domain 3 – Communication. Provides support, mediation, and advocacy in exploring and clarifying treatment goals and care planning.
- Domain 4 – Comfort & quality of life. Adapts care to address persons fears and anxieties related to past trauma.
- Understands, educates, and works with the person/family and inter-professional team about the interplay of spiritual, emotional, social, cognitive, and physical aspects of the person’s past experiences on their current quality of life.
- Describe strategies for persons in a helping role to assist them in reconciling working within a healthcare system that has and continues to do significant harm to Indigenous peoples and their way of being
- Describe strategies and approaches people can use in their clinical practice to recognize and acknowledge both the devastating experiences of indigenous peoples both within and outside the healthcare system and the impact of these experiences on their decision-making around access to and receiving end of life care
- Describe strategies and approaches people can use in their clinical practice to honour and value the stories of Indigenous peoples in a respectful way that builds trusting relationships and allyship, fosters connections, and allows Indigenous voices to be heard at all stages of life
Presenter – ECHO Leadership Team
Competencies –
- Domain 7 – Professional & ethical practice. Engages in quality improvement, research and knowledge translation to advance practice of self and others; bringing a psychosocial perspective.
- Domain 8 – Self care. Provide education and support to enhance inter-professional team members’ resilience in partnership with organizational leadership.
- Promotes an organizational culture that is safe for expression of multiple perspectives and practicing within ambiguity.
- Understand outcomes of the Current ECHO cohort group
- Provide feedback on format, structure, composition, and content of current and next ECHO cohort group
- Contribute to quality improvement and spread of innovation in PC practice through sharing of personal and professional experiences as an active member of an ECHO community of practice
Dates:
January – November 2022
Focus:
Co-created by and for psychosocial health care providers, the latest offering of the Palliative Care ECHO project-BC Hub is a year-long program. The three themes of Grief and Loss, Spirituality, and Ethical Dilemmas in Palliative Care will guide the content of the session (nine in total) beginning in January.
This virtual knowledge-sharing network is intended for individuals actively working in a clinical role providing care to adults, children and families who are affected by advancing life-limiting conditions such as Social Workers, Counsellors, Music Therapists, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, and Spiritual Health Practitioners.
Past Sessions list
Email echo@bc-cpc.ca to request resources
Overall Learning Objective:
The sessions aim to support health care providers incorporate the palliative approach to care into their daily practice.
Dates
Sept – Dec 2022
Feb – May 2023
Sept – Nov 2023
Feb – March 2024
Past Sessions & Resources
This session explores foundational concepts relating to culture and how locations of privilege and discrimination impact our experiences of giving and receiving care. Scenarios will be presented to learners and the session will focus on recognizing ways to respond, identifying that each individual we care for is unique, and understanding personal and systemic biases.
Resources:
- Domain 2 – Session summary notes Feb 23
- Associated Learning Hub module: Domain 2: Cultural Safety and Humility
Resources:
- Domain 1 – Session summary notes Feb 17
- Associated Learning Hub module: Domain 1: Principles of Palliative Care & Palliative Approach
This session introduces key concepts of a palliative approach. Discussions questions and a case study will be explored to help learners identify what using a palliative approach looks like in practice.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers. We hope to attract a wide range of people including health care providers, community organizational staff and volunteers, and those personally affected by loss.
Past Session Resources
Session Resources:
- Presentation slides
- Session recording: YouTube
- Session summary notes
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series
Dallas Shirley will share from her years of experience supporting families with grief and loss, ways to use play therapy to support the grieving process. Following the presentation t here will be opportunity to interact and ask questions. Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Dallas Shirley, RCC, BC Registered Play Therapist
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session resources
- Session summary notes: 2024.10.24. The Next Day: What Happens After Someone Dies
- Session recording: YouTube recording
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
After someone dies they are transferred into the care of the entirely privatised BC deathcare system. In this session, Emily from DeathCare BC will take participants through the initial decisions and journey of those early days after death. Emily believes that knowing the details of what happens next is essential to providing supportive care to survivors in early bereavement.
Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Emily Bootle, Founder of DeathCare BC
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
Pet loss can evoke profound grief, yet this disenfranchised loss offers inadequate recognition and support in comparison to traditional grief support frameworks. This session aims to shed light on the unique challenges of pet loss grief and the importance of nurturing partnerships between grief professionals to build on this support. We will also hear from individuals with lived experienced. Session participants will have the opportunity to ask question and engage with the presenters. Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Pam Bilusack, Executive Director at BC Bereavement Helpline/ BC Victims of Homicide
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources:
- Session recording: YouTube video
- Session summary: 2024.08.07 Bereavement in the Context of Homelessness ECHO session summary
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
This session will focus on the recent research that investigated bereavement in the context of homelessness and how best to improve the access and quality of support available. The people who conducted the 80 in-person interviews with those with lived experience will share their reflections on the experience and lessons learned. Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenters: Joshua Black, PhD, Bereavement Initiative Manager, BCCPC and Stephanie Laing, MSW, RSW, Director of Operations at Kelowna Homelessness Research Centre
*Please note that this session is scheduled for 75 minutes*
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources
- Session notes: The Lifelong Grief of Bereaved Parents Session summary notes
- Presentation slides: The Lifelong Grief of Bereaved Parents – slides
- The recording of the session is available on BCCPC’s YouTube page: HERE
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
Presenter: Mary Coleman, MSW, RSW Clinical Practice Lead, Bereavement Canuck Place Children’s Hospice
Bereaved parents have a unique and complex experience of bereavement, requiring an understanding that adaptation and integration of this loss is an enduring process of continuing bonds and meaning reconstruction. The session will provide an overview of the particular ways bereaved parents work to express this to those around them including loved ones, larger social circles, peer support groups, and professionals. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with bereaved parents to hear their voices and reflections in an interactive forum. Poster you can print and share linked here.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources
- Session notes: Grief in the Workplace Session summary notes
- Presentation slides: Grief in the Workplace – slides
- The recording of the session is available on BCCPC’s YouTube page: HERE
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
Presenter: Laurel Gillespie, MBA, CHE CEO Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association
This session will explore grief in the workplace following a significant death and the ways we can improve how workplaces support their employees. Poster you can print and share linked here.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources:
- Teen Grief ECHO session presentation slides (pdf): Teen Grief ECHO slides 2024.05.08
- Session summary notes: Teen Grief Session Summary notes – May 8 2024
- YouTube session recording
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
Presenter: Trevor Josephson Clinical Counsellor, MC, RCC. Manager of Clinical Services, Peace Arch Hospice Society
This talk will explore aspects of teen grief after a loss such as attachment, identity, coping and meaning making as well as the specific programming offered at Peace Arch Hospice Society. Poster you can print and share linked here
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources:
- Session recording – YouTube Video
- Session slides – 2024.04.09 – ACP on Patient, Family & Caregiver Grief & Bereavement – presentation pdf
- Summary notes – 2024.04.09 – ACP on Patient, Family & Caregiver Grief & Bereavement – summary notes
This session is a cross-over of our All Together and Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
Presenters: Melody Jobse, Community Engagement Lead, Public Health Initiatives at BC Centre for Palliative Care
If not you, who would speak for on your behalf if you were unable to speak for yourself? This session will explore how Advance Care Planning, a medical decision-making behavior, can affect patient and family caregivers on their particular grief trajectories while experiencing a serious illness and end of life journey.
There will be an educational presentation, discussion with those with lived experience, and Q&A. Poster you can print and share linked here.
Session resources
- Session summary notes: 2024.03.19 Sleep After Loss – Session summary
- Session recording: YouTube video
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
Presenter: Dr. Michael Mak, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry Site Director, Undergraduate Education, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Transition to Practice Coordinator, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto Vice President – Clinical, Canadian Sleep Society.
In this session we will explore why sleep is important, how it can change after a loss, and the ways to improve it. Poster you can print and share linked here
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources:
- Session recording: YouTube link
- Session summary notes: 2024.02.20 Session summary notes – Dreaming of the Deceased (People or Animal) Following a Loss
Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO series
Presenter: Joshua Black, PhD, Grief and Bereavement Researcher, Bereavement Initiative Manager BC Centre for Palliative Care, and host of the Grief Dreams Podcast. Join Joshua as he presents some of his research work around dreaming of the deceased. Following Joshua’s presentation there will be time for Q&A and then we will hear personal grief dream stories from those with lived experience. We look forward to learning together, and for participants to interact and share their experiences and knowledge.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources
- Session recording: YouTube
- Session summary notes: 2023.12.05 Session summary notes – Grief & Loss During the Holidays
- Session presentation (PDF): 2023.12.05 Grief & Loss During the Holidays presentation
Join us in this session of our Grief and Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series as we welcome Pam Bilusack, Executive Director at BC Bereavement Helpline/ BC Victims of Homicide to share on Grief & Loss During the Holidays. Following Pam’s presentation will be time for Q&A and then we will hear personal stories from those with lived experience and how they found support navigating loss during the holidays. We look forward to learning together and for participants to interact and share their experiences and knowledge.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources:
Session recording: YouTube recording link
Session resource page: 2023.11.22 Pregnancy & Infant Loss Session Resource links
Session summary notes: 2023.11.22 Session summary notes
Join us in this session of our Grief and Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series as we welcome Nancy Slinn, Metro Vancouver Empty Cradle Bereaved Parents Society to share on Pregnancy and Infant Loss – A Misunderstood Grief. Following Nancy’s presentation will be time for Q&A and then we will hear personal stories from those with lived experience and how they found support in their bereavement journeys. We look forward to learning together and for participants to interact and share their experiences and knowledge.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources
Session recording: YouTube recording link
Session slides: 2023.10.19 Minecraft Kids Grief Program Presentation slides
Session resource page: 2023.10.19 Children’s Grief Session Resource links
Session summary notes: 2023.10.19 Session summary notes
In this session of our Grief and Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series we welcome Meaghan Jackson, Lumara Grief and Bereavement Care Society to share on a tool used for Children’s Grief. We look forward to learn together and for participants to interact and share their experiences and knowledge.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources
Session recording: YouTube – Grief & Bereavement: Loss of a Pet 2023.09.19
Session summary: 2023.09.19 Grieving the Death of a Pet session summary
In this second session of our Grief and Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series we welcomed Jennifer Dacre, Palliative & Bereavement Services Manager at Chilliwack Hospice to share on Grieving the Death of a Pet.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Session Resources
Session summary notes – written summary of the session and discussion points
Session resource page – document with website links and resources shared by the session presenters and session attendees.
Session recording: Grief & Bereavement Literacy Series ECHO Session Aug 15, 2023: “Healing Hearts Support” – YouTube
On August 15th the BC Centre for Palliative Care launched our Grief and Bereavement Literacy Series with our first online session: “Healing Hearts Support – Finding Hope and Resilience After a Substance Use Related Loss“ presented by Jennifer Howard, Program Manager at Moms Stop the Harm.
This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.
Why attend an ECHO session?
ECHO is an ideal combination of education, peer connection, and collaboration, fostering an “all teach, all learn” approach. These sessions are designed to be a vehicle for learning and sharing your own experience, resourcefulness, and resilience.
Sessions are via zoom and will be facilitated by a content expert who will guide you through a presentation on the topic and the remainder of the time spent in discussion.
For information about other ECHO sessions visit our ECHO program webpage.
Focus:
Aligned with our existing competency frameworks for health care professionals, the volunteer competencies are organized under eight headings, or domains. No matter how you decide to operationalize the competencies in your volunteer program, they are designed to help you better recruit, screen and train hospice volunteers.
The new volunteer competency framework was co-created with 18 representatives of hospice organizations from across BC, and was guided by key provincial and regional hospice palliative care partners and experts.
This session will help you to consider how the document will be of benefit in settings other than hospices, such as long-term care or volunteer–led community groups and organizations that support people effected with serious illness.
Resources:
Competency Framework Document
Presentation Slide Deck
Presentation Summary Notes
Details
Learn about the BC Bereavement Action Plan recommendations that resulted from the knowledge users roundtable discussions on bereavement services in BC. Session is 1 hour with a presentation for the first 15min followed by interactive discussion.
Who can attend?
- Open to anyone wanting to learn more about the action plan recommendations for bereavement services in BC
Presenter: Joshua Black, PhD, Bereavement Initiative Manager at BC Centre for Palliative Care
Session Resources
Session recording: https://youtu.be/DdjBEPo33NE
Session summary notes: July 25, 2023 Bereavement ECHO Session summary
Session Resources:
- Session recording: YouTube
- Presentation slides
- Session summary notes: 2024.11.13 Experiencing life-limiting illness behind bars ECHO
Complex socio-political causes continue to increase the carceral population locally and globally, with more individuals aging and dying in prisons. Despite international recognition of the importance of palliative care as a shared universal right, a health equity gap exists between the general and carceral populations in Canada. With growing numbers of aging people in custody and their disproportionate risk of adverse health outcomes, it is crucial to understand what care services are available to those diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses and, for those who are dying, to understand how their palliative care needs are met. Currently, little is known from a Canadian perspective about how individuals in custody or under supervision in the community receive care when diagnosed with cancer or other life-limiting illnesses.
Presenter:
Mar’yana Fisher, RN, MNS, PhD student
Palliative Nurse Clinician
The intended audience for this session is healthcare providers.
Details
Learn about the research that the BC Centre for Palliative Care has completed on the impact of COVID-19 on bereavement in British Columbia. Session is 1 hour with a presentation for the first 15min followed by interactive discussion.
Who is the audience?
- Open to anyone wanting to learn more about the impact of COVID-19 on bereavement
Presenter: Joshua Black, PhD, Bereavement Initiative Manager at BC Centre for Palliative Care
Session Resources
Session recording: https://youtu.be/8KNL7_h41mk
Session summary notes: June 27, 2023 Session Summary
Dates
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021
Focus:
Throughout the pandemic, educators have had to scramble to modify in-person sessions to online. Most of the time, the best we could do was PowerPoint over Zoom. The downside was that learners could have the camera off and could be snoozing, not even in the room, or even walking the dog. On the upside, those living in rural and remote areas or those who don’t have time to leave their desk have had more, and more accessible, education opportunities. How to keep the good and lose the bad?
Who can attend?
Health care professionals who are interested in learning more and sharing best practices around implementing essential conversations with patients and families as part of their practice. These essential conversations may be advance care planning, goals of care and / or Serious Illness Conversations (SICs).
Goal
To further the integration and spread of essential conversations into routine clinical practice throughout B.C.
Objectives
1) Provide ongoing learning opportunities for participants
2) Facilitate knowledge exchange, connectedness, resources sharing, and networking between participants
*This series was previously named Updates and Innovations: SIC Training for Facilitators & Clinicians. We have updated the series name to reflect that the essential conversations may be advance care planning, goals of care and / or Serious Illness Conversations (SICs).
Some of the session materials and resources are linked in the session events below and for others that are not linked email echo@bc-cpc.ca
Previous session list:
Session Resources:
- Session recording: YouTube
- Presentation slides
- Summary notes: Summary-Note-Integrating-Essential-Conversations-in-LTC-Perspectives-from-FH.pdf (bc-cpc.ca)
This session will focus on the learnings from a team in Fraser Health focusing on integrating a palliative approach to care in the Long Term Care (LTC) setting through a Quality Improvement (QI) approach. Dr. Laura Gordon and Dr. Nick Petropolis will share the barriers and facilitators they’ve encountered, and best strategies to help LTC teams engage in earlier, better, and more essential conversations
Presenters: Dr. Laura Gordon and Dr. Nick Petropolis
Part of our Updates & Innovations in Essential Conversations for the Health Care Team ECHO Series.
Session Resources
- Presentation Slides 2024.05.15
- Session summary notes 2024.05.15
- YouTube – session recording 2024.05.15
Talking about serious illness in a culturally sensitive way can be challenging. In this talk, we will talk about ways to adapt our communication tools to improve communication and to promote culturally sensitive care.
Presenter: Dr. Kelvin Lou
Part of our Updates & Innovations in Essential Conversations for the Health Care Team ECHO Series.
Session Resources
- Session summary notes: 2024.03.05 SIC ECHO Facilitators Barriers of SIC Implementation Summary Notes
- Session recording video: YouTube
- Session presentation slides (pdf): 2024.03.05 SIC ECHO Facilitators Barriers of SIC Implementation – slides
Part of our Updates & Innovations in Essential Conversations for the Health Care Team ECHO Series. Presenters: Laura Finkler-Kemeny RN, MSN Clinical Lead, Serious Illness Communication, BC Centre for Palliative Care
The Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG) is a validated, evidence-based tool that is known to improve experiences of clinicians, patients and caregivers while navigated a serious illness. Less is known about how to implement this guide into everyday practice, and about how to work with health organizations and leaders to integrate serious illness communication into workflows, policy and standard of practice. This session will explore the key components of what it takes to implement the Serious Illness Conversation Program and some of the barriers and enablers that clinicians and implementers may encounter along the way.
Session Resources:
- Session recording: YouTube
- Session summary notes
- Case studies
- Presentation slides
Part of our Updates & Innovations in Essential Conversations for the Health Care Team ECHO Series. Presenters: Dr. Amrish Joshi, Medical Lead for QI, Richmond CoC. Palliative MD, Richmond Integrated Hospice Palliative Care Program and Lara Musa, RN, Palliative Nurse Educator Richmond Integrated Hospice-Palliative Care Team.
Join Amrish and Lara as they share findings from a qualitative study conducted with members of the South Asian community in relation to Serious Illness Conversations. There will be an opportunity to discuss these findings and navigate cultural nuances when providing care.
Session Resources
Session recording: “Hearing What Matters” SIC ECHO Session November 16, 2023
Presentation slides: “Hearing What Matters” Nov 16 Presentation slides
Session summary notes: “Hearing What Matters” – Nov 16 ECHO session summary notes
Building on previous work on serious illness conversations with patients experiencing structural vulnerabilities in hospital, Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health are partnering on a project supported by Healthcare Excellence Canada to learn best practices for having these conversation in a community setting. This session will begin with a brief background presentation on the project and will feature front line workers’ experiences with these conversations, and will include a discussion about how we can empower and include support workers as part of the team engaging in SIC conversations.
Session Presenters: Umilla Stead, Regional Lead, Palliative Approach to Care at VCH and Wallace Robinson, Lead for Advance Care Planning at PHC
Session Resources
- Session Summary notes – September 21, 2023
- Session presentation slides – September 21, 2023
- Session recording: Essential Conversations, Talking to Parents Whose Seriously Ill Adult Child Cannot Speak for Themselves
This is an online virtual one-hour live session presented by Camara van Breemen, MN, CHPCN(CP), Nurse Practitioner(F) Enhanced Community Care Lead at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. Hosted by the BC Centre for Palliative Care, as part of our “Updates and Innovations” ECHO Series: Serious Illness Conversation Training for Facilitators and Clinicians.
Session resources:
- SIC ECHO Session Summary Notes – June 15, 2023
- Session recording: Bringing SIC to the Dialysis Unit Using an Interprofessional Lens
Serious Illness Conversation Provincial Collaborative ECHO
Presenter: Dara Lewis RN
Clinical Educator for the Regional Palliative Approach to Care Education team (RPACE)
Vancouver Coastal Health
Many patients with serious illness are receiving treatments that may not align with their wishes; in some cases, these treatments may be futile or may cause unnecessary suffering. Serious Illness Conversations can lead to less aggressive treatment decisions, fewer hospitalizations, and improved quality of life. While many health care staff recognize the benefits of engaging patients and families in these conversations, few staff feel confident or competent in having these fulsome conversations.
Staff express numerous challenges in incorporating the SIC guide into practice, even after having received the training; these challenges include the inability to remember the questions during patient encounters, lack of timely access to the guide at point of care, lack of time to engage in the conversation, and lack of routine workflows or prompts that normalize this as part of their care.
An educational exercise, entitled the Two Question Challenge, was devised at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) to engage the entire interdisciplinary team in asking SIC questions of their patients and families. SIC mentors supported the interdisciplinary team to choose at least two questions from a selection of nine SIC questions. They were asked to pose these questions of a patient or family member throughout their shift, and then asked to document their conversations in a centralized Goals of Care location within the patient’s chart.
Through the personal selection of the SIC questions and the ownership of just a few questions, staff gained both confidence and competence in engaging patients in these conversations. Staff felt they could remember these one or two questions for future care encounters. Both staff and patients found these conversations to be meaningful and impactful. The exercise also resulted in significantly increased goals of care documentation in the desired and centralized location within the chart.
The exercise has been trialed across seven medical and surgical units from three different acute care sites. Further applicability to non-acute settings, such as long-term care or community health units, could be explored in the future.
Serious Illness Conversation Provincial Collaborative ECHO
Session Topic: SIC and Coaching Mentoring Strategies
Cari Borenko, BA BSW RSW MHS
Lead, Advance Care Planning, Fraser Health Authority
Andrew Saunderson, BSW, MSW, RSW
Social Worker, Advance Care Planning, Fraser Health Authority
The health care system and its culture is reactionary and too often downstream focused. As health care providers we are attune to identifying a problem and then finding a way to address and solve the issue. We then move onto identifying the next problem, and the cycle repeats itself. Handling one problem after another leaves us stuck in an emergent response cycle, while also overlooking upstream interventions.
In response, Fraser Health has developed and implemented a strategic systems improvement model for advance care planning and serious illness processes. This approach helps ensure efficiency while prioritizing systems change at the macro level. It embeds advance care planning and serious illness conversations into existing systems and workflows and leads to sustainable improvements. The strategy includes:
• Systems Assessment
• Education
• Recommendations and Improvement
• Coaching and Consultation
• Outcome Measuring
This interactive session will engage the audience as we explore relevant tools and resources that guide our systems work, discuss our revised education process that prioritize systems and workflow redesign, and review how we embed coaching throughout all of our work.
Serious Illness Conversation Provincial Collaborative ECHO
Session Topic: SIC and Cultural Safety
Nicole Wikjord, RN, MSN, CHPCN (C)
Clinical Nurse Specialist, Chronic Conditions and Serious Illness
First Nations Health Authority
Elizabeth Beddard-Huber, RN, MSN, CHPCN(C)
Clinical Lead Serious Illness Conversations,
BC Centre for Palliative Care
By the end of the session the participants will:
- Review definitions of cultural safety and cultural humility
- Understand why cultural safety and humility are essential to Serious Illness Conversations
- Be aware of the SICG- adapted that was co-developed with FNHA and BCCPC
- Understand how preparing for the SIC is important to provide culturally safer care
This ECHO will review the First Nations Health Authority definitions of cultural safety and cultural humility, to better understand why these are important to SIC. The participants will learn about the SICG- adapted, which was co- developed with FNHA and BCCPC, based on feedback from health care providers and First Nations community members. The adapted tool will be further explored, with emphasis on the ‘preparing’ for SIC and why this pre- conversation is important to provide culturally safer care.
Serious Illness Conversation Provincial Collaborative ECHO
Session Topic: SIC in a Cancer Setting
Antony Porcino
BC Cancer
Serious Illness Conversation Provincial Collaborative ECHO
Session Topic: SIC and Disenfranchised Populations: The importance of utilizing a trauma-informed, trust building approach for Serious Illness Conversations with Structurally Vulnerable/Disenfranchised Populations
Wallace Robinson, MSW RSW
Leader for Advance Care Planning, Providence Health Care
Please note: Available resources for each session may vary. Please contact echo@bc-cpc.ca to inquiry about resources from a certain session or series
