BC Centre for Palliative Care

Essential Conversations: Talking to Adults Who Have Challenges in Articulating their Wishes in Medical Care
2025-10-15 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Vancouver) | online
Session resources

Session summary notes
Session recording: YouTube

Advance care planning can be more complex with adults who have cognitive or communication differences. Understanding concepts of inclusion, competency and a model of shared decision making can be helpful for the clinician in supporting care planning and medical directives that align with the individuals wishes. This talk also explores strategies employed in pediatrics where surrogate decision making and family voice can augment and support the patient in these essential conversation.
Session objectives:

Review the definition of serious illness and the zone of health that can guide advance care planning with seriously ill young adults with cognitive / communication impairments.
Discuss issues of inclusion, competency, shared-decision making
Discuss the serious illness conversation guide – pediatrics and application of this to this population

Presenter: Camara van Breemen, MN, Nurse Practitioner (F), Director, Community Care and Provincial Outreach
Nurse Practitioner Team Lead
Canucks Place Children’s Hospice

Home Health – Emergency Response in Island Health
2025-10-07 11:00 - 12:00 | online
Session resources

Heat Check Tool : https://ncceh.ca/sites/default/files/NCCEH%20Extreme%20Heat%20Event%20-%20Health%20Checklist%20WEB_0.pdf
Session summary notes

Part of the Climate, Planetary Health & Palliative Care ECHO Series
The Emergency Response in Home Health at Island Health is aimed to more efficiently identify clients most at risk and enhance staff safety during any emergency situation. This process has improved the program’s ability to monitor staff and client safety while also raising awareness of heat-related illness and safety through discussions and informational brochures in preparation for emergencies
Presenters: Saskia Wald, Island Health and Elaine Heffe, Island Health

Grief in Systematically Oppressed Communities: Building Compassionate Relationships as a First Step
2025-09-23 12:00 - 13:15 | online
Session resources

Session summary document
Session recording: YouTube

Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series
This session centers on the importance of building compassionate, trust-based relationships as an important step in supporting grief and bereavement in communities who are systematically oppressed. By prioritizing empathy and connection, participants will explore ways to nurture meaningful relationships as a foundational step toward healing and support. Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenters: Jennie Biltek, Client Services Coordinator, Sunshine Coast Hospice Society
Stephanie Laing, PhD(c), MSW, RSW – Director of Operations, Kelowna Homelessness Research Centre
Jaylene Scheible – Community Care Collaborator & Consultant

This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.

Empowering Palliative Patients and Families in BC: A Unique Palliative Navigation Program
2025-09-10 12:00 - 13:00
Session resources:

Session recording link: YouTube
Session summary note

Part of the All Together ECHO Series
This volunteer-based program has supported palliative patients and families from the Ismaili Community in the Lower Mainland since 2017. The presenter will share the team’s key experiences and learnings and will review the unique tools that the program has developed to rapidly assess the supports required by palliative patients and their families.
Presenter: Afzal Mangalji

Experiencing Grief as a Health Care Provider
2025-08-28 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources

Session recording: YouTube
session summary notes

Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series

Front-line nurses, and clinicians, carry the weight of repeated loss — sitting with patients in their final moments, then moving immediately to the next urgent task. Research in hospice and palliative care shows this cumulative, often unacknowledged grief impacts our emotional health, our relationships with patients, and our ability to sustain compassionate care over time. This session will weave clinical narratives with current evidence to explore how we can name, honor, and address professional grief — and why policy change, including bereavement leave reform, is essential to protect the wellbeing of care providers.
Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Laura Finkler-Kemeny, RN Clinical Lead, Serious Illness Communication, BC Centre for Palliative Care

This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.

Flexing Your Core ECHO-Ethical practice, Education, Evaluation, Quality Improvement & Research (Summer 2025)
2025-08-26 12:00 - 13:00
Session resources

Session summary notes

In this session we will identify and discuss common ethical issues in palliative care and we will talk through steps to take in addressing ethical issues by discussing a case scenario. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss how education, evaluation, QI and research are important in palliative care context.
Part of our Flexing Your Core ECHO series

Flexing Your Core ECHO-Care Planning, Collaborative Practice & Advocacy (Summer 2025)
2025-08-19 12:00 - 13:00
Session resources

Session summary notes

We will identify the importance of determining a person’s goals for their care at end of life and discuss key elements of anticipatory care planning along with some ideas on what advocacy in your role can look like.
Part of our Flexing Your Core ECHO series

Flexing Your Core ECHO-Self-care (Summer 2025)
2025-08-12 12:00 - 13:00
Session resources

Session summary notes

As healthcare providers we know self-care is important yet it’s something many of us may not take time to reflect on. This session we will reflect on our own self-care needs in relation to supporting patients approaching end of life. We will also discuss ways to support each other as a team in supporting end of life patients.
Part of our Flexing Your Core ECHO series

Flexing Your Core ECHO-Loss, Grief & Bereavement (Summer 2025)
2025-08-05 12:00 - 13:00
Session resources

Session discussion summary

In this session we will discuss how each person’s grief experience is unique. Participants will work through scenarios discussing ways to support patients and colleagues.
Part of our Flexing Your Core ECHO series

Inking the Bond
2025-07-31 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources

Session summary notes
session recording: YouTube video

Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series
This talk is a conversation about tattoos, grief, and growth. Stories will be drawn from research and personal experience. The three speakers are all social workers who love to talk about tattoos, the intersection of taboo, the connection to the deceased and the way they can contribute to the process of meaning making.
Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Susan Cadell, PhD, RSW Professor, School of Social Work, Renison University College

This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.

Flexing Your Core ECHO-Optimizing Comfort & Quality of Life & Last Days and Hours (Summer 2025)
2025-07-29 12:00 - 13:00
Session resources

Session discussion summary

This session is an introduction to promoting comfort and quality of life for people with life-limiting illness. Learners will discuss applying the steps of symptom management and supporting wellness to a case study. We will also discuss what the last days and hours of someone’s life can look like as and how you can support this journey as part of their care team.
Part of our Flexing Your Core ECHO series

Flexing Your Core ECHO-Communication & Virtual Care (Summer 2025)
2025-07-22 12:00 - 13:00
Session resources

Session discussion summary

This session we will discuss foundational communication skills such as active listening. We will also explore a person-centered framework used to guide conversations focusing on what’s important to a person with life-limiting illness. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss providing virtual care and ways to provide person-centered care in a virtual care appointment

Part of our Flexing Your Core ECHO series

Flexing Your Core ECHO-Cultural Safety & Humility (Summer 2025)
2025-07-15 12:00 - 13:00
Session resources

Session summary and discussion notes

This session explores concepts such as privilege and how it can lead to culturally inappropriate 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 to work towards providing culturally safer care.
Part of our Flexing Your Core ECHO series

Flexing Your Core ECHO-Principles of Palliative Care and Palliative Approach (Summer 2025)
2025-07-08 12:00 - 13:00
Session Resources:

FYC Principles of Palliative Care and Palliative Approach summer 2025 – session summary

This session introduces key concepts of a palliative approach. We will discuss who would benefit from a palliative approach to care and talk about a health care provider’s role in providing this approach to care for their patients. A case study will be discussed with participants to give opportunity to reflect on their learnings.
Part of our Flexing Your Core ECHO series

Exploring the Power of Equine Therapy in Grief Support
2025-06-26 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources

2025.06.26 Session summary notes
Session recording: YouTube

Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series
This session will have a presentation with time for Q & A.
Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Veronica Tod, Grief Support Manager at Abbotsford Hospice and Grief Support Society

This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.

Grief and Loss Along the Dementia Journey
2025-05-28 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources

Session video recording: YouTube link
Dementia education: coping with change, grief & loss – resources list
Session summary and discussion
Presentation slides

Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series

Care partners often experience a continuous and profound sense of loss as they walk alongside a person living with dementia. This webinar will delve into the unique challenges that care partners face, illuminating the multifaceted nature of grief throughout the dementia journey. Participants will explore how grief manifests differently at various stages, from early diagnosis to advanced disease progression. We will also address the often-overlooked emotional toll on care partners and provide strategies for recognition and support.
Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Susan Prosser, Provincial Coordinator of Education at Alzheimer’s Society of BC

This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.

FREE May Webinar – PSWs Share their Passion and Insights on Hospice & Palliative Care
2025-05-08 13:00 - 14:00 | online
An inspiring webinar featuring Courtney Murrell, Myke Dyer, and Matthew Hicks who are three dedicated PSWs/HCAs from the field of Hospice and Palliative care. Hear firsthand stories about their experiences, challenges, and triumphs in making a meaningful difference in the lives of patients and families.

Planetary Health in Hospice Palliative Care Building Climate Resilience and Low Carbon Health Systems
2025-05-07 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources

Session summary notes
Session recording: YouTube

Join us in exploring the topic of Planetary Health in Hospice Palliative Care. This session will introduce you to ways to prepare for climate-related emergencies and how to create climate-informed health programs. Presenters will share, from their British Columbia context, their experiences in kidney care to explore impacts of climate-related emergencies and how to create climate-informed health programs across the spectrum of palliative care including Hospice care. Come to learn from their experiences, tools they have developed or adapted, and share how you too are working towards creating a culture of environmental sustainability across palliative care settings.

Challenges and Resilience in the 2SLGBTQ+ Community: Exploring Grief and Bereavement Through a Holistic Framework
2025-04-23 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources:

Session summary notes
Session recording: YouTube link

Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series
This session will discuss the challenges and resilience in the 2SLGBTQ+ community relating to grief and bereavement. Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Geoff Straw, M.A., Registered Clinical Counsellor

This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.

Frailty and Dementia: Essential Conversations with Families
2025-04-17 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources

Session recording: YouTube
Session summary notes: Frailty & Dementia ECHO session Apr 17, 2025 summary
Dementia Booklet
Frailty Roadmap for Family

For seniors with life-limiting illness and their families, we need gentle but realistic conversations about their medical conditions, changes in their abilities and function, their quality of life, and goals of care. With a gentle approach to medical truth-telling, we can avoid potentially burdensome medical interventions, prevent unnecessary suffering, and empower families to help provide the best quality of life possible for their loved one. Dr Trevor Janz will model these conversations with families for us; about MOST status, CPR and ICU, feeding tubes in stroke and late dementia, falls and hip fracture, pneumonia, dehydration and bladder infections, and avoiding hospitalization
Presenters: Dr. Trevor Janz

Walking Through Grief Together: Supporting Family Caregivers Through the Transition to Healing
2025-03-26 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources:

session summary notes
Session recording: YouTube
Resource – Family caregivers of BC services

Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series
A discussion on the power of community support, self-advocacy, and meaning-making in helping family and friend caregivers transition from caregiving to grieving. Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Aaron Yukich, Caregiver Rx Social Prescribing Project Lead, Family Caregivers of British Columbia

This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.

Unlocking Dignity: How to Improve the Reintegration Experience of Justice-involved People with Life-limiting Illnesses into Community
2025-03-06 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session resources

Session summary notes
Presentation recording: YouTube

Reintegrating into the community after incarceration is a complex process that requires a coordinated, inter-agency and interdisciplinary approach. For justice-involved individuals facing serious or life-limiting illnesses, access to patient-centred palliative care is essential—not only for symptom management but also for ensuring dignity, continuity of care, and social support. This session will create a space to share how this is currently being done in our communities, identify existing gaps and challenges, and discuss innovative strategies to enhance access to care. Through shared experiential knowledge and collaboration, we will envision pathways that ensure justice-involved individuals receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
Presenters:

Iridian Grenada, Advisory Consultant, Justice Reintegration
Mar’yana Fisher, RN, PhD(c) Palliative Nurse Clinician

The intended audience for this session is healthcare providers and community organizations.

Understanding Grief in Canada: A Canadian Grief Alliance Perspective
2025-02-27 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session Resources:

session summary notes
Session recording: YouTube
Canadian Grief Alliance webpage

Part of our Grief & Bereavement Literacy ECHO Series
Please join Paul and Marney for this ECHO session where they will share insights and updates from the Canadian Grief Alliance (CGA). Learn about the CGA national grief survey and professional consultation results and the needs that were identified through these projects. Also, hear about the CGA Grief Chats and the questions and concerns voiced by grieving Canadians. Poster you can print and share linked here.
Presenter: Marney Thompson, Director of Bereavement Services, Victoria Hospice Society
Paul Adams, Co-chair, Canadian Grief Alliance

This series is for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge around grief and bereavement to support them personally or in their professional careers.

Reimagining a Hospice Model of Care
2025-02-12 12:00 - 13:00
Session Resources

YouTube session recording link
Session summary notes

Part of the All Together ECHO Series
This series is a compassionate communities initiative, open to health care providers, volunteers, volunteer lead organizations, community groups, and individuals looking to be inspired by and learn from others developing compassionate communities.
Session description: Shifting landscapes in healthcare necessitate shifts in how we think about service delivery. Following the presentation of experiences of moving from a traditional facility-based hospice model to a community services-based model to meet the needs of the community and increase access to services, participants will have opportunity to engage and reflect with learnings.
Presenters:

Kara Lyons-Dietz, Community Health Services and Hospice Manager, Island Health
Katie Hennessy, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Palliative & End of Life Care, Island Health

The Power of Social Connection: Explore the Evidence-based Impact of Friendly Calls on People, Communities, and the Healthcare System
2025-02-05 12:00 - 13:00 | online
Session Resources

Presentation recording: YouTube
Session presentation summary notes

This session is open to anyone wanting to learn about a nationally accessible social prescription, Red Cross Friendly Calls program
What if we told you, that a meaningful connection was just a phone call away? Join us to learn how the Canadian Red Cross is addressing the devastating impacts of social isolation and loneliness through the Friendly Calls program and how this supports your work within palliative care. A nationally accessible social prescription, Friendly Calls impacts personal wellbeing for patients, caregivers, and volunteers alike; strengthens resilience and capacity within communities; and alleviates pressure on the health care system.
Presenters:

Asha Croggon, Director of Friendly Calls program, Canadian Red Cross
Doris Sun, BCY Friendly Calls Coordinator
Michelle Rajani, BCY Friendly Calls Coordinator

Grief Chats Q&A
2024-01-08 17:30 - 19:30 | online
Join grief specialists Maxxine Rattner (MSW, RSW) and Marney Thompson (MA, RCC) for the first Grief Chats Q&A – a monthly webinar where they will respond to your questions about loss and grief.
Click to Register

Call for Abstracts - Now Open! 35th Palliative Care Education & Research Conference: Compassion & Hope
2024-10-22 08:00 - 17:00 | online
To submit an abstract for consideration please click here
The submission deadline is April 4, 2024. Abstracts on all aspects of palliative & end of life care are welcome.

Ensuring that the needs and wishes of each person with a life-limiting illness and their family are understood.
Learn about palliative care needs and enhance your knowledge of the practical aspects of palliative and end-of-life care. Explore current trends, issues and research with our invited guest experts and your colleagues.
Topic areas include:

Back to Basics: Symptom management, direct clinical care
Emerging Issues & Trends: Innovations and research in palliative and end of life care
Challenging clinical care needs for palliative and end of life patients and their families
Psychosocial/Spiritual & Wellness

More information about the conference and abstract submission requirements can be found on our website
Registration will open in June 2024.

McGill International Palliative Care Congress
2024-10-15 - 2024-10-18 | Palais des Congrès de Montréal, 1001 Pl. Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montreal, QB, Canada
After a successful return in 2022, the McGill International Palliative Care Congress will be held at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal, from October 15-18, 2024.
This major gathering of healthcare professionals and palliative care specialists from around the world has been hosted in Montréal every second year since 1976. The McGill International Congress offers a unique conference experience: galvanizing plenary speakers; in-depth experiential workshops; seminars covering all aspects of end-of-life care, from the most current scientific developments in pain and symptom control to the large existential questions. All sessions are structured to allow ample time for dialogue, questions and thoughtful interaction. As always, the Congress will offer a welcoming, inclusive environment where the clinical sciences are intertwined with the humanities, the arts, and compassion.
Register and find out more by visiting: www.mipcc.ca/
