Dr Bambi Rakhel Ward

Medical Education Consultant|Author & Speaker

Category: Education

The Labyrinth

Earlier this year I attended a Storytellers’ conference in the beautiful Baulkham Hills, just under an hour’s drive NW of Sydney. The conference centre had a large labyrinth outside.

Labyrinth St Joseph's Conference Centre

Labyrinth at St Joseph’s Conference Centre, Baulkham Hills, NSW

We were encouraged to walk in it during our free time. I was keen to have a go, even though it would mean braving the cold.  I bundled myself up in a green skivvy, my black woollen jumper, a purple scarf knitted for me by my mother, my navy blue fleece lined parka, and my bright blue Monash Uni beanie. I didn’t have my fluorescent pink ski gloves with me, so I kept my hands in my pockets. The experience of walking round and around in the labyrinth was a peaceful experience that took about 20 minutes. I walked back inside, savouring the warmth of the heated conference centre. As I walked past the reception desk,  an information sheet about labyrinths caught my eye. I picked it up and started reading it. The following quote resonated with me:

read more

General Practice Teaching and Education Conference 2016 – Gold Coast

I’ve been at the Gold Coast this week attending a national conference on General Practice education. I enjoyed presenting a workshop on Building empathy: the role of humanities. I was also honored to be invited to co-chair a one  day forum for the Cultural Educators, Cultural Mentors, and Medical Educators Network.

View from 14th floor of Jupiter's Casino

View from 14th floor of Jupiter’s Casino at the conference

Sunset from 14th floor of Jupiter's Casino

Sunset from 14th floor of Jupiter’s Casino at the conference

View from 14th floor of Jupiter's Casino

View from 14th floor of Jupiter’s Casino at the conference

Jupiter's Casino

Jupiter’s Casino – I just looked!

Jupiter's Casino

Jupiter’s Casino – I just looked!

Conference venue - Jupiter's.

Conference venue – Jupiter’s.

Conference venue - Jupiter's.

Conference venue – Jupiter’s.

steam_punk_table_decoration

Conference dinner table decoration – steam punk theme. (I had to google what it was).

Where’s Bambi Rakhel?

There will be no formal blog post for the next few weeks… just photos.

Before you get to the third photo, see if you can guess where I am.

Looking forward to discussing incorporating more of the humanities into medical education over the next couple of day out bush.

IMG_7465

IMG_7467

IMG_7468

The Power of Art in Healing

Back in the early 2000s, I organised for Doctors training to be General Practitioners (or Family Doctors) to go on a field trip to a gallery of psychiatric art in Melbourne.  These doctors were known as GP registrars, and my role was that of Medical Educator/Senior Lecturer.

The visit was seen to be a radical idea at the time, and my boss needed a fair bit of convincing as to why registrars should be spending time doing this, rather than learning more practical things. However I was very aware that art and other humanities such as literature were being used increasingly in medical education to gain insights into patients’ experiences of illness and to foster empathy.

read more

Conference hopping and public speaking

I really enjoy going to conferences, so having the opportunity to attend two in a row was extra special, especially because they were both to do with writing.

The first conference, organised by the Australian Association of Writers’ Programs, was held at Swinburne University in Melbourne. It was a very academic conference, with streams for both academic papers and creative writing.

I was the last speaker for the day. The presentation I gave was about how art therapy has been helpful in overcoming my resistance to break the silence and write about family secrets in my memoir. I showed lots of slides of the work I produced during three art therapy sessions. I also read out parts of a creative writing piece I wrote about my experiences with art therapy. I had some thought provoking questions from the audience and the presentation was well received.

read more

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial