Introducing Dr. Gurmeet Sohi, the Resident Wellness Office’s Peer Supporter of the Month. Dr. Sohi has been a peer supporter since participating in the training with Dr. Jo Shapiro in 2021. During the training, Dr. Jo Shapiro emphasizes that “the practice of medicine is filled with immense rewards and challenges. Our training and culture have explicitly stated and implicitly implied that the challenges are just part of our job and that we should be strong and not let the challenges affect us emotionally. Somehow, we are meant to not feel, acknowledge that we are feeling, or process whatever feelings we have after sometimes devastating clinical traumatic events. While this denial is reasonable in the moment – where we must focus on our patients and their families – it is not a sustainable long-term practice. It is not sustainable for our own wellbeing or careers, and it is not sustainable for our capacity to give compassionate and wise care to our patients”. Dr. Shapiro’s words have had a significant impact on the Peer Support Program and have driven the desire to make peer support accessible to residents in need of having an outlet during an emotionally distressing event.
This month, Dr. Gurmeet Sohi is our feature supporter for August! Dr. Sohi shared in a conversation that she wanted to become a peer supporter because “being a resident comes with many challenges and I wanted to help residents navigate these difficult but extremely common experiences.” We know residency is an exceptional challenge, both physically, mentally and emotionally, even as Dr. Shapiro described in the training. Dr. Sohi shares her favourite thing about peer support is “building connections with residents from other programs!” If you want to get connected to Dr. Gurmeet Sohi through our anonymous and confidential peer support program, please don’t hesitate to request support through our request portal or by emailing resident.wellness@ubc.ca.
