Page 53 - 2017-2018 Department of Psychiatry Annual Report

Medical Humanities

Coordinator: Dr. Joanne MacDonald

Department of Psychiatry commentary, including within our
representation has been consistant seniors mental health community.
within the Faculty of Medicine’s
larger HEALS (Healing and The annual national Dalhousie
Education through the Arts & Life Psychiatry Humanities Writing
Skills) program. This included the Contest deadline was moved to
Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine April 1. Twenty-nine enthusiastic
Annual Humanities Conference submissions came in and are being
in early April 2017. Dr. Joanne scored by a panel of interested
MacDonald assisted with Faculty of residents and faculty.
Medicine HEALS sponsored student Reporting on humanities will continue
and faculty award processes and within Headlines newsletter.
was invited to be a collaborative
course director for the faculty
continuing professional development
series on Educating for Medical
Professionalism, an online course,
including webinar facilitation held in The goal will remain
the late fall of 2017. Further activity
representing psychiatry humanities
included participation in Ballast and to keep humanities
Buoyancy: Sailing Through Your
Medical Career held March 24-25,
2017, as one of the annual Fear
Conference events. discussion and
The resident humanities interest
group organized an art therapy event scholarship visible
on July 20, 2017.
Dr. MacDonald has been the primary
preceptor for two resident research within the department,
projects in humanities this past
year. Dr. Ashley Crane developed
an innovative fibre art-based piece
representing key neural network with particular support
basis of psychiatric illness and tested
this novel approach to neuroscience
Dr. Kerry Murray is leading a literature to resident interests and
learning with her resident colleagues.
review on poetry in psychiatry,
following on her studies in literature
and her own writing practice. activities.

Dr. Mark Gilbert returned to the
Department of Psychiatry to present
an intimate moving examination of his
father’s art practice, as he chronicled
his wife’s decline with Alzheimer’s
disease. This event took place during
the annual Humanities Clinical
Conference, with broad interest and

Annual Report 2017 | 2018 53