The New Year is upon us but we can’t move forward without paying homage to all the wonderful work our Peer Support team did this year! In 2023, the Resident Wellness Office received 43 Peer Support requests, which is three times the amount of requests from 2022. The RWO is proud of all of the outreach our dedicated Peer Supporters are doing, as well as the promotion of the program our Wellness Counsellors do during site visits and workshops. We are optimistic that Peer Support will become a more recognized and accepted support moving into 2024!
To honor our December Peer Supporter of the Month, we are sharing our appreciation for Internal Medicine resident, Dr. Kevin Li. He has been a dedicated Peer Supporter with our program since 2022. He has provided two peer reach outs in 2023, to residents seeking a peer to speak to about an emotionally distressing event. We appreciate Dr. Li’s willingness and availability to provide support to his fellow residents and we are so grateful to have his dedication to our program. In an interview, we asked Dr. Li why he wanted to be a Peer Supporter. Dr. Li shared “Residency is a tough time. You don’t often have time to even care for yourself physically, let alone emotionally. I’d like to be the one lending an ear to help my peers get through this tough time!” Residency is challenging and the best people that understand residency from the perspective of a medical learner is a resident themselves! When asked what he likes the most about being a Peer Supporter, Dr. Li responded, “The collegiality, friendliness, and enthusiasm of the group!” We couldn’t agree more with this testament and the peer nomination process is a key reason why our supporters are so fantastic.
Did you know, in order to become a peer supporter with our program, residents or staff must be nominated by a colleague? This peer nomination process allows others to verify that the individual possesses excellent active listening skills, empathy and understanding for the resident experience. Dr. Li is shining example of this and we look forward to connecting future Peer Support requests with Dr. Li.
