Wellness Day for the Healthcare Community
Cost: FREE
Language: English
Location: Online
Who this event is for: The series is open to all healthcare workers and volunteers.
When is it offered: Monday November 17, 2025, 9:00 a.m.-4:15 p.m. EST. Wellness Day is an annual event that takes place in November.
Dr. Blair Bigham is an award-winning journalist, scientist and physician who trained in emergency and critical care medicine at McMaster and Stanford Universities. He was a Global Journalism Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Associate Scientist at St Michael’s Hospital.
He is now an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Healthwhere he studies public trust and science communications. His work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, newscasts, podcasts and medical journals.
Why is Everything Falling Apart: The Weaponization of Burnout and How To Take Back Your Life
9:00 a.m.-9:45 p.m. EST with Dr. Blair Bigham
Burnout. We’ve all felt it. But what is it, and why has it become so pervasive?
In this interactive session, Blair Bigham will discuss the roots of burnout, its evolution in modern society, and its epidemic rise amongst not only healthcare workers, but, well, all of us.
Most importantly, he’ll uncover a new way of thinking about burnout that puts control in your hands and, he hopes, peace in your mind. Throughout this empowering session, Blair promises not to mention COVID.
Nadine Valk is a full-time coach, educator, and mindfulness teacher based in Ottawa, with over 30 years of experience in health, community, and palliative care. She specializes in supporting healthcare teams to improve care delivery, implement complex projects, and integrate a palliative approach, while also helping them prioritize wellbeing and navigate emotionally demanding work.
Her background includes leadership roles such as Director of Education for Hospice Palliative Care Ontario and Executive Director of the Champlain Hospice Palliative Care Program. Nadine holds a master’s degree in public administration with a focus on health policy and is a certified Integral Professional Coach™, with advanced training in team coaching, facilitation, emotional intelligence, and implementation science.
As coordinator and an instructor with the University of Toronto’s Mindfulness Informed End of Life Care Program, Nadine brings deep compassion and clarity to her teaching. She also delivers keynotes and webinars on topics like grief, burnout, emotional intelligence, and mental health habits, creating space for people to feel seen, supported, and connected.
Kate Cholewa is a healthcare leader based in Ottawa, with over 15 years of experience in clinical leadership, quality improvement, and system transformation. She holds a Master’s in Nursing and is passionate about building compassionate, sustainable systems that support both patients and the people who care for them.
Outside of work, Kate is a busy mom of three—two energetic kids and one very spoiled four-legged companion. She can often be found running, working out, in the yoga studio, or curled up with a good book and nature sounds in the background. Drawing on a range of tools and practices helps her stay grounded, focused, and able to meet the demands of work and life. For Kate, personal well-being isn’t a one-time decision—it’s a lifelong, daily practice that takes commitment, courage, and care. She also encourages and supports others to cultivate this practice, helping them prioritize their own well-being as they care for others.
When the Warning Light Comes On: Recognizing Emotional Patterns and Reclaiming Well-being
10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EST with Nadine Valk and Kate Cholewa
In the emotionally demanding world of palliative care, many providers learn to override their internal warning signals - pushing through stress, suppressing discomfort, and disconnecting from their own needs. This workshop invites participants to pause and tune in.
Through case study, guided reflection, and interactive coaching exercises, participants will explore the default patterns that emerge in times of stress and strong emotion. By learning to recognize and name these patterns, like noticing when the “low fuel” light comes on, we can begin to shift toward responses that support emotional health and sustainable well-being. The session offers practical tools to help participants coach themselves through moments of depletion and cultivate habits that help to restore energy, clarity, and connection.
Participants will:
· Identify personal stress responses and emotional default patterns
· Explore how ignoring internal signals contributes to depletion
· Learn strategies to interrupt unhelpful cycles and foster emotional renewal
· Build a personalized toolkit for self-awareness, self-support, and sustainable well-being
If you're interested in reconnecting with your emotional signals, shifting unhelpful stress patterns, and building a more sustainable relationship with your work and yourself, this session offers a space for reflection, insight, and practical change. Whether you're feeling depleted or simply curious about how to support your well-being more intentionally, you'll leave with tools to help you move from autopilot to awareness.
Paul Bloom is a distinguished scientist and award-winning author with an international reputation. He is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale and a psychology professor at the University of Toronto. His work seeks to uncover how children and adults understand themselves, others, and the world at large, with a special focus on pleasure, morality, religion, fiction, and art. His research is heavily interdisciplinary, incorporating concepts from cognitive, social, and developmental psychology as well as evolutionary theory, behavioral economics, and philosophy.
Bloom’s work has been published in scientific journals such as Nature and Science, and he writes frequently for popular publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. He is the co-editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and the former president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Among his numerous honors and awards are the Klaus J. Jacobs Award, the Stanton Prize, and the Eleanor Maccoby Book Award.
What makes life rich and fulfilling? Recent discoveries from psychology and neuroscience shed light on this timeless question, sometimes in surprising ways. In this session, I’ll explore how factors such as genes, age, income, relationships, and community shape our happiness.
We’ll also tackle deeper issues—such as whether hardship is necessary for personal growth and how becoming a parent affects one’s well-being. Combining research, stories, and open discussion, the talk offers both insight and inspiration for understanding the good life.
One of Yale’s most renowned professors, he had the honor of having his immensely popular Intro to Psychology class be one of the first to be made available online for free through Open Yale Courses. The same course is now the basis for his latest release, Psych, a riveting guide to understanding ourselves and those around us. Fellow Yale psychology professor, Laurie Santos, calls it a “fascinating deep dive into the mysteries of human psychology.” In the accessible and engaging manner that trademarks both Bloom’s teaching and writing styles, he challenges common psych theories, explores the most intimate aspects of human nature, and reveals what psychology can tell us about both the most pressing moral and political issues of our time as well as the key to living happy and fulfilling lives.
Prior to Psych, Bloom authored six other books which all get to the roots of different human phenomena such as empathy, morality, and pleasure, written to appeal to laymen and professionals alike: The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy, Just Babies, How Pleasure Works, How Children Learn the Meanings of Words, and Descartes’ Baby.
Dr. Kimberly Sogge, C.Psych. is the lead psychologist and founder of Ottawa River Integrative Mental Health Inc., a hybrid group practice offering evidence-based psychology and psychotherapy focused on wellbeing and growth. She completed her academic training at McGill University and her doctoral training in Texas at both Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. After completing her Ph.D., she returned to Canada to raise her children as Canadians and to serve in clinical and leadership roles within hospital-based mental health care.
At Ottawa River, Dr. Sogge integrates Internal Family Systems (IFS), nondual mindfulness, and compassion science in her work with clients and clinicians alike.
She is a member of the international Plum Village mindfulness community founded by Zen teacher Thích Nhất Hạnh, and host of Dr. Sogge: The Art and Science of Thriving, a podcast exploring how psychology and contemplative wisdom can support human flourishing.
When we offer care to others, our own inner world often comes alive: the fixer, the overwhelmed one, the exhausted protector. This workshop introduces Internal Family Systems (IFS) as a gentle, accessible tool for cultivating self-awareness and inner leadership. Through experiential exercises, participants will learn how to “unblend” from reactive parts and reconnect with the calm, compassionate Self that can hold space for both others and themselves.
Key Practices:
• Parts mapping for caregivers
• Unblending from reactive parts (e.g., over-responsibility)
• Welcoming wounded and overgiving parts with curiosity
• Self-to-part dialogue
Description of Wellness Day for the Healthcare Community
Featuring interactive sessions on healthcare burnout, the science of lasting happiness and internal family systems therapy.
If you're not able to join us for the whole day, please feel free to register and drop-in for whatever sessions work with your schedule.
When you register, the Survey Monkey page will display the Zoom link for the event and also a calendar link that you can use to add the event to your Outlook Calendar or iCalendar.
Wellness Day recordings from previous years' sessions:
Frequently Asked Questions
Will Wellness Day be held online?
Yes, the event will be held online over Zoom.
How will I receive the Zoom link?
When you register, the Survey Monkey page will display the Zoom link for the event and also a calendar link that you can use to add the event to your Outlook Calendar or iCalendar.
Who is able to register for Wellness Day?
The series is open to all healthcare workers and volunteers. Members of the general public are also welcome to attend, although the information in the sessions is geared towards healthcare workers and volunteers.
Will Wellness Day be recorded?
The sessions will be recorded and shared on YouTube and other social media. Note that the interactive activities will also be recorded. If you share or ask a question with your camera and audio on, this will be included in the recordings.
Is it okay if I forward this email to my colleagues or friends?
Yes, please feel free to share the information!
I am not able to attend all the sessions. Can I still sign-up?
If you're not able to join us for the whole day, please feel free to register and drop-in for whatever sessions work with your schedule.
Will I receive a certificate of attendance for participating?
We do not currently offer certificates of attendance for Wellness Day.
I don't live in Ontario, Canada but I would like to join the session live. What time zone is Wellness Day in?
Wellness Day 2025 will take place from 9:00 a.m.-4:15 p.m. in Eastern Standard Time (the timezone in Ottawa, Ontario on November 17, 2025). For more information, visit:
