On the Edge of Health and Design

This month, we highlight Aideen Carroll, Advanced Practice Nurse Educator and champion of mental health nursing!Of note, Aideen shared her love of the history of mental health/health care and provided examples of the design and evolution of products and processes towards improving experiences for both patients and providers. Aideen’s key takeaway was challenging future generations with normalizing mental health as a part of our overall health. We hope you loved this episode as much as we did! Aideen's email: aideen.carroll@uhn.ca https://hospitalnews.com/nursing-hero-award-first-place-winner-aideen-carroll/CAMH - Mental Health is Health campaign https://www.camh.ca/en/driving-change/mental-health-is-healthMental health commission of Canada app assessment framework⁠https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/app-assessment/

In this summer recap episode, your cohost, Nita shares her personal reflections following her recent Heritage Journey to Kenya, Africa. Nita revisits the concept of Designing your Life and shares how her own Indian, African and Canadian heritage shapes her current quest to find communities of belonging. Are you looking for your community? Feel free to reach out to us with comments, questions and reflections of your own. ResourcesEpisode 30: Design your Life with Demi YooEpisode 31: Breathe into Balance with Manjit Hansra Book: Breath by James NesterDesign concept: Iterative Inquiry

This month, we spoke with Manjit Hansra, a pharmacist, breathwork facilitator and entrepreneur. Manjit shared his personal story of burnout working as a pharmacist and pharmacy owner. After attending wellness retreats in different countries, Manjit became certified as a breathwork facilitator and founded Rx for Renewal, a company focused on helping healthcare leaders live a life of joy through balancing their work and wellbeing. We invited Manjit to demonstrate a breathwork technique for us - watch our episode to learn it! If you’re interested in breathing with Manjit, feel free to reach out to him on social media and/or subscribe to his newsletter. Details under Resources below. ResourcesUpcoming Somatic Breathwork Sessions (July 18 and Aug 10) - ⁠https://rx-renewalmentalfitness.my.canva.site/copy-of-breathing-events-landing-page⁠Rx Renewal Services - https://linktr.ee/rxrenewalManjit on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/manjithansraSubstack Newsletter - https://manjithansra.substack.comMental Fitness Training - https://rx-renewalmentalfitness.my.canva.site/

This month, we chatted with Demi Yoo, a marketing professional who is also a self-described health and wellness junkie. Demi discovered meditation during a dark period in her life and found that this helped her mental health. Demi shared her most challenging meditation experience to-date, a 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat that had her meditating for a total of 100 hours! In Demi’s words, this experience changed her life! She’s happy to share the details of how to register for this in Ontario, Canada (see our Resources below). Finally, Demi created her personal virtuous cycle of positive reinforcement that has helped her redesign her life. How might you do this yourself? Listen to our episode to find out!ResourcesVipassana sign up: https://torana.dhamma.org/Email: demi.sae.yoo@gmail.comDesigning your Life (book) Bill Burnett & Dave Evans Think like a Monk (book) Jay Shetty - host of On Purpose podcast Manifest: 7 Steps to Living your Best Life by Roxi Nafousi 

In our May episode, your cohost Nita shares her recent experience with working night shifts in a healthcare setting. According to the Institute for Work and Health (non-profit organization based in Toronto, Canada), there are several adverse health effects associated with shift work, particularly with long-term exposure to working night shifts. Mitigation strategies are recommended at both organizational and personal levels to optimize the health and wellbeing of shift workers. Do you have experiences with night shifts or other forms of shift work that you'd like to share with us? What made the experience better? What could be optimized to support your overall health? We invite you to post a comment, or email us at ontheeddgeofhd@gmail.com. ResourcesInstitute for Work and Healthhttps://www.iwh.on.ca/Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safetyhttps://www.ccohs.ca/

This month, we spoke with Ju Eun Lee, a geriatric psychiatrist based in Toronto, Canada. Ju Eun is a passionate advocate against ageism.She highlighted the World Health Organization’s (WHO) definition of ageism, which refers to stereotypes around how we think, feel and act towards older adults. Globally, one in two of us are ageist! Ageism is associated with poor health, social and economic impacts. The WHO identified three types of ageism - self-directed, interpersonal and institutional. These provide key opportunities to leverage when designing ways to combat ageism. Ju Eun’s key takeaways included recognizing that we all age and making efforts to understand different generations. Ju Eun invites our listeners to join her as a volunteer with the Canadian Coalition Against Ageism, a social change movement to end ageism. ResourcesCanadian Coalition Against Ageism - https://ccaageism.ca/World Health Organization’s global report on ageism - https://www.who.int/teams/social-determinants-of-health/demographic-change-and-healthy-ageing/combatting-ageism/global-report-on-ageism 

In celebration of pharmacist awareness month, your cohost Nita (pharmacist/designer/podcaster) is interviewed by Sajid, a colleague from their Toronto Go-Getters Toastmasters club. Sajid and Nita discuss Nita's communication journey with Toastmasters and how that intersects with her roles as a pharmacist and podcaster. We hope you take something of value from this episode to apply to your professional and/or personal journey!

In our January 2025 kick off episode, we interview Tye Farrow, a Canadian architect and author of the book Constructing Health: How the Built Environment Enhances Your Mind’s Health. Tye has initiated a global “Cause Health” movement aimed at raising expectations for design as the basis for total health, which extends beyond environmental, sustainability and physical health to encompass our mind health. In our conversation, Tye explains how mind health differs from mental health and how the built environment shapes our health for better or for worse. We hope Tye's insights will help you reflect on the environments where you live, work and play!ResourcesTye Farrow on LinkedInFarrow PartnersConstructing Health book available at the University of Toronto Press, Amazon, Indigo ChaptersOntario PlaceThe Green School in Bali

For our final episode of 2024, we interviewed Anita Simon, a Canadian healthcare designer with diverse experiences ranging from academia, industry, non-profit and patient advocacy. Anita emphasized the need to shift our healthcare systems from industrial practices focused on improving cost and efficiency outcome measures towards measuring outcomes that truly matter to patients and families. Anita described her family’s challenges with seeking compassionate care for their daughter when she was experiencing mental illness. Her personal experience led Anita to co-found Calgary Silver Linings Foundation, providing support and resources for eating disorder recovery. We also discussed the role of The Patient Revolution (a global movement towards kind and compassionate healthcare) and the concept of “Boards that Care”. There is no better time like the present for our healthcare systems to work towards improving access to timely, individualized and compassionate care for all. ResourcesAnita Simon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-simon-9a71849/Calgary Silver Linings Foundation: https://www.silverliningsfoundation.ca/

In this month's episode, we welcome Faizal Kassam, a Canadian family physician, who completed medical school/training in Australia. Faizal is currently working as a family physician in Australia, making him the most remotely located guest we have interviewed to date!Based on his dual perspectives as a physician and a patient/caregiver, Faizal identified several challenges facing the Canadian healthcare system, including public mistrust, inadequate funding to address complex problems, and healthcare worker burnout. Finally, Faizal shared his personal story of caring for his mother towards the end of her life, highlighting the need for more resources and supports to help us design better collective death experiences. We hope you enjoy this episode and we welcome any comments/feedback!ResourcesFaizal K on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faizal-k-150a3b5b/

In season 3 of our podcast, we’re getting back into interviewing people working and playing On the Edge of healthcare and design! In this month's episode, we welcome Jean-Francois Couture from Applications MD. Applications MD is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving care in medical resuscitation. As the Director of Operations for Applications MD, Jean-Francois oversees the strategic planning, marketing, and implementation of their flagship product, EZResus, an application that guides health care professionals through the first hour of emergency and critical care situations.In our conversation, Jean-Francois describes his professional journey from emergency physician to digital health entrepreneur. He shares his experience with developing the resuscitation application, EzResus and lessons learned along the way. We hope our conversation inspires you in your innovation journey, whether you want to reinvent yourself personally and/or professionally! We welcome any comments or feedback on this episode!Resources from our guest:www.ezresus.comLinkedInjean-francois.couture@ezresus.com“Please feel free to email me or connect on LinkedIn. I would love to hear your entrepreneurship stories, ideas, and if you have comments or ideas about EZResus!”

In this much anticipated follow-up episode with Viviana (arQ RunicoS), an interdisciplinary artist based in Montreal, your cohosts discover that her Forest in Colour has germinated and grown into an exhibition!To celebrate Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Viviana's exhibition will be showcased at La Galerie Atelier Lucie Michel in Montreal from September 12 through 29, 2024. Viviana shares her inspiration and artistic process for a Forest in Colour and highlights how art and design fuel conversations around our climate crisis, the health of our cities and ourselves. ResourcesVivana's website www.arqrunicos.caInstagram - a legacy of her art : @Arqrunicos_colourLa galerie artelier Lucie Michel Sound effect wind-in-trees from Pixabay

Your host, Nita, decided to try another solo episode based on her thoughts during her latest run along the Beaches area in Toronto. Nita shares her practice of acknowledging other runners and how that might translate into acknowledgement in healthcare settings. Notably, the #hellomynameis campaign launched by Dr. Kate Granger in 2013, shows us how designing patient focused healthcare experiences starts with introductions. AcknowledgementsSandra-Viviana's website: https://arqrunicos.ca/Hello My Name Is website: https://www.hellomynameis.org.uk/”To see and be seen, that is the truest nature of love” - Brene Brown Sound effects from Pixabay (Beaches Wave Zen by Alex Jauk and Cafe Ambience by KM007)

In this month's episode, we continue with our Learning On the Edge series, this time experimenting with an audio/video format!We introduce a Design for Social Innovation Tool - the Impact Gaps Canvas. This tool allows users to take a systems leadership approach to innovation in their careers and/or initiatives/projects. Our video includes an image of the tool (see Resources below for link) and a brief interview-style discussion around how we used the tool to explore a problem in mental health. We hope this helps you consider using this tool to create Impact in your lives! ResourcesImpact Gaps Canvashttps://systems-ledleadership.com/impact-gaps-canvas/

In Season 2, we return to Learning On the Edge (with SIC), where we'll explain the key elements of the Design Process using the Double Diamond method. In this month's episode, we focus on the first diamond - Discovery, and specifically, the tool - Discovery Interviews. We define Discovery Interviews, share some tips for conducting your own interviews, and provide examples of interviews we’ve conducted around a problem in the mental health context. Resources1. Double Diamond method, Design Council, UK2. Entrepreneurship Bootcamp 101, Sept 2023, Facilitators: Khizer Tajamul and Maryam Ahmed

Welcome to Season 2 of our podcast, On the Edge with SIC! This season, we'll experiment with some shorter length, learning oriented episodes. In this episode, we review responses to our most important question from Season 1 - What does On the Edge mean to you? We've compiled 6 responses to this question from our Season 1 interviewees around the theme of knowledge and learning. As well, we share our personal insights and professional experiences on this theme. We hope you learn something from this episode that you could apply to your work, school or play in the fields of healthcare, design and the intersection between the two. ResourcesClips included from Season 1 acknowledging our amazing guests - full episodes available here: https://www.sichealth.ca/podcast1. Episode 14: Taking Care of Dying Children with Dr. Natasha Datoo2. Episode 13: Health Services Design with Liliana Rodriguez3. Episode 12: Systems Leadership with Peter Jones4. Episode 9: Empathy in Drug Design with Morẹ́nikẹ́ Ẹniọlá Ọláòṣebìkan5. Episode 7: Diversity and Inclusion with Firefly Creative Writing 6. Episode 6: Spanning the Boundaries of Impact and Evaluation with Julie Gilbert

For our final season 1, episode 14, we interview Dr. Natasha Datoo, a pediatric oncologist and palliative care physician. Natasha shares her professional journey and personal experiences around "death and dying". We discuss our society's taboo associated with "death and dying" and how we might shift our perspective through enhanced communication. Finally, Natasha describes what a "good death" looks like for the children and families she cares for, and how a palliative care approach could be used to design better end of life experiences for us all. ResourcesSerious Illness Conversation GuideCanuck Place Children's HospiceTwo Worlds Cancer CollaborationThe Sunflower Palliative Care Podcasts

Liliana Rodriguez is an award winning Senior Service Designer and User Centred Design (UCD) leader, working for NHSE (National Health Service England) for Digital Medicines. Her education includes a BA in Product Design, an MA in Interaction Design, and a PhD in Digital Services. Liliana has worked in commercial, non-profit, and higher education environments on design projects in health, GDS (Government Digital Services), and innovation for SMEs (small and medium enterprises). She is also an Associate Lecturer at the Open University for UX & Interaction and Design Thinking modules.Our interview unravels Liliana's professional journey, her insights into the role of the designer in service design, and her team's work on two key projects related to HIV health. In these projects, Liliana emphasizes how participatory co-design and local context were keys to resolving challenges around access to HIV tests and #makingHIVstigmahistory. We hope you feel inspired by Liliana's story whether you are a student, designer, clinician or administrator in healthcare or other service sector. ResourcesLiliana's website: www.lilianarodriguez.co.ukLiliana's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lulugaia/DRUID debate around Design Thinking: https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/debating-design-thinking/The Martin Fischer Foundation:https://themartinfisherfoundation.org/HIV projects links: https://themartinfisherfoundation.org/digital-vending-machines/https://themartinfisherfoundation.org/zero-hiv-stigma/Stigma Shorts (part of #makingHIVstigmahistory campaign): https://www.spreaker.com/show/alan-spinks-show

This month, we're excited to host Dr. Peter Jones, an associate professor at Toronto’s OCAD University. Peter teaches in the Strategic Foresight and Innovation and Design for Health MDes (Master’s in Design) programs. Peter shares some of his professional journey in product and service design, consulting and academia with us. He also defines what Systemic Design is within the context of Systems Leadership. Peter provides practical examples of how Systems Leadership applies to healthcare and urban design settings. Finally, Peter's key takeaway around Lifelong Learning is something that we at SIC Health embrace with open arms and hope you do too!Resources:Peter's website: designdialogues.comSystemic Design Toolkit: systemicdesigntoolkit.orgRelating Systems Thinking to Design: rsdsymposium.org

In this "cafe culture" inspired episode, your cohosts chat with Cameron Norman, an organizational and behavioural change expert. As the Principal and President of Cense Ltd., Cameron works with organizations looking for ways to adapt, grow, and learn from what they do and respond to a changing world.We explore Cameron's academic background in psychology and design, his work as an innovation consultant, and his creative pursuits as a long-time blogger and podcaster. Cameron is a self-described "coffee lover" and advocate of "cafe culture" as a method for sparking innovative ideas and conversations. We recommend listening to this episode with a cup of your fave coffee/tea/drink of choice! Feel free to share this episode with others and reach out to us at info@sichealth.ca for how we might help your organization discover and amplify your "cafe culture". ResourcesCameron's website: www.cense.caCameron's blog: censemaking.comCameron's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cdnorman/