Nursing at Western: The Enactment of Leadership
Director's Update, June 2023
Victoria Smye, RN, PhD, FCAN
As is the case this time of year I have recently attended several events.
It was my absolute honour as director of the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing – the affiliate School of Iota Omicron – to be invited to a dinner celebrating the 35th anniversary of Iota Omicron (chartering ceremony held March 27, 1988). Iota Omicron is a chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honour Society of Nursing whose membership makes a commitment to excellence and changing and advancing healthcare. There were more than 90 people in attendance at this event which took place in the Great Hall at Western. The keynote speakers were Abe Oudshoorn, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Julie Ryan, Community Engagement Coordinator for Indwell, a charity that creates affordable housing communities that support people seeking health, wellness and belonging. The address was entitled, What Really Ends Homelessness.
One of the current housing foci of Indwell is to transform the historical War Memorial Children’s Hospital site into 42 affordable, supportive apartments with the opening planned for 2024. This hospital holds a very important place in the hearts of nurses and it warmed my heart to hear about the involvement of Western graduates, and other nurses within our partner agencies, taking the lead to support the plans for it to become a home to people who struggle with homelessness – the theme being ‘Nurses for Housing’.
Just prior to this event, I attended the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) Biennial Nursing Education Conference, held in St. John’s Newfoundland, where the conference theme was Anti-discriminatory Pedagogy in Nursing Education. I was so grateful to be a witness to the conversations that ensued – some of them difficult, but all of them crucial to the well-being of nursing and healthcare. Of course, several of the participants at the conference were nurse educators and/or students at Western leading work entitled, as examples:
- Black students' sense of belonging: A key to retention and success in nursing education in Canada (Janet Montague, PhD Candidate)
- Forming authentic and purposeful relationships with racialized communities from an anti-oppressive lens: A framework for African, Caribbean, and Black communities (Jamieson Carie, Master’s Thesis, Recipient of the 2023 Council of Ontario University Programs of Nursing (COUPN) Master’s Thesis Award)
- Supporting baccalaureate students in identifying and integrating knowledge justice sources to inform nursing practice (Ashley McKeown, Faculty)
- Educating health care providers in the hospital setting on harm reduction strategies and substance use (Cheryl Forchuk, Faculty)
- Creating inclusive assessments: Supporting culturally safe nursing care with Indigenous and aesthetic ways of knowing (V. Logan Kennedy, PhD Candidate)
- Implementation of a preceptor-led clinical placement model across BScN nursing programs (Alexis Smith, Faculty; Leigh Ann Gougoulias, Staff; Amy Horton, Faculty)
- Decentering whiteness in nursing education: The pitfalls, tensions, and opportunities (Ivy Tran, Master’s Thesis)
We have come through a truly ‘unprecedented’ time – I am not sure how many times I have heard this or said it, but it is true. It has been a time of great challenge for our profession, a myriad of other health care professionals and providers and health care more broadly. However, it also has been a time of opportunity – a time to look forward (and to look back so we can learn from the past and position ourselves accordingly). It is a time of nursing expansion, where new pathways to laddering within the profession are being created, innovative curriculum development is taking place and efforts are being made to integrate decolonization, anti-racism and anti-oppression initiatives. It is a time for engaging in difficult conversations and disquieting moments, for disruption – and it is a time for kindness and compassion. Together, we are working to get it right.
The events I have been attending of late make visible the important leadership role of nurses in these spaces. I am humbled and inspired by my colleagues AND, excited to be nurse at this time in our history.
Victoria Smye, RN, PhD, FCAN
Director, Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing
