Ep. 9: Befriending Digital Tools

Dr. Mary Elliott chats with Dr. Ada Barlatt, an award-winning researcher and entrepreneur. Over the years she has worked in various roles, including as an industrial engineer, professor, data scientist, and consultant. Ada brings this expertise to her passion for creating efficient systems that are fun to use.    

In this episode, Ada reflects on how her experience being a new mom helped her reflect on her own use of technology and inspired her to create a new app – Happy Mindset – that helps individuals use gratitude and mindfulness practices to balance productivity pressure.    

Read more about Dr. Ada Barlatt’s Operations Ally  

https://www.operations-ally.com/ 

Join the Waitlist for the Happy Mindset app 

https://www.happymindset.app 

More About Our Host 

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network.  

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!

This week, our featured guest on The Lift Podcast is Ronna Bloom, an educator, writing coach, and author of seven books and a chapbook. Her latest book, A Possible Trust: The Poetry of Ronna Bloom (Edited by Phil Hall) is available to order through Wilfrid Laurier University Press.   

Ronna is also an arts innovator. With support from Ontario Arts Council, and in conjunction with the Health, Arts & Humanities program at the University of Toronto, she was instrumental in establishing the role of Poet-in-Residence at Mount Sinai Hospital, which she held from 2012 until 2019. Using Rx for Poetry, Ronna launched creative initiatives to reach healthcare workers, trainees, patients, and family members, by operating a Spontaneous Poetry Booth in hospitals and the community.  

She is a sought-after facilitator of poetry workshops, and has developed a national training program, Community Engagement Through Poetry – the first cohort of which was sponsored by the Government of Newfoundland and Pedler Press. Her poems have been recorded by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, translated into Spanish, Bangla, and Chinese, and she's done work with architects, filmmakers, doctors, academics, and spiritual leaders.  

In this episode, Ronna sits down with Dr. Mary Elliott to share her experience bringing poetry to healthcare workers and explores how this might help them pause, reflect and metabolize their experience.  

Read more about Ronna Bloom 

https://ronnabloom.com 

Order a copy of “A Possible Trust: The Poetry of Ronna Bloom” (Edited by Phil Hall)

https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/A/A-Possible-Trust  

More About Our Host 

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network.  

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!

Dr. Mary Elliott speaks with Dr. Warren Lewin, Site Lead, Palliative Care, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto. Warren is also a senior faculty member of Vital Talk and Founding Director of The Conversation Lab, an education and research innovation hub at the University of Toronto.  

Together, they discuss Warren’s work teaching and learning from clinical trainees and reflect on his path to being a becoming a physician and educator. He helps us understand how communication tools support clinician / healthcare worker well-being. As a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, he is attuned to the power of language and he aims to transform care by building a healthcare system where every clinician is empowered with the tools to carefully consider their language and create more inclusive spaces in healthcare.  

Read more about The Conversation Lab 

https://www.theconversationlab.org 

Read more about VitalTalk  

https://www.chooseyourpath.vitaltalk.org/mastering-tough-conversations/  

More About Our Host 

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network.  

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!

Dr. Mary Elliott sits down with Dr. Dawn Lim, Emergency Physician at University Health Network & Assistant Professor in The Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

Dawn's love of learning and exploration led her to the peaks of a European space agency parabola, the rough roads of rural Cambodia, and the shiny halls of the Richard Ivey School of business where she obtained an MBA. Eventually she paused her work to take an 800km spiritual journey to find her way home through photography, writing and motherhood.      

Dawn is the Photographer-in-Residence, Health, Arts and Humanities Program, The Temerty Faculty of Medicine, U of T. Notably, she received support from a National Geographic COVID Grant and her photography can be found in various national media outlets and galleries. She is a trained a facilitator in Brené Brown’s The Daring Way™ and is particularly interested in changing the shame-based culture of medicine.       

In this episode, she sits down with Dr. Mary Elliott to unpack the concept of shame resilience, reflect on how this has promoted her well-being, and share how she's been able to effect a shift in culture through training to others.  

View and learn more about Dawn’s Photography   https://www.dawnlimphotography.com      

More About Our Host  

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network. 

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!

This week, Dr. Mary Elliott chats with Dr. Melissa Lem, a Vancouver-based family physician who also works in rural and northern communities within Canada. She is the co-founder and Director of Parks Prescriptions, known as #PaRx, an initiation in partnership with the BC Parks Foundation, and President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE). Melissa is also a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.  

In this episode, Melissa takes us back to her early career aspirations and reflects on how taking time to personally reflect on her wellbeing propelled her to become a world leader in the health benefits of nature. Her story reminds us to take a pause, and to reflect on our own sense of well-being.   

More About Melissa  

Dr. Melissa Lem is an internationally recognized leader in the field of nature and health. She has also engaged in advocacy and policy work on a broad range of other issues, from climate change and hydraulic fracturing to sustainable health care and low-carbon transportation.  

A widely published writer, Melissa's work has appeared in media including the CBC, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, The Narwhal and National Observer. As a regular climate change panellist on CBC Radio's Early Edition and in-house medical columnist for CBC TV Vancouver, one of her major priorities is knowledge translation. 

Dr. Lem was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto and the 2022 Adult Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature, a 2021 World Parks Week Ambassador, sits on the Advisory Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Health and Well-being Specialist Group, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. 

Listen to Dr. Melissa Lem talk further about nature prescriptions on CBC’s Back to the Land with host Duncan McCue: 

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1942687811592  

Learn more about PaRX Prescriptions:  

https://www.parkprescriptions.ca/en/about  

About Our Host    

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network. 

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!

Our featured guest this week is Dr. Lisa Richardson, a mixed blood Anishinaabe physician and clinician educator in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and the Associate Dean of Inclusion & Diversity. Lisa also practices internal medicine at the University Health Network and is an education researcher at the Wilson Center. 

Dr. Richardson is a powerful advocate for Indigenous health equity at both local and national levels, and her contributions have been recognized through numerous local, national and international awards. In this episode, she brings us into reflective space and uses the portal of her lived experience, including integration of teachings received from elders, to look at the intersection of belonging and healthcare worker wellbeing.  
  

Read more about Lisa here: 

https://temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/associate-dean-inclusion-diversity  

About Our Host  

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network. 

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!

Our host Dr. Mary Elliott sits down with Jessica Danquah, who works in the Urgent Care and Procedures Clinic, at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and serves as the Physician Assistant Lead, Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre & UHN Physician Assistant Clinical Lead.     

Jessica is an accomplished clinician, leader, and fierce advocate for equity in the healthcare system. She believes in the significant contribution that Physician Assistants are making to the healthcare system; and envisions improving access to care among marginalized and at-risk populations.     

She sits down with Dr. Mary Elliott to explore how her intersecting identities impact her professional experience, and poignantly describes how she harnesses moments of discouragement and despair to drive meaningful systems change.       

More About Jessica
Jessica Danquah completed her Bachelor of Science in the Physician Assistant (PA) Education Program at McMaster University. In addition to the roles above, she is also the UHN PA Education Lead, and has a strong interest in the areas of mentorship, curriculum development and fostering clinical competency in trainees.   

Prior to working as a Physician Assistant, she completed a Masters of Public Health at the University of Queensland. Her focus on health promotion and disease prevention in vulnerable populations led to research work with the Ontario Network of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Centres and international work with Global Affairs Canada, both with a focus on HIV/AIDs prevention.       

About Our Host  

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network. 

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!

In this episode Dr. Kali Barrett, a Critical Care Physician at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network and a public policy expert gives a moving account of providing bedside care to critically ill COVID patients and an inside look at the Ontario COVID-19 Advisory Table where she was an Assistant Scientific Director contributing to the table's health systems capacities modelling.  Kali shares these compelling experiences, which led her to reflect on life and death and helped her recognize the centrality of family in her own life.

More About Kali 

Kali studied medicine at Western University, and completed her specialty training at Temerty Medicine, University of Toronto. She has a Master's Degree in Health Policy, Planning and Finance from the London School of Economics, is completing a second master’s degree in the area of health technology and sits on the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee.  

Watch Kali speak on CTV News about the COVID-19 pandemic here: 

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2172760&jwsource=cl  

About Our Host  

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network. 

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!

Our host Dr. Mary Elliott sits down with Anet Julius, Director of Professional Practice, Nursing & Health Professions, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN to reflect on compassionate leadership. We travel with Anet as she reflects on experiences that continue to shape her as a leader — from the bedside of sarcoma patients, through the challenges of keeping a cancer centre operating safely during the pandemic, and all the way to the Mount Everest Base Camp. 

Read more about Anet’s climb to Mount Everest Base Camp here: https://supportthepmcf.ca/ui/DIY/p/anetjulius  

More About Anet 

Anet Julius is also the Regional Oncology Nursing Lead for the Toronto Central South Regional Cancer program, Ontario Health, and a University of Toronto, Adjunct Lecturer within the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. She is a frequent lecturer for UHN - Princess Margaret’s International program, teaching the Specialized Oncology Nursing Curriculum in Kuwait and Qatar and an executive committee member of the PM Global Cancer Program.  

About Our Host  

Dr. Mary Elliott is a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, and Mindfulness Teacher at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network. 

Follow The Lift on Facebook, Instagram and X at @LiftatPM to discover wellbeing, explore our Wellness Toolkit, for weekly podcast updates and much more!