Author: Admin

An Opportunity for Inclusion and Healthcare Equity

Experience a festival like no other, where the focus goes beyond music and art. The Stardust Festival is proud to support inclusion for the Indigenous community in Northern Ontario and champion healthcare equity. This year, Stardust Festival aims to explore the potential of space research and leverage emerging technologies to provide remote medical care to our rural areas and their residents.

🌌 Bridging Space Research and Indigenous Communities 🌌

Join Stardust Festival as Stardust Festival bridge the gap between space research and the Indigenous communities of Northern Ontario. By bringing these two realms together, Stardust Festival seeks to foster innovative solutions and promote inclusivity in scientific endeavors. Together, let’s explore how space technologies can enhance access to healthcare in remote regions and improve the well-being of all individuals.

🌍 Storytelling and Health Literacy – Lessons from Indigenous Communities 🌍

Engage in thought-provoking discussions during our panel session on “Storytelling and Health Literacy – Lessons from Indigenous Communities.” Discover the power of storytelling as a means to promote cultural safety, awareness, and health literacy among the First Nations of Northern Ontario. Let us inspire further conversations and encourage research on how this compassionate approach can advance cultural safety within the healthcare system.

📅 Save the Date: Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:00 PM – Fri, Sep 1, 2023, 6:00 PM EDT

⏰ Join us at Timmins 396 Theriault Blvd Timmins, ON P4N 5B6

🎟️ Secure Your Spot: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/stardust-festival-2023-tickets-489231644017

Embrace the opportunity to contribute to a more inclusive and equitable future. By attending the Stardust Festival 2023, you become an integral part of our collective journey towards supporting the Indigenous community, promoting cultural safety, and championing healthcare equity.

Stay tuned for more updates and information about the Stardust Festival, which will be released weekly in the summer of 2023. And do not worry, the Klingons will be back!

Together, let’s celebrate music, art, and shared experiences while supporting inclusion, cultural safety, and healthcare equity in Northern Ontario. Stardust Festivale eagerly awaits your presence.

#StardustFestival2023 #InclusionMatters #HealthcareEquity

“Education for Reconciliation: Rebuilding Stronger and with Intentionality” 

Office of Indigenous Initiatives at Western University 

London, Ontario, June 26 – 28, 2023 

Boozhoo, Shekoli, Koolamalsihmwa, and Hello.

Welcome to Universities Canada’s Building Reconciliation Forum 2023! 

The Office of Indigenous Initiatives at Western University is honoured to have been selected by Universities Canada as the host of its eighth annual Building Reconciliation Forum. The theme for this year’s forum is “ Education for Reconciliation: Rebuilding Stronger and with Intentionality.” 

We look forward to welcoming you to the Forum, which will take place on June 27^th and 28^th, with a pre-Forum day scheduled for June 26^th. 

Building Reconciliation Forum 2023, in-person registration is now closed, but virtual spots are still available. June 26-28 at Western University.

Check out the video:

REGISTER HERE: https://indigenous.uwo.ca/brf_2023.html

If you have any questions about registration or the Forum, please contact the Office of Indigenous Initiatives at:  indigenousinitiatives@uwo.ca

A Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) position is currently available for a one-year period (with the possibility of extension) in the Social Justice in Mental Health Research Lab in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University under the supervision of Dr. Carrie Anne Marshall. Candidates holding a PhD. in a social or health sciences discipline are invited to apply. Note that this position is a full-time posting. This position will be situated in Kingston, Ontario, with the potential for occasional travel to London, Ontario. 

This fellowship will offer an opportunity to build upon one’s research skills in the context of a pilot study aimed at evaluating a novel intervention called the “Peer to Community (P2C) Model”, an intervention designed to support community integration following homelessness through meaningful activity and relationship building facilitated by peer support specialists, occupational therapy and social work. This research involves: 

• Conducting mixed interviews every three months with persons with lived experiences of homelessness over the course of the one-year pilot
• Maintaining and updating the ethics applications for the study
• Participating in the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data every three months across the one-year pilot
• Leading one or more manuscripts based on the findings of the pilot study
• Participating in the refinement of the P2C model based on the pilot findings
• Supporting local organizations to obtain funding for implementing the P2C model beyond the one-year pilot study
• Participating in the development of grant applications to fund larger scale implementation science research aimed at evaluating the P2C model 
• Supervising master’s and PhD-level research assistants involved in this study 

Applicants must demonstrate some or all the following competencies: 

• Knowledge of mental illness and substance use disorders 
• Demonstrated experience in interacting with individuals with experiences of homelessness and housing precarity 
• Experience with qualitative research and the conduct and analysis of qualitative interviews 
• Use of qualitative data management (Dedoose or NVivo) and survey software (Qualtrics) 
• Knowledge of SPSS, and the conduct of descriptive statistics within this program 
• Knowledge of advanced statistics for measuring longitudinal outcomes (i.e. regression, mixed effects modelling) 
• Grant writing experience 
• Scholars who have backgrounds in epidemiology, statistics, or who are are social workers, occupational therapists, and/or who have lived experience of homelessness are specifically encouraged to apply 

This position will provide the following opportunities: 

• Expanding the candidate’s publication record 
• Development of expertise in implementation science research 
• Building upon existing research networks 
• Deepening one’s knowledge of poverty and homelessness, and how these intersect with mental health and substance use 
• Developing an independent program of research related to the objectives of the pilot study 
• Knowledge dissemination and mobilization opportunities 

This position will begin on June 1, 2023, and end on May 30, 2024 with the possibility of extension. Interested applicants should forward a copy of their research CV and a cover letter describing their competencies related to this position by 5pm on April 1, 2023 to carrie.marshall@uwo.ca. The successful candidate will be provided with $50,000/annum in funding with the expectation that they apply for external funding sources throughout their one-year appointment. 

A recent collaboration between the housing provider, Indwell, and researchers from the Centre for Research in Health Equity and Social Inclusion explored

• How can we create supportive housing to meet the needs of the Canada’s most vulnerable?
• What makes supportive housing work?
• What are the particular impacts of COVID-19 related to living in supportive housing?

Read the final report to learn how PSH is being enacted, how barriers are being broken down to make it happen in the first place, and what needs to be done to make PSH a more viable option from coast-to-coast-to-coast in Canada:

Learn more about the project and watch the recent webinar summary of findings.