Lheidli T’enneh Territory, Prince George, B.C. – An innovative new arts-based learning resource to support practitioners and others working in health care to address health disparities and biases has launched. The project is a result of a long-standing collaboration between the Health Arts Research Centre (HARC) and the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH), both housed at UNBC. 

Read HARC and NCCIH full news release

The Hearts-based Education and Anti-colonial Learning in Healthcare (H.E.A.L. Healthcare) Project unlocks the potential of arts and humanities to disrupt longstanding and well-established health disparities. Starting from the premise that healthcare is both an art and a science, H.E.A.L. Healthcare uses poetry, storytelling, visual arts, and other creative tools to confront oppressive healthcare biases, to understand patient experiences, and to humanize healthcare systems and cultures.

"As an anti-colonial medical educator, I believe there needs to be more tools to combat oppressive practices," 
said Dr. Sarah de Leeuw, Research Director, HARC; Director, NCCIH; Canada Research Chair, Humanities and Health Inequities; and Professor with the UBC Northern Medical Program at UNBC. "Every tool on this website asks for self-reflection and internal focus. Health educators and clinicians can benefit from the innovative, art-based tools offered through this website."

H.E.A.L. Healthcare brings together artists, writers, activists, and people with lived experience to create arts-based and anti-oppressive learning materials. H.E.A.L. Healthcare teaching tools are designed to inspire anyone in any healthcare field: healthcare providers and professionals (nurses, dentists, doctors), healthcare staff and administrators, and healthcare students, educators, and institutions.

The free and open-access lessons are available at HEALhealthcare.ca