Christchurch Seminars

Seminar 1

1. Finding Direction in the Early Years with a panel of registrars: Dr Sophie Meyer, Dr Garrick Edge and Dr Steph Hight

Are you considering which specialty is for you? Struggling to see how to balance faith, work, family....? Wondering what being a Christ Follower could look like in a secular workplace? This panel of registrars don’t have all the answers but they’ve worked through these same questions and will share their take on these and more. Training in a variety of specialities, they’ll share how they chose their vocational pathway and some challenges for them in their field. Some have taken time out from training and we’ll hear their stories. We anticipate that this will be of interest to students and early post-grads. There’ll be time along the way for Q&A’s.

This session is facilitated by Dr Matt Chamberlain. Click here for information about Matt and the three panelists.

2. Treating Mental Health in Me and my Community (in a Christ Way) with Dr Jeremy Baker

In this practical seminar, Jeremy Baker will lead you through some tools to help clients identify distressed emotions and emotional states and build strategies towards overcoming these. You'll find techniques which are easily applicable in the medical setting as well as beneficial for our own emotional and spiritual growth as practitioners. The tools have a technical base in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, with the Gospel at its heart.

Jeremy is a GP with a special interest in mental health and theology. One of Jeremy's tasks as clinical lead in mental health for Pegasus PHO was to deliver practical mental health courses to GPs. Subsequently he has also developed courses to train people within the churches. He is the clinical director of Deacon Trust (a mental health education provider) a PhD candidate studying the theological implications of trauma at the University of Aberdeen, and serves on the CMFnz Board.

3. Reading Gospel Stories as Health Professionals Today with Rev Dr Sarah Harris

This seminar will be a practical and explanatory discussion of the nature of healing stories. How do we translate these into today's world?

Sarah has taught New Testament Studies at Carey Baptist College since 2012. Her academic interests are the Gospel of Luke, hermeneutics, women and children in the ancient world, and social reconstruction of daily life.

Seminar 2

1. Patient-Centred Care and Moral Distress with Dr Amanda Landers

Patient-centred care is a central tenet in modern medical education. It places patient autonomy as the driving force behind medical decision-making. This is fundamentally changing the way medicine is practised and does not necessarily equate with best medical practice. Choices made by patients and their families/whānau may lead to moral distress in a practitioner. Our complex and stressed health system is under immense pressure to deliver with fewer resources. This generates a transactional culture of leadership, as opposed to a relational one. Clinicians are left with a sense of powerlessness. This seminar will define moral distress in medicine, the impact on health care teams and strategies for managing it in the workplace.

Amanda is a palliative care physician who has worked in the Christchurch, Invercargill, Wellington and Darwin communities. She is now undertaking a full-time PhD looking at models of care for people with end-stage COPD.

2. Overseas Mission: Opportunities and Privileges with panelists Rob Reynolds (SIM), Dr Helen Clark (WEC), Claire Hodgkins and Desiree Snyder (Marine Reach)

Representatives from mission agencies SIM, WEC and Marine Reach will summarise what their mission does and where, what the opportunities for medical students or graduates are for long or short term service, and the privileges and challenges of responding to Christ's call to 'go and make disciples of all nations' in overseas contexts.