2024 Regional Conference

Topic: Knowledge, Curiosity, Humility and Meaning-Making: Reflections on Honouring Cultural Diversity in Palliative Care

Bio: Sheila Atkinson, RP, BA (Hons), MDiv, is a Certified Spiritual Care Practitioner (CASC) and Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO), and has spent much of her career in paediatrics, palliative care, and bereavement. Support and education of colleagues is an integral part of her work. She has contributed to work on specialized competencies for Spiritual Care within palliative and bereavement care. She is committed to a broad secular model of spirituality that sees all people as spiritual beings and supports their spiritual and existential crises in contemporary and meaningful ways.

In her current role as a Grief Support Coordinator with the Paediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) at SickKids in Toronto, she supports parents, families, and colleagues, in their need to grieve deeply, to struggle with meaning-making and to find their healing pathways.

Bio: Hector was born in Toronto and raised on Beausoleil First Nation Territory. He is a many of many talents and has an extensive amount of knowledge on traditional healing. In 2015, Hector became the Traditional Healer/Consultant at the Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle (BANAC) and is now the Elder for they  Mamaway Wildokdaadwin Primary Care Team since 2019. While in the midst of completing courses and working, he also completed the 5^th degree in Midewin at Three Fires Society and is a Chief within the Midewin Lodge. Hector’s teachers include Eddie Benton, Jim Dumont and Merle Pegamagabow. Hector has been a Traditional Healer, Mental Health Worker and a Language and Cultural teacher since 1990. Hector’s passion for his people has given him an openness to share his wisdom and to assist those who are on their own healing journey.

Topic: The HEAL Project: Lessons on grief and mourning in recovering from a war in Tigray (Northern Ethiopia)

In this workshop, Brenton Diaz will share the insights he gleaned from working on a community project to help one community in Tigray (Northern Ethiopia) deal with the trauma of a massacre that occurred during a recent war. Western therapeutic knowledge was combined with ancient cultural practices to foster a healing, supportive community project.

Bio: Brenton Diaz, MSW, RSW is a trauma therapist based out of York Region working exclusively with refugees and newcomers to Canada in a joint program between Cedar Centre and Canadian Mental Health Association of York Region and South Simcoe. He has taught internationally in a number of post-secondary institutions, including locally in the Social Work program at Lakehead University. In 2023 he travelled to Ethiopia with a project with Simon Fraser University to provide assistance to communities ravaged by war and massacres.

Topic: Stepping Out of the Box: How do we support those who can’t access our existing palliative care systems?

Bio: Toni Mihaylova is a palliative care physician who has worked in Barrie for the past two years. She grew up in Mississauga, then completed medical training at McMaster, followed by family medicine and palliative care residencies at Queen’s University. She graduated in 2020 and for the next 2 years worked in Brampton and Toronto doing full-time palliative care. Part of her work was with the PEACH (Palliative Education And Care for the Homeless) team in downtown Toronto.

Bio: Troy Monague is apart of the Mamaway Wiidokadaadwin Team as the Traditional Healing Coordinator with the goal of helping communities with access and exposure to their culture and strengthening of their identity. Troy has worked in the community for many years with Mental Health, Crisis Intervention, Addictions and those populations with complex needs, targeted through an Indigenous lens of practice. Troy has been working in the community while seeking ongoing learning from different elders, knowledge keepers and helpers. Troy learns from his loving family everyday as he is a husband and father. Troy was raised on Beausoleil First Nation with people such as his Grandfather, Past Chief Rodney Monague Sr, who helped in moving Troy in the direction of keeping the history of Anishinaabe people of this area and striving for the youth today to find independence and pride through storytelling and the use of what traditional knowledge Troy can offer.

Topic: Consideration of Culture, Faith & Spirituality in Provision of Palliative Care

Bio: Anwar Parbtani, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, MD, CCFP, FCFP, LM

Anwar Parbtani was born and lived in Uganda, East Africa until the age of 17. On completing high school, he went to Poona University, India from where he obtained his BSc (Hons) degree. He came to England in 1972 as a refugee from Uganda. He completed post-graduate studies in Genetics at Edinburgh University in Scotland and PhD at the University of London, England. He came to Canada in 1981 as a Canadian Heart Foundation fellow at McMaster Univ. He was a career scientist at Western Univ from 1984 to 1998. He has published more than 150 articles including papers, book chapters and abstracts. At the age of 48, he changed his career from science to medicine. He is currently a contract family physician at BCFHT and a member of the Barrie community palliative care group. He is Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and FMTU-RVH. He is codirector of residents’ research and evidence-based medicine program at FMTU-RVH and co-chair of RVH Research Ethics Board. Anwar’s notable awards include “Shram Dam (“donation of labor”) from Poona District in India, 125^th Canada Birthday Achievement Award (for work with youth), the Award of Excellence in Research Mentorship from the DFCM, University of Toronto and the Award of Excellence from the Canadian College of Family Physicians. His current practice focus is community palliative care service, and his passion is teaching and research; more recently studying, researching and promoting role of culture, faith and spirituality in palliative care.

Bio: Kathy is honoured to be working for Banac/Mamaway Primary Health Care Team as the Red Road to Recovery Facilitator/Program Lead

Kathy is compassionate in working for the Indigenous community for 29 years helping individuals, families and communities to learn, thrive and achieve their goals. This has been her dream facilitating Red Road to First Nations and communitites to help her people to seek a good life in all aspects of Mental, Physical, Emotional and Spiritual well being. She is also called upon to intervene in crisis situations to restore and maintain family health while ensuring the cultural base of “Anishinabe” is maintained.

With the Red Road to Recovery, they have developed a Red Road Curriculum and train-the-trainer program for front line workers working for Indigenous Communities. They were recognized for this work in 2012 with a Mental Health and Addictions Community Award.

Topic: Creating a Compassionate Community: Honouring Perspective, Openness to Vulnerability, and Care for the Whole Person

Bio: Lori studied philosophy at UWO and obtained her master’s degree in religious studies and counselling at Knox College, U of T.  She completed two clinical pastoral education units at Sick Children’s Hospital and Royal Victoria Hospital and has worked in both hospital and long-term care settings. Lori joined Hospice Simcoe in 2017 and is grateful to be part of an organization which emphasizes compassion, inclusivity and a person-centred care.  As Hospice Simcoe’s Spiritual Care Coordinator, Lori provides support to patients and families, as well as to hospice volunteers and staff.  Lori believes that spiritual care encompasses a holistic approach, including physical, emotional, psychosocial and grief support.  Such a holistic approach honours what matters most to patients and their families, including cultural traditions, faith expression, gender identity and lifestyle choices.