McMaster students spearhead youth engagement in Toronto’s Youth Summit 2017

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Chelsea Mackinnon (pictured second from the right) delivered the keynote address and participated in the Career Mentoring Q&A session.


The energy was palpable in the room as more than 70 high school volunteers gathered in August at Toronto’s annual Youth Summit. Celebrating the work of youth volunteerism across all 10 Long Term Care (LTC) Homes in Toronto, Youth Summit 2017 brought together career mentors, keynotes and engaging workshops from a wide scope of health care professions.

What’s so special about Youth Summit 2017? It was themed ‘Superhero,’ and more importantly, this was the first year which had youth involvement at the center of the planning process. Spearheaded by two Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) program students, a team of 9 LTC volunteers spent the summer envisioning and working to execute the Youth Summit.

Kicking off the day was Hartley Jafine, a faculty member in the BHSc and Arts and Science program. In his session, applied drama activities were used as a vehicle to drive deeper conversations about the challenges and skills necessary to be effective LTC volunteers. Amidst the movement and bouts of laughter, serious themes of power dynamics, leadership, and effective communication emerged. “Many of us think of theatre and healthcare, traditionally, as very separate fields, but they are very much intertwined… It’s important to introduce medical/health humanities early to a group of students interested in healthcare, in part to get people thinking about the important skillsets that they’re going to need before they enter and engage in the world of health.”

Hartley Jafine addresses the crowd at the beginning of his session at Youth Summit 2017.

Jafine continued, “Hopefully, applied drama offers entry points for personal reflection. At the core, the idea is that by engaging in applied theatre exercises, the students can reflect on themselves and their own skillsets. I’m there to facilitate, and through drama offer opportunities for participants to develop an awareness of how they communicate and collaborate with the residents, being aware of power and how that impacts relationships, thinking about leadership, when to lead and when to follow, and understanding that everyone comes from a different perspective given their lived experiences… It’s about, “How do I facilitate an entry point and have youth develop meaning from their own experience?”

And the last key takeaway? “We talk a lot about work-life balance. Instead of thinking of it like this, let’s think about it like playing in both spaces. Play and work don’t need to be mutually exclusive.”

Also in attendance was Chelsea Mackinnon, a BHSc alum who delivered the keynote address. Since graduating from McMaster in 2015, Mackinnon has been working on various pursuits. Notable opportunities, among many, include working towards her Master’s degree in Music and Health Sciences at the University of Toronto and is working as a Research Assistant at Room 217, a non-for-profit organization aimed to incorporate music as an integral piece of the patient care experience.

She passed along her insights to the crowded room during the Career Mentoring Q&A Session: “It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do. I so strongly believe that you will find the place you’re supposed to be. Things happen for a reason so embrace every experience that you’re having.” As well, to the always pertinent question of life post-undergrad, Mackinnon offered, “Be true to yourself. You need to ensure you’re giving yourself your own time to reflect and think critically about what you want. That will help you navigate what you want to explore next.” And when asked about working with current health science students, Mackinnon responded, “It was completely unexpected. When I found out Youth Summit was a Health Sciences led event, I wanted to support the initiative and give back to the program.”

Among the youth planning committee was Jane Jomy, an incoming BHSc student: “The fact that Hartley [Jafine] and Chelsea [Mackinnon] were there, shows how strong the health sci community is and I’m excited to be joining the community. Personally, I feel super fortunate to have support entering McMaster.”

The implementation of a youth committee in planning Youth Summit 2017 sets a new precedent for coming years. The team is already working on ways to further the youth voice for Youth Summit 2018.

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