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Physician Peer Support

Introduction

Physicians face unique challenges. Physicians experience stress, vulnerability and fear as normal emotional responses to painful experiences such as patient complaints, adverse events, workplace conflict and other difficulties.

Physicians can benefit from sharing their challenging experiences with peers who may have experienced similar situations and can truly understand. Support from colleagues can have a positive impact on wellbeing and workplace experiences.

The Peer Support Initiative offers confidential, non-clinical, support to physician colleagues by physician Peer Supporters in a 1:1 setting.

Our Peer Supporters have undergone training by Dr. Jo Shapiro (Associate Professor with Harvard Medical School and founder of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Centre for Professionalism and Peer Support) and the BC Physician Health Program.

How to access support

Click here to make a request for peer support for yourself or for a colleague.

Once you’ve reached out, a Peer Supporter will connect with you or your colleague within 2-3 days to schedule a conversation.

If you are requesting peer support for a colleague, reach out to them first and seek their consent to pass their name and contact information over to our Peer Support Initiative.

Reasons for seeking peer support may include: dealing with a patient/college complaint, workplace interpersonal conflict or adverse clinical event, managing work-life balance, burnout/moral injury, experiences of discrimination in the workplace, or any other situation where you feel it would be helpful.

Additional Resource for BIPOC physicians

The Physician Health Program has also launched a BIPOC Physician Peer Support Group for physicians who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC). It provides a confidential space to empower each other by sharing lived experience and support. The sessions are held on Mondays from 7:15pm – 8:30pm with topics ranging from intergenerational resilience, workplace conflict and more. Register here.

Doctor talking with support one to one.
About the Initiative

The Physician Health Program has also launched a BIPOC Physician Peer Support Group for physicians who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC). It provides a confidential space to empower each other by sharing lived experience and support. The sessions are held on Mondays from 7:15pm – 8:30pm with topics ranging from intergenerational resilience, workplace conflict and more. Register here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can access the Peer Support Initiative?

This Initiative is available to actively practicing physicians in Vancouver. If you are a resident seeking peer support, please check out the UBC Peer Support Program.

What is the rationale for the Peer Support Initative?

Studies have shown that peer support for physicians can be effective in contributing to a culture where physicians feel more comfortable seeking and offering help. People who use peer support show improved coping and self-management skills, have stronger social networks, reduced isolation, and a reduced need for intensive services.

What is the goal of peer support?

Peer support offers a safe way for clinicians to talk about their experience and emotions with someone who has empathy from having “been there”. The focus of peer support is not to fix the problem. Instead, we offer short-term support through non-judgmental listening, we empower you to recognize your existing strengths and resources, and we connect you to community resources if needed. Peer support is essentially psychological first aid.

Peer support is not therapy, mentorship from an experienced peer, or direct clinical care.

When might someone benefit from peer support?

Peer support might be helpful for physicians who experience work or life stressors and require emotional, non-judgmental support. Examples of this might include:
– Adverse clinical event (including but not limited to an adverse patient outcome)
– Patient or college complaint
– Interpersonal/relational conflict with a patient or colleague
– Acute life stressor which impacts career (e.g. birth of a new child or bereavement)
– Experience(s) of discrimination or alienation/othering at work (e.g. related to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical ability or other) from patients, colleagues or staff
– Struggles with burnout/moral injury
– A change that has happened at work that impacts you emotionally

How can I request peer support?

Access the request form here.

If I notice my colleague needing peer support, can I refer them to you?

Yes! First, reach out to your colleague to seek their consent to pass their name and contact information to our peer support program. Then, please submit this form, selecting that you are referring a colleague. Our administration will reach out to your colleague and connect them with a Peer Supporter.

What happens after I make a peer support request?

Following your request for peer support we will reach out to you to confirm your request. Then, we will match you to a Peer Supporter who will reach out to you within 2-3 days to schedule a conversation.

What does a peer support conversation look like?

Peer support conversations occur through the modality of your choice – in person, phone call, or Zoom. The duration of a conversation will vary based on your needs – generally 15-45 minutes. Peer support relationships are short term, which means that you will likely have one to three conversations with your peer supporter.

How are peer support conversations kept confidential?

Confidentiality is an integral part of our program. Only the peer support program administrator and your peer supporter has access to your name and contact information for the purpose of facilitating a match and contacting you. Peer supporters will not be taking written notes during your conversation.

There are rare cases where confidentiality must be broken, such as when a physician is at risk of harming themselves or others, or if a peer supporter has a direct reason to believe that someone is at risk for unsafe behaviour. These are the same reasons you might have to break confidentiality in your everyday clinical practice as a physician. If in the rare case that this situation arises, your peer supporter would make you aware of the situation and support a collaborative approach to addressing the concern.

Peer Support Team

My name is Bob Bluman and I live and work on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (colonially known as “Vancouver”). I was a full service family physician (including maternity and hospital care) for over 35 years mainly in Vancouver. Currently I’m retired from clinical practice and work in the field of CPD as the Executive Medical Director of UBC CPD. I’m of Jewish background and the son of Holocaust survivors from Poland. Most important to me is spending time with my family including 3 sons, 2 daughter-in-laws and 2 grandkids. I’m a fitness and sports enthusiast as well as an avid cyclist and sometimes skier. I have a particular interest and lots of experience in coaching and mentoring colleagues and know how valuable this can be. I want to offer my support to any colleague who might benefit from that.
Bob Bluman
Bob Bluman
My name is Catherine Reikoff. I am now a fully retired family physician. Before this recent change, I built a practice from scratch and managed my practice for 38 years before moving to a part-time role at an addiction clinic. I have experience with full service including intrapartum which means I am no stranger to impromptu 2am visits to Saint Paul’s Hospital to deliver a baby. I am married with two grown daughters and one wee 2-year-old grandson. My great passion is travelling, and I am fortunate to have upcoming trips to see the polar bears in Churchill, hiking trails in the Atlas Mountains, the sights of Morocco, and the beauty of Japan. If you have questions around business practices, determining what gives you life outside of practicing (for me, that’s gardening, Tai Chi, Pilates, and mindfulness courses), or would simply like to chat about your travel bucket list, I’m happy to connect.
Catherine Reikoff
Catherine Reikoff
My name is Lesley Thomas (she/they), I live and work on unceded Coast Salish territory colonially known as “Vancouver”. I practice Psychotherapy and Family Medicine. I am driven by the desire to build community and contribute to healing within the folks I work with (and within myself). I care about cultivating spaces that are inclusive, equitable and allow for vulnerability. Through life’s ups and downs, the things that keep me well are guilt-free rest, connecting to my roots through holistic yoga practice, being in the forest and being in community. I deeply believe in the importance of the Peer Support Program to create safe spaces for physicians to be seen and heard, especially when facing challenges.
Lesley Thomas
Lesley Thomas
My name is Julie Martz. I am a late-career generalist practising in an urban setting. I have additional expertise in care of the elderly, LGBTQIA+, and mental health support. In my life outside work, I have a wide variety of arts and nature- related pursuits which distract me from emptying that “inbox”. I have a longstanding interest in supporting physician mental health, an area where I feel we have a long way to go.
Julie Martz
Julie Martz
I’m Jean Clarke - a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and retired after 35 years of comprehensive family medicine practice in Vancouver and provincial medical politics in BC. Practising medicine is so much more than solving difficult clinical puzzles and during my working years, I was fortunate to have supportive colleagues, both FPs and consultants, who helped me navigate the real world. Now that I’m at the other end, I’d like to lend a listening ear to any physician who needs it – one thing I’ve learned is we are not alone in our struggles and reaching out to peers can be a source of solace and empowerment.
Jean Clarke
Jean Clarke
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Copyright © Vancouver Division of Family Practice. All rights reserved. View the Privacy Notice. Website designed and managed by Rose Agency Inc.

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Fax: 604-321-5878

 

Contact Us Page

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