A Vancouver Island University researcher is using a community-based, community-engaged approach to help people ‘come together in new ways to imagine and create change.’
According to VIU, Dr. Sharon Karsten started Story Walks back in 2019 when she was the director of Comox Art Gallery and wanted to take a different approach by offering services at the gallery.
Karsten says some of the population affected no longer feel a sense of connection to their communities, or a sense of closeness to those within them and this can lead to loneliness and isolation as well as addiction.
“We have been told many times by those facing this crisis first-hand that the opposite of addiction is connection,” she says. “A key contributing factor to the crisis – one that is often overlooked – is the rise of hyper-capitalism and hyper-individualism.”
The project includes the ability for participants to wear a headset and listen to curated stories to put a human face on the issues. She says the group meets afterwards to talk about the stories they’ve heard to “reflect on the many dimensions underlying this public health crisis.”
Karsten received a Micheal Smith Health Research BC Scholar award, and she says this puts her, and her team, in a position to continue this work for an additional five years.
Karsten says her team will look to develop a learning system in which people with lived experience of the crisis play a strong role in defining the health authority’s response to the crisis.
“I look forward to exploring new pathways forward,” she says. “We believe the development of peer leadership has powerful ramifications in the quest to make health systems more relevant to those who have been traditionally underserved.”
VIU in Nanaimo will be hosting Karsten’s team this fall for Story Walks on November 23 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
