The Importance of Community

Back again for my second "regular" Sunday post. I'm kind of procrastinating doing some work tonight, it's been a long day, but I'm going to do my post as promised.

This has been an interesting week as always, with our first ADNSA meeting, practicing CBT on standardized patients in Health Psych, trying out moxabustion and cupping in Asian Med, the Jays clinching the playoffs (woo! I'm such a bandwagon fan but boy is it a fun energy to be part of! Plus my grandfather loves the Jays and it's really nice to share something with him), and a really big one, the Proclamation Celebration on Thursday. That's right, the Naturopathy Act of 2007 has finally been proclaimed in Ontario - Okay, well it was actually proclaimed in July, but we're finally celebrating it. As with anything politically related, this is just one step on a long road, and you can't appease everyone as many people are a little upset about certain things, but overall, this is really great news for NDs in Ontario and across Canada and the US really. Improved regulation and legal rights leads to better patient care and protection, and better outcomes for doctors in the end. It was great to celebrate this occasion with fellow students and doctors, and to look back on how far we've come as a profession.

Anyway, onto the topic of my post for today. Community. An awesome TV show (well at least season 1-3); but also, an important word. A quick google definition of the word shows the following: "a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals." Coming from a large family, I think I've always taken for granted the importance of community, but it was really while reflecting on my last week, and doing some digging into some old psych notes that I got a greater understanding. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is an interesting concept based upon what it takes to find your purpose in life: self-actualization. I think this is something that everyone should and eventually will want to achieve, to answer the big question, "why am I here?" Maslow posits however, that in order to reach this point, you first need to attend to your most basic needs. This starts with physiologic needs like food, water and air, and then moves on to safety. How can you worry about your purpose if you can't eat, breathe, or drink, or if you don't feel safe from harm? But the next part of the pyramid is actually a feeling of love and belonging. We as humans have always survived and flourished because we build communities; we work together to help each other succeed; together. 

Of course being aware of this concept has led me to reflect on my recent past, going through this difficult program of Naturopathic Medicine. Could I have done this all by myself? Without a strong community? I really don't know. I do believe that we are all amazing beings with tons of potential for success, but I also think that we can all be better with the help of each other. In my first two years of CCNM, I was provided with endless resources from older students to help me succeed in my classes. I was given motivational speeches, invaluable tips, and people to talk to when I've felt overwhelmed. The help this community provides extends beyond just the older students though; my friends and classmates, future colleagues, are always there for each other. We all know that we have what it takes to succeed, but sometimes we need help to get through certain aspects. Individually, we are strong, but as a community, we are unstoppable. It is because of this that I am so glad to be a part of the NSA executive - my goal is to always help foster this sense of community among the students in years below me, and also students in my year and the one above me. 

This week I really appreciated the opportunity to give talks for the 1st and 2nd years on how to approach midterms, as it can be a little daunting. Having been in their position before, I know that it's tough, but I also know that they have what it takes. And more importantly, I know that they have what it takes to help each other get through. I have been pleased to see lots of sharing of resources and responsibilities among these students, sharing notes, creating study groups. This is the benefit of having a strong community, and I hope to continue to help build it stronger and stronger.

That's all for now, I've got work to do and my ability to write well is kind of flopping, but I'll leave you with this quote from Helen Keller: "Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much."

- and okay fine I'll put a funny cartoon this week!

But I swear I'm going to do my work today!
.... But maybe a quick break since I just wrote this blog post...

Tuesday! And I'm back for the second one, telling the truth!

Back again to summarize Tuesday's courses. I actually just finished doing some homework, the first homework I've really done all year! It's only the third week, I'll get in the groove I swear.

So the classes for today:

Health Psychology 3 - As our third health psych course, the expectations are getting a little higher, and there is a fair bit more practical work. This year is interesting though, because we actually have 2 SP cases for our group, and every practical, we will continue with those patients. Our first session was today, I fortunately didn't have to go as doctor (I'm a little too nervous to go first!), but it was a great experience to watch my classmates work with the biopsychosocial interview, as opposed to the more clinical focused one we watched yesterday in primary care. It was also interesting to see some of the homeopathy interviewing skills we've learned come into play here. Psych is cool though because you have a little more freedom than homeopathy to probe in different areas, but I find using those homeopathy skills helps really dig deep into what a patient is feeling, and what they actually mean when they speak. I'll also note that CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) is a big focus this year, so we'll be working on that type of therapy with our patients in future sessions. Lucky for me, I got the textbook for free - it was actually a gift from a family friend of mine, cool enough he is a social worker who actually knows the author Judith Beck (her father is kind of the "father" of CBT as it is, and she has played a big role in it's development and popularity. I'm sure he'll be a good resource if and when I get more advanced and want some help getting better at using CBT. Oh ya I forgot to mention the professor - this one is taught by Dr. David Denis again, our professor from 2nd year. He is really great, a true counselling focused ND. He provides such a great presence when doing demos, and when helping as he floats through the different practical rooms. A wonderful resource to have in this course.

After health psych, we have a 3.5 hour break until nutrition. During this time, all the breakout rooms we use for primary care are scheduled out for the 3rd years, so we can use them for whatever we want, with IT and primary care work the main focus, if we want of course. Today however, I had to go to an exam policy meeting - 1 of my duties as one of the VP Academics for the NSA Executive Council. I'll definitely remember to do a post in the future reflecting on my experience on the exec council so far, as it has been pretty great. The meeting was a little boring, but also interesting. You can really see the faculty working hard to develop good policies to benefit the students, and also push them to better academic success. It's also interesting seeing professionals work in discussion group like this, because even though they are older and more experienced, they still have disagreements, multiple conversations and multiple people speaking over one another, all that fun stuff that happens when you do group work in school. A little more professional for sure, but it's interesting.

Nutrition 3 - Our final nutrition course is taught by none other than Dr. Prousky, who is the chief medical officer of the RSNC. It's pretty cool, because he is just a huge wealth of knowledge with many years of experience, and lots of scientific data. He is similar to Dr. Phil (from second year nutrition) in his strive for evidence based treatment, but he is also a little less intense, and worries about using a combination of evidence based medicine and individualized medicine. He is also big on orthomolecular medicine, which generally involved very high doses of vitamins and nutrients for therapeutic benefit. So this year will have a little less focus on diet and lifestyle that Dr. Phil provided (fish oil, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a handful of nuts, and 30 minutes of walking a day will fix anything!), and instead look at more therapeutic use of nutrients. I think that a combination of these two courses will provide a pretty good foundation for using nutrition to effectively benefit many patients for many different conditions.

That's all for today, back to a little more homework before bed, but I'll be back tomorrow to talk about Wednesday. For now, enjoy this funny CBT cartoon I found.