My Experiences

Question 1

Progress Place

Answer 1

• Progress Place is community-based psychosocial rehabilitation centre
• As a health and wellness volunteer, I had the privilege of getting to know people living with mental illness
• My goal was to promote healthy habits and health awareness in ways that the community preferred
• informed by the community’s needs and preferences, I led weekly exercise classes. Based on the scientific, peer reviewed literature that substantiates the positive influence of exercise on mental health, I led weekly exercise classes at the centre.
• when I facilitated these classes, I always tried to engage and empower the participants as much as possible by encouraging them to suggest what kind of exercise they would like to do. If they didn’t know, I would show them some exercise options and allow them to choose. I would encourage any feedback so I could improve the program to fit their needs.
• al
• I believe this experience will help me be a better doctor because it gave me the opportunity to recognize the people behind the “patient” label; Over time, I built rapport with the members of the centre, and they gave me copious insights on their experiences, needs, barriers and enablers, and While I realize these specifics vary between people,

Question 2

Reading often growing up

Answer 2

• encouraged to put myself in the place of another (-> empathy, altruism, desire to help others)
• recognize that other ways of being, thinking are possible, even necessary

-neuroscience study analyzed blood samples taken before and after a character driven narrative, found that stories consistently increase oxytocin synthesis

Question 3

Love learning and teaching others

Answer 3

• tutoring (high school, frontlines)

- nserc science outreach event

Question 4

What traits and relevant experiences do you have that lead you to the believe you would be a good doctor?

Answer 4

I’m going to outline each trait and talk about the experiences that demonstrate this trait in tandem.

-love to learn (scholar)
—-research project
—-research at CAMH

-love to teach others
—-tutoring
—-science outreach event for girls In high school that are underrepresented in science

-desire to promote health
——progress place (volunteer)
——virtual classes for seniors (volunteer)
-altruism; volunteer

-recognize patient as a person.
—-d&e committee (SDOH)
—-work on patient focused training materials

-communicator
——Princess Margaret cancer centre: emotional support
——certified listeners; online chat