Working Collaboratively at a Physical Distance

By Ashley Saulog, 2nd year MDP student

As many of us MDP have said, my field placement plans this summer have changed. For me, mine adjusted from being 2,036 km away in Prince George, British Columbia to staying a safe two meters away from one another at the grocery store in Winnipeg or the twenty steps to my desk and computer.

Since September 2019, I’ve been planning and anticipating jet setting alone to BC to join the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) for the summer. When the news of the closures and lockdown happened, the MDP program and NCCIH were extremely quick to move the placement to a remote format.

The NCCIH is a national Indigenous organization hosted by the University of Northern British Columbia. The NCCIH's mandate is to support a holistic and inclusive public health system, and to foster a strengths-based approach to achieving optimal health and well-being of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. NCCIH achieves this by utilizing reliable evidence that makes a meaningful impact on First Nation, Inuit, and Métis health, creating more collaborative opportunities for Indigenous communities in public health initiatives; and creating culturally relevant materials.

My co-worker Shiro

My placement topic is to explore knowledge gaps and needs about the health and well-being of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in the justice system. During this project, I reviewed article upon article exploring what current health and social programs are available for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women in correctional institutions.

When doing the literature review, my challenge was getting into a new routine for working at home. Working from home is a new concept for me. At first, I would wake up and not know what to do, almost like I forgot how my “normal” workday went. I very soon realized that I was struggling with being at home and doing remote learning. I started to resent the fact I wasn’t working at optimal productivity as I did pre-lockdown. I’m sure this feeling of disappointment and pressuring oneself to be productive at home is very familiar to people adapting to remote or at-home work.  I saw a post that said we are working from home, but that doesn’t mean business as usual.

As James Clear suggests in his book Atomic Habits, we need to make small 1% small improvements or atomic habits that compound into substantial changes. I took James Clear’s advice and applied it to my work-from-home schedule. I started with re-arranging my workspace. Space is hard to come by in my household. Especially now that I need to get accustomed to workmates being all my family members who I usually only see on the weekends. We decided to create a work space that was functional for three university students, a hair student, and a German Shepard. Once the new “office” was structured, it felt natural to design work hours and do my literature search.

Our office/salon

The truth is that I’m still working on getting used to all the changes. The unpredictable nature of this pandemic has seen significant impacts on people’s mental health. This is an aspect of the pandemic that shouldn’t be overlooked. I wish for everyone to be patient with themselves and others while adapting to this new normal. I much appreciate the team at NCCIH for their patience and support for me during this summer.

Take care and stay safe.