The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Ininew, Anisininew, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, R3T 2N2
The Office of Interprofessional Collaboration (OIPC) provides foundational education and practice experiences in interprofessional collaboration, supported by research and scholarly approaches.
Education, Practice and Research — these are the pillars of the OIPC. Each pillar strives to align with the Rady Faculty shared values of community and collaboration; scholarship and innovation, equity and inclusion; professionalism; and social accountability. (RFHS Strategic Framework 2016-2021).
The OIPC’s key objective is to expose all Rady Faculty students to the six competencies of interprofessional collaboration:
The OIPC facilitates and supports interprofessional collaboration opportunities for RFHS learners in several diverse environments beyond the classroom. Examples include clinical placements, student led clinics and community engaged learning opportunities within Indigenous communities.
This interprofessional program was named Ndinawemaaganag by Elder Margaret Lavallee and translates to “All My Relations.” This meaning speaks to the connections the students make with the community, each other, and the land.
Students will participate in an immersive interprofessional learning opportunity, within a First Nation community to learn about an Indigenous community, its people, health and well-being.
Experiences will vary, as each community determines the learning opportunities. Some experiences will include opportunities to learn within health centres and nursing stations however all will incorporate land-based, holistic learning experiences that are deeply rooted in local Indigenous cultural practices.
This program is funded by the RBC Experiential Learning Travel Fund.
Sundances
Students will work collaboratively in key helper roles to support these sacred ceremonies, which were once outlawed in Canada.
Responsibilities may include:
Sundance dates and locations:
Grand Rapids: July 7–18, 2025
A collaboration between the Misipawistik Health Authority, Shallow Bay Sundance, and a land-based culture camp.
Experience includes:
Tobacco camp: August 11–15
Students will support a camp for youth from eight First Nation communities across southeastern Manitoba at a camp in the Whiteshell.
The camp teaches smoking cessation strategies, provides teachings related to the traditional uses of tobacco and other cultural practices, and incorporates other harm reduction/health promotion strategies.
Healing retreats: dates are to be advised
Typically held in early September (women’s retreat) and late September (men’s retreat).
The application is now open and students will be matched to opportunities on a rolling basis until all spaces are filled.
For more information, please contact lisa.mendez@umanitoba.ca.
Lisa Mendez is the collaborative healthcare practice lead in the Office of Interprofessional Collaboration and an instructor in the Department of Occupational Therapy.
She has been supporting partnerships with First Nation communities in this role since 2017. To date, over 155 students from 11 programs have participated in this program in 13 communities.
Dates: February 14–22, 2025 (another trip is planned for late April/May)
Location: Quito and Archidona, Ecuador
Fee: $2,500 CDN (all-inclusive)
Number of students: 10–16
The program is 100 percent not-for-profit. The all-inclusive fee of $2,500 CDN covers return airfare, all in-country transportation and accommodations, three daily meals, pre-departure training, and a financial contribution to Amupakin to support their goals.
The Amazon program is a collaboration between the Office of Interprofessional Collaboration in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and the Amupakin Collective—a group of Kichwa health practitioners who work to keep alive the knowledge of their land, culture and traditions.
In this program, students will participate in an immersive interprofessional learning opportunity within the Amupakin collective, who hold traditional knowledge that has been handed down for generations.
The primary goals of this learning opportunity are to:
Friday: Fly to Quito, Ecuador. Sitting at an altitude of 2,850 meters, consider our time here as an authentic learning opportunity on the impact of elevation on our bodies!
Saturday-Sunday: These days are for team building with our team and will include a mix of site-seeing and outdoor adventures.
Monday-Friday: We will stay at Amupakin near Archidona, Ecuador where we will be welcomed as family and will participate in workshops, tours, and activities that meaningfully showcase the community’s way of being.
Our itinerary will be flexible and full and will include opportunities to learn about interacting with the rain forest, traditional plants and medicines, and traditional birthing. We will come together to visit their homes, swim in their favourite rivers, and hike to special places of spiritual importance.
Saturday: We will make our way back to Quito-but will stop at some volcanic hot springs along the way. We will leave Quito at night, arriving back to Winnipeg during the day on Sunday.
Amupakin has been providing free traditional healthcare and midwifery services for their communities for many years. Despite their long history as trusted health providers in their community, they are still struggling to be recognized by the public health system of Ecuador.
Some of their current struggles include fighting against the government’s efforts to discourage people from seeking traditional healthcare and the compulsory “training and certification” of Indigenous midwives—who have been practicing midwifery since childhood by assisting their mothers and grandmothers who in turned learned midwifery from their mothers and grandmothers.
Lisa Mendez is the collaborative healthcare practice lead in the Office of Interprofessional Collaboration and an instructor in the Department of Occupational Therapy.
She first met the mamas of Amupakin in 2019 through the relationship that was built through the UM Community Engaged Learning program. She also coordinates the Ndinawemaaganag program, a community engaged learning opportunity within First Nation communities in Manitoba.
OIPC Education develops and delivers curriculum focused on enriching collaborative skills for interprofessional practice for all first- and second-year students in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.
All first-year learners across the Rady Faculty are placed into interprofessional teams, where they learn with, from and about one another over two years.
The roughly 630 learners per year currently stem from 10 different health professional programs within the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences:
A blended learning approach delivers foundational education in interprofessional collaborative practice, combining face-to-face synchronous activities with on-line facilitated asynchronous discussions, embedded within existing program courses.
Curricular theme: Population health
IPC competencies (woven throughout the year’s teachings): team functioning, interprofessional communication and community-centred care
Face-to-face activities:
Curricular theme: Safety and quality care
Face-to-face activities:
IPC competencies (woven throughout the year’s teachings and building on year 1): role clarification, collaborative leadership and interprofessional conflict resolution
Students are encouraged to attend the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences annual Communities and Collaboration Symposium in May.
The Rady Chair in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice works within the OIPC. The Chair is focused on interprofessional collaborative practice research and scholarship and advancing knowledge that will improve the quality of patient care, patient safety, retention of health-human resources and delivery of cost efficiencies.
In addition to providing leadership in training, educating, and mentoring future leaders in interprofessional practice, the Chair builds upon collaborative relationships between educational and practice systems promoting excellence in patient care, quality and safety.
Advancing Leadership Performance and Capacity for Interprofessional Teamwork and Integrated Primary Healthcare. Halas G, Singh J, Singer A, Udod S, Gagnon S, Nagel D, Penner J.
Virtual Visits and Management of Primary Care in a Pandemic Environment. Halas G, Singer A, Katz A, Labine L, Kirby S, Wong S, Abrams E, Bohm E.
Care-seeking experiences of adults with substance use disorders. BScMed 2021. Bannash K, Halas G, Knight E.
Examining care pathways for individuals with substance use disorders: Using an integrated primary health care approach to bridge in-hospital consultation and primary care. BScMed 2021. Kingma G, Knight E, Halas G.
Integrated Primary Healthcare Pathways for Substance Use Disorder. Med II Summer Research 2021. Subedi P, Halas G, Knight E.
Office of Interprofessional Collaboration
Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Manitoba (Bannatyne campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3E 0W2
