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An Okanagan Charter Implementation Toolkit
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Review, Develop, and Strengthen Faculty Health Services
Coordinate and design campus services to support equitable access, enhance health and wellbeing, optimize human and ecosystem potential, and promote a supportive organizational culture.
Health Services: At-a-Glance
What is this strategic direction about?
Strengthening access to coordinated, equitable, and responsive health services.
Why does it matter?
Health services help individuals access support and contribute to healthier learning and work environments.
What will I do here?
Explore practical approaches to assessing and strengthening health service systems.
What you’ll find in this section
- Overview: Why Faculty Health Services Matter
- Key Components of Effective Faculty Health Services
- Putting Faculty Health Services into Practice
- Case Studies
- Explore Your Role in Faculty Health Services
- Tools and Resources
Overview
Why Faculty Health Services Matter
Access to timely, effective, and equitable health services is an essential component of a health-promoting institution. Faculty health services support the physical, psychological, social, occupational, and professional wellbeing of learners, faculty, staff, clinicians, researchers, and administrators.
Within academic medicine, individuals often navigate complex environments that span universities, teaching hospitals, research institutes, distributed clinical sites, and professional organizations. As a result, supports can become fragmented, difficult to navigate, or inconsistently available. Barriers such as stigma, confidentiality concerns, workload pressures, geographic distance, and lack of awareness may further limit access to care and support.
Reviewing, developing, and strengthening faculty health services involves more than creating new programs. It requires a coordinated, equity-informed approach to understanding community needs, aligning existing resources, reducing barriers, and ensuring access to trusted supports. This includes enabling individuals to attend appointments, access accommodations, take leave when needed, and seek support without fear of negative consequences. Effective faculty health services contribute to healthier learning and work environments and foster a culture where health and wellbeing are valued and supported.
Provincial Physician Health Programs (PHPs) provide confidential support for physicians and learners. Promoting awareness of PHP resources and referral pathways can strengthen institutional support systems.
How Health Services Connect to Other Strategic Directions in the Okanagan Charter
Health services are one component of a broader health-promoting environment. Access to care and support is strengthened when policies, culture, spaces, and organizational systems work together to promote wellbeing.
Policies influence eligibility, access, confidentiality, accommodations, leave processes, and organizational accountability for wellbeing.
Supportive physical and virtual environments can enhance access to services, reduce barriers, and promote safety and inclusion.
Cultures that value wellbeing and reduce stigma can encourage help-seeking and improve awareness and use of available supports.
Coaching, mentorship, reflection, and professional development initiatives can complement formal health and wellbeing services.
Evaluation helps institutions understand service utilization, identify gaps, improve access, and ensure supports remain responsive to community needs.
Key Components of Effective Faculty Health Services
Faculty health services do not operate in isolation. Effective services are supported by policies that enable access, cultures that encourage help-seeking, spaces that support wellbeing, opportunities for personal and professional development, and processes for continuous evaluation and improvement. While there are natural connections between all the Strategic Directions of the Okanagan Charter, this section focuses specifically on the systems, services, partnerships, and supports that help individuals access care, resources, and assistance when needed.
While services will vary across institutions, several core components consistently contribute to effective and health-promoting systems of support.
Faculty health services are most effective when they operate as part of a coordinated system rather than a collection of isolated programs.
Health services often exist across multiple organizations, including universities, teaching hospitals, research institutes, professional associations, employee and family assistance programs, and provincial physician health programs. Without intentional coordination, individuals may experience confusion, duplication of services, gaps in support, or difficulty navigating available resources.
Examples may include:
- Faculty Health and Wellbeing Framework aligned with the Okanagan Charter and Quintuple Aim.
- Coordinated services across academic, clinical, and research environments.
- Formal partnerships and referral pathways.
- Shared governance and accountability structures.
- Collaboration with Provincial Physician Health Programs (PHPs) and other external supports.
Health services should be accessible, responsive, and designed to meet the diverse needs of all members of the academic medicine community.
Examples may include:
- In-person, virtual, and hybrid service delivery
- Access across distributed campuses and clinical sites
- Flexible appointment scheduling
- Protected time for appointments where feasible
- Accessible and multilingual services
- Reduced financial, logistical, and administrative barriers
* Refer to Strategic Direction #2 for more information
Individuals must feel safe accessing support without fear of stigma, professional repercussions, or breaches of confidentiality.
Although influenced by broader organizational culture, trust in health services depends on clear confidentiality protections, transparent processes, and confidence that support can be accessed safely and appropriately.
Examples may include:
- Clear confidentiality policies and communication
- Independent and confidential support pathways
- Transparent accommodation and leave processes
- Safe referral and consultation mechanisms
- Service delivery approaches that promote trust and help-seeking
Health services should be designed and delivered in ways that reflect and respond to the diverse identities, experiences, and realities of those they serve. An equity-informed approach focuses on ensuring that services are accessible, culturally responsive, and free from barriers that may limit utilization or effectiveness.
Examples may include:
- EDIA-informed service design and evaluation
- Culturally responsive and trauma-informed supports
- Accessible service delivery
- Supports for underrepresented and marginalized groups
- Consideration of international learners, faculty, and clinicians
- Ongoing review of equity-related barriers
* Refer to Strategic Direction #3 for more information
Effective faculty health services recognize that wellbeing is multidimensional and requires a range of coordinated supports.
Examples may include:
Physical and Occupational Health
- Occupational health services
- Disability management and accommodations
- Ergonomic assessments
- Workplace health and safety supports
- Access to preventative health services
Mental Health and Psychological Support
- Counselling and psychotherapy
- Crisis support and referral pathways
- Peer support programs
- Coaching and wellbeing supports
- Provincial Physician Health Programs
Professional and Career Wellbeing
- Conflict resolution and mediation
- Leadership development
- Career coaching and navigation
- Mentorship and sponsorship programs
- Career transition supports
Social, Cultural, and Community Wellbeing
- Affinity and identity-based groups
- Community-building initiatives
- Spiritual and cultural supports
- Opportunities for connection and reflection
Even the most comprehensive services have limited impact if individuals do not know they exist or struggle to access them. Effective communication and navigation systems help ensure that available supports are visible, understandable, and easy to access.
Examples may include:
- Centralized health and wellbeing service hubs
- Service directories and navigation supports
- Orientation and onboarding initiatives
- Communication strategies that increase awareness and utilization
- Clear referral pathways
- Regular promotion of available services and supports
Faculty health services should evolve in response to changing needs, emerging evidence, and community feedback. Regular assessment of service accessibility, utilization, effectiveness, and equity is essential to ensuring health services remain responsive and impactful.
Examples may include:
- Needs assessments
- Service utilization monitoring
- User experience and satisfaction surveys
- Equity-focused evaluation
- Quality improvement initiatives
- Reporting to leadership and governance structures
* Refer to Strategic Direction #6 for more information
Putting Faculty Health Services Into Practice
Strengthening faculty health services is an ongoing process that requires coordination, partnership, and continuous improvement. Institutions may begin at different stages of development, but most can strengthen their systems by understanding existing services, identifying opportunities for improvement, and building coordinated supports that are accessible, equitable, and responsive to community needs.
The Key Components describe the characteristics of effective faculty health service systems. The following phased approach provides one example of how institutions can assess, strengthen, and sustain these components over time.
A Phased Approach to Strengthening Faculty Health Services
Before introducing new initiatives, develop a clear understanding of what services already exist, how they are used, and where gaps or barriers may be present.
Potential actions may include:
- Conduct an inventory of existing health and wellbeing services.
- Map supports across universities, hospitals, distributed sites, and community partners.
- Review utilization patterns and service capacity.
- Identify duplication, fragmentation, and service gaps.
- Gather feedback from learners, faculty, staff, and clinical partners.
- Assess accessibility, confidentiality, and awareness of services.
Questions to consider:
- What services currently exist?
- Who is accessing them?
- Who may be underserved?
- What barriers prevent individuals from seeking support?
The Healthy Campus Alberta Service Mapping Tool can be a helpful starting point.
Effective faculty health services require leadership, accountability, and coordination across multiple organizations and support systems.
Potential actions may include:
- Develop a Faculty Health and Wellbeing Framework aligned with resources such as the Okanagan Charter and Quintuple Aim.
- Establish a governance structure or steering committee.
- Clarify organizational roles and responsibilities.
- Integrate health and wellbeing into strategic planning processes.
- Build partnerships across academic, clinical, and research environments.
- Establish formal referral pathways with external service providers.
Leverage Existing Resources
Institutions do not need to create every service internally. Existing partners often provide valuable expertise, infrastructure, and specialized supports.
Potential partners may include:
- Provincial Physician Health Programs (PHPs)
- Employee and Family Assistance Programs (EFAPs)
- Universities and teaching hospitals
- Community mental health providers
- Professional associations
- Accessibility and disability services
- Cultural support services
Provincial Physician Health Programs are particularly valuable partners, providing confidential and specialized support related to mental health, substance use, occupational concerns, career challenges, and overall wellbeing. Strengthening awareness of and referral pathways to these programs can significantly enhance institutional support systems.
Even comprehensive services will have limited impact if individuals cannot easily find, access, or trust them.
Potential actions may include:
- Develop centralized health and wellbeing resource hubs
- Simplify referral and intake processes
- Improve communication about available supports
- Expand virtual and hybrid service options
- Improve access across distributed sites
- Review policies that may create barriers to care
- Strengthen confidentiality protections
- Support protected time for health-related appointments where feasible
As needs and gaps are identified, institutions can strengthen the scope and coordination of available supports.
Potential actions may include:
- Enhance coordination between existing services
- Address identified service gaps
- Strengthen mental health and counselling supports
- Improve occupational health and accommodation processes
- Expand peer support, coaching, and mentoring opportunities
- Develop conflict resolution and mediation services
- Improve supports for career development and professional transitions
- Strengthen social, cultural, spiritual, and community-based supports
Implementation tip: Focus on creating coordinated systems of support rather than isolated programs, ensuring individuals can move seamlessly between services and receive appropriate referrals when needed.
The effectiveness of health services is shaped by organizational culture. Individuals must feel supported in accessing care when needed.
Potential actions may include:
- Integrate service information into onboarding and orientation programs
- Develop ongoing communication and awareness strategies
- Equip leaders to promote available supports
- Normalize conversations about health and wellbeing
- Communicate policies related to accommodations, leave, and support services
- Highlight available resources regularly throughout the academic year
Implementation tip: Visible leadership support and consistent messaging can help reduce stigma and encourage help-seeking behaviours.
Health services should evolve in response to changing needs, emerging evidence, and ongoing feedback.
Potential actions may include:
- Monitor service utilization and access patterns
- Collect feedback on user experiences
- Assess equity, accessibility, and inclusion outcomes
- Review referral pathways and coordination mechanisms
- Evaluate progress toward institutional goals
- Report findings to leadership and governance structures
- Use continuous quality improvement approaches to guide enhancements
Examples of indicators of success:
- Increased awareness of available services
- Improved service utilization
- Reduced barriers to access
- Positive user experiences
- Improved coordination between service providers
- Increased confidence in confidentiality protections
- Enhanced access across diverse populations and distributed sites
Case Studies
Health services are often experienced at the point where individuals seek support, navigate systems, or encounter barriers to care. These case studies explore common challenges related to access, coordination, confidentiality, and service delivery, and provide opportunities to reflect on how faculty health services can be strengthened within your own context.
Case Study #1: “Delayed Access to Mental Health Support”
Case Study #2: “Delayed Access to Occupational Health Support”
Case Study #3: “Lost in the System”
There is rarely a single “right” response to complex situations. Use these cases as opportunities to reflect on assumptions, explore different perspectives, and identify practical actions that can support growth, wellbeing, and healthy learning and work environments.
Case Study #1
“Delayed Access to Mental Health Support”
Jade is a second-year medical student experiencing increasing anxiety related to workload, examinations, and clinical skills evaluations. As her symptoms worsen, she contacts the Faculty of Medicine’s mental health services but is told the earliest available appointment is six weeks away.
While waiting, Jade’s concentration declines, deadlines are missed, and she becomes increasingly withdrawn. Although other support options may be available, she hesitates to seek help because she worries it could affect how she is perceived by faculty members or future residency programs. Over time, her distress increases and her academic performance begins to suffer.
Jade’s situation highlights a common challenge in academic medicine: services may exist, but barriers such as wait times, uncertainty about available resources, concerns about confidentiality, and fear of professional repercussions can prevent individuals from receiving support when they need it most.
Without timely access to care and clear pathways to support, concerns that may have been addressed early can escalate, affecting both wellbeing and academic performance.
Timely access to trusted health services is essential to supporting learner wellbeing. Delays in care, concerns about confidentiality, and fear of professional or academic repercussions can create barriers to help-seeking and allow concerns to escalate.
This case highlights the importance of accessible, confidential, and well-coordinated health services that support learners when they need help most.
Accessibility and Equitable Access: Timely access to services and reduced barriers to care.
Confidentiality, Trust, and Psychological Safety: Confidence that support can be accessed safely and without negative consequences.
Awareness, Navigation, and Communication: Clear information about available supports, referral pathways, and alternative resources.
Comprehensive and Responsive Supports: Availability of services that meet diverse mental health and wellbeing needs.
Strategic Coordination and System Integration: Coordination between faculty supports, community resources, and external services such as Provincial Physician Health Programs.
For Individuals
- What factors may have contributed to Jade delaying help-seeking?
- How might concerns about confidentiality, academic standing, or future career opportunities influence decisions to seek support?
- What information or supports might have made it easier for Jade to access help earlier?
For Faculty and Preceptor
- What early signs might indicate that a learner is struggling?
- How could a supportive conversation be initiated without increasing pressure or stigma?
- What resources or referral pathways should faculty members be familiar with?
For Program Leaders and Administrators
- What barriers may be limiting timely access to support services?
- Are mental health supports easy to find, understand, and navigate?
- How are peak periods of learner stress anticipated and addressed?
- How does the institution communicate confidentiality protections and available support options?
Consider how this scenario may appear within your own faculty, department, program, or organization:
- How quickly can learners access mental health support when concerns arise?
- Are wait times monitored and addressed?
- Are referral pathways clearly communicated?
- How are concerns about confidentiality and professional repercussions addressed?
- Are supports equally accessible across campuses and distributed sites?
- What alternative resources are available when demand exceeds capacity?
Assessing and Mapping Existing Services
- Review wait times, service utilization, and access patterns.
- Identify barriers experienced by learners when seeking support.
- Assess awareness of available services and referral pathways.
Establishing Partnerships and Referral Pathways
- Develop clear referral pathways between faculty services, community providers, Employee and Family Assistance Programs, and Provincial Physician Health Programs.
- Establish processes for rapid referral when urgent support is needed.
Improving Access, Navigation, and Trust
- Provide clear and easily accessible information about available services, eligibility, confidentiality, and expected wait times.
- Offer virtual and flexible appointment options where possible.
- Strengthen communication regarding confidentiality and privacy protections.
Expanding and Integrating Supports
- Increase access to counselling, peer support, coaching, and wellness services.
- Consider stepped-care approaches or interim supports during periods of high demand.
- Ensure services are culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and accessible to diverse populations.
Fostering Awareness and Help-Seeking
- Normalize help-seeking through leadership messaging and orientation programs.
- Address stigma and hidden curriculum messages that discourage seeking support.
- Equip faculty and preceptors to recognize distress and connect learners with available resources.
Even when support services exist, barriers such as wait times, stigma, confidentiality concerns, and unclear pathways can prevent individuals from accessing care. Strengthening faculty health services requires more than offering programs—it requires creating coordinated, accessible, trusted, and responsive systems that enable individuals to receive support when they need it.
Case Study #2
“Delayed Access to Occupational Health Support”
Dr. Gomes, an experienced internal medicine physician, develops a significant lower back injury while moving equipment during a clinical shift. After reporting the injury, he contacts Occupational Health for an assessment and guidance regarding work restrictions and accommodations, but is told the earliest available appointment is four weeks away.
Without timely support, Dr. Gomes continues working while managing ongoing pain. His symptoms worsen, recovery is delayed, and concerns begin to emerge regarding workload, clinical performance, and schedule reliability.
Dr. Gomes’ situation highlights a common challenge within health service systems: support may be available, but delays in access can limit its effectiveness.
Without timely occupational health assessment, individuals may continue working while injured, delay treatment, or struggle to access appropriate accommodations and modified duties. These challenges can affect not only individual wellbeing, but also team functioning, workforce sustainability, and patient care.
Timely access to occupational health services is essential to supporting workforce wellbeing, safety, and recovery. Delays in assessment or accommodation planning can prolong recovery, contribute to presenteeism, and create uncertainty for both individuals and teams.
This case highlights the importance of accessible, responsive, and well-coordinated health services that support faculty members following injury or illness.
Accessibility and Equitable Access: Timely access to occupational health assessments and workplace supports.
Confidentiality, Trust, and Psychological Safety: Availability of occupational health, accommodation, and return-to-work services.
Awareness, Navigation, and Communication: Clear information about reporting processes, available supports, and expected timelines.
Strategic Coordination and System Integration: Coordination between occupational health, departments, leadership, and healthcare providers.
Evaluation and Continuous Improvement: Monitoring service capacity, wait times, and barriers to access.
For Faculty and Clinicians
- What factors might discourage someone from reporting an injury or seeking support?
- How might delayed access to occupational health services affect recovery, wellbeing, or professional responsibilities?
- What would make it easier to access accommodations or modified duties when needed?
For Department Leaders
- How are faculty members supported while awaiting occupational health assessment?
- Are expectations regarding injury reporting, accommodations, and modified duties clearly communicated?
- How might workplace culture influence whether individuals feel comfortable seeking support?
For Faculty and Hospital Administrators
- How does occupational health capacity align with current demand?
- What risks emerge when individuals continue working without appropriate assessment or accommodations?
- How are occupational health services evaluated for accessibility, effectiveness, and responsiveness?
Consider how this scenario may appear within your own faculty, department, program, or organization:
- How quickly can faculty members access occupational health services following an injury or illness?
- Are reporting and referral pathways clearly understood?
- What interim supports are available while individuals await assessment?
- How are accommodations and modified duties coordinated?
- Are occupational health services accessible across distributed sites and practice settings?
Assessing and Mapping Existing Services
- Review occupational health service capacity, utilization patterns, and wait times.
- Identify barriers to reporting injuries and accessing support.
- Examine trends related to workplace injuries, accommodations, and return-to-work processes.
Establishing Partnerships and Referral Pathways
- Clarify roles and responsibilities related to occupational health and workplace accommodations.
- Strengthen coordination between occupational health, human resources, faculty affairs, and clinical leadership.
- Develop clear referral pathways and escalation processes when timely intervention is required.
Improving Access, Navigation, and Trust
- Communicate available occupational health services and reporting processes clearly.
- Establish streamlined pathways for workplace injuries and urgent assessments.
- Provide transparent information regarding expected timelines and available supports.
Expanding and Integrating Supports
- Develop processes for temporary accommodations or modified duties while awaiting formal assessment.
- Improve access to rehabilitation, physiotherapy, ergonomic assessments, and workplace safety resources.
- Ensure occupational health services are accessible across diverse practice settings and distributed locations.
Fostering Awareness and Help-Seeking
- Normalize the use of occupational health services as part of maintaining a safe and healthy workplace.
- Address workplace cultures that encourage individuals to “push through” injury or illness.
- Support leaders in modelling healthy and safe workplace practices.
Occupational health services play a critical role in supporting workforce wellbeing, safety, and sustainability. Delays in access can affect recovery, workplace functioning, and patient care. Strengthening occupational health systems requires coordinated services, clear pathways, timely support, and a workplace culture that encourages individuals to seek assistance when needed.
Case Study #3
“Lost in the System”
Dr. Andrews is an early-career clinician-educator who holds both a university faculty appointment and a clinical position within an affiliated teaching hospital. Over the past year, increasing clinical, teaching, and administrative responsibilities have contributed to growing stress and burnout.
When she decides to seek support, she is unsure where to turn. Different colleagues suggest different options, including university services, hospital occupational health, community providers, and physician health programs. Dr. Andrews also worries about confidentiality and whether accessing support could affect her professional reputation, promotion, or future leadership opportunities.
Although services exist, the process feels confusing and difficult to navigate. After receiving inconsistent information and struggling to identify a trusted pathway to care, Dr. Andrews disengages and decides not to pursue support.
Dr. Andrews’ experience highlights a common challenge in academic medicine: supports may be available, but fragmented systems, unclear pathways, and concerns about confidentiality can make them difficult to access.
When individuals are uncertain where to go, who to trust, or how services connect, they may delay seeking help or disengage from care altogether.
Effective health services depend not only on what supports are available, but also on how easy they are to find, understand, and access. Faculty members often work across multiple organizations, each with different services, policies, and eligibility requirements. Without clear navigation, coordinated systems, and trusted pathways to care, even well-developed services may remain underutilized.
This case highlights the importance of accessible, coordinated, and transparent health service systems that help individuals connect with the right support at the right time.
Strategic Coordination and System Integration: Alignment across university, hospital, and external support systems.
Awareness, Navigation, and Communication: Clear information about services, eligibility, and referral pathways.
Confidentiality, Trust, and Psychological Safety: Confidence that support can be accessed safely and confidentially.
Accessibility and Equitable Access: Reducing barriers that make services difficult to navigate.
Inclusion, Cultural Safety, and Responsiveness: Ensuring supports are responsive to diverse identities, experiences, and needs.
For Faculty Members
- Would you know where to go if you needed support today?
- What concerns might make you hesitate to access available services?
- How confident are you that support systems are confidential and easy to navigate?
For Leaders and Administrators
- Could you clearly explain how a faculty member accesses support services?
- How well coordinated are services across academic and clinical environments?
- What barriers might discourage individuals from seeking help?
For Faculty Health Services and Human Resources
- Are service pathways clear, consistent, and easy to access?
- Where do individuals commonly experience confusion or delays?
- How are confidentiality and privacy communicated to those seeking support?
Consider how this scenario may appear within your own faculty, department, program, or organization:
- Is there a clear and trusted entry point for health and wellbeing services?
- Are referral pathways coordinated across university, hospital, and external providers?
- How easy is it for faculty members to understand what services are available and who is eligible?
- Are concerns about confidentiality proactively addressed?
- How are the experiences of diverse faculty populations reflected in service design?
Assessing and Mapping Existing Services
- Review available services, referral pathways, and points of access.
- Identify areas where information is fragmented, inconsistent, or difficult to find.
- Gather feedback on barriers to navigation and service utilization.
Establishing Partnerships and Referral Pathways
- Strengthen coordination between universities, hospitals, physician health programs, and community providers.
- Clarify roles, responsibilities, and referral processes across organizations.
- Develop shared approaches to supporting faculty wellbeing.
Improving Access, Navigation, and Trust
- Create a centralized Faculty Health and Wellbeing Hub or service directory.
- Establish clear points of contact for questions and referrals.
- Communicate confidentiality policies and privacy protections in plain language.
Expanding and Integrating Supports
- Ensure providers understand the unique realities of academic medicine.
- Offer culturally responsive and role-informed services.
- Improve coordination between health, occupational, and wellbeing supports.
Fostering Awareness and Help-Seeking
- Incorporate service information into onboarding and orientation processes.
- Regularly promote available supports and referral pathways.
- Encourage leaders to model help-seeking and openly support faculty wellbeing.
Even when services are available, unclear pathways, fragmented systems, and concerns about confidentiality can prevent individuals from accessing support. Strengthening faculty health services requires more than expanding programs—it requires creating coordinated, trusted, and easy-to-navigate systems that connect people with the support they need.
Exploring Your Role in Supportive Faculty Health Services
Access to effective health services is a shared responsibility. While some individuals design, deliver, or oversee services directly, everyone within the institution plays a role in helping create systems that are accessible, responsive, trusted, and supportive.
Health-promoting services are strengthened when individuals understand how to access supports, promote awareness, identify barriers, provide feedback, and contribute to a culture where seeking help is encouraged and supported. This section explores how different roles contribute to reducing barriers, supporting access, and strengthening systems of care and support.
Reflect on Your Role
How do I help promote awareness, access, and trust in available health services?
What barriers might individuals experience when trying to access support within my environment?
How can I contribute to improving the coordination, accessibility, or responsiveness of available services?
Every role contributes to creating health service systems that are accessible, equitable, and responsive to the needs of the academic medicine community.
Senior leaders help establish the vision, priorities, governance structures, and resources that support effective faculty health services. Their decisions influence how services are coordinated, resourced, evaluated, and sustained across the institution.
How This Role Contributes to Supportive Health Services
- Establish strategic priorities and accountability structures for faculty health and wellbeing.
- Allocate resources to support accessible, equitable, and responsive services.
- Promote coordination across departments, hospitals, and support units.
- Support ongoing evaluation and continuous improvement of services.
- Demonstrate visible commitment to health and wellbeing through leadership actions and communication.
Tip for Senior Leadership: Ask, “Do our current services reflect our stated commitment to health and wellbeing, and how do we know?”
Operational leaders and staff help translate institutional priorities into day-to-day practice. They often play a key role in coordinating services, communicating available supports, identifying barriers, and helping individuals navigate complex systems. Their work helps ensure that health services are accessible, responsive, and aligned with the needs of the academic medicine community.
How This Role Contributes to Supportive Health Services
- Communicate available services, supports, and referral pathways clearly.
- Help individuals navigate accommodations, leave processes, workplace supports, and available resources.
- Identify barriers, service gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
- Coordinate implementation of health-related policies, procedures, and programs.
- Gather feedback from learners, faculty, and staff to inform service planning and improvement.
- Foster environments where help-seeking is normalized and supported.
Tip for Staff: Ask, “If someone needed support today, would they know where to go, what services are available, and how to access them?”
Faculty members contribute by promoting awareness, identifying concerns early, and helping create learning and work environments where seeking support is encouraged and accepted.
How This Role Contributes to Supportive Health Services
- Recognize signs that learners or colleagues may benefit from support.
- Encourage timely access to appropriate services.
- Promote healthy work and learning practices.
- Share feedback on service effectiveness and barriers.
- Advocate for supports that meet the diverse needs of faculty, learners, and staff.
Tip for Faculty: Ask, “Does everyone I work with know where to find support and feel comfortable accessing it?”
Learners and trainees bring valuable lived experience and insight into how health services are accessed, experienced, and perceived. Their perspectives help ensure services remain relevant, accessible, and responsive.
How This Role Contributes to Supportive Health Services
- Provide feedback on service accessibility and effectiveness.
- Identify barriers related to scheduling, confidentiality, navigation, or stigma.
- Participate in service planning and improvement initiatives.
- Promote awareness of available supports among peers.
- Advocate for inclusive and equitable services.
Tip for Learners: What would make it easier for learners to seek support early and confidently?
Researchers and scientists contribute valuable expertise in data collection, evaluation, implementation science, quality improvement, and knowledge generation. Their work can help institutions better understand health service needs, identify gaps and inequities, evaluate outcomes, and support evidence-informed decision-making.
How This Role Contributes to Supportive Health Services
- Contribute expertise in evaluation, quality improvement, and implementation science.
- Help identify trends, gaps, and emerging health and wellbeing needs across the academic medicine community.
- Support the collection and interpretation of data related to service access, utilization, and outcomes.
- Examine equity-related barriers and differences in service use across populations.
- Collaborate with health service leaders to evaluate programs, pilot innovations, and inform continuous improvement.
- Translate evidence into practical recommendations that strengthen health services and organizational decision-making.
Tip for Researchers: Ask, “How do we know our health services are making a meaningful difference, and what evidence supports our decisions?”
Moving Forward Together
Effective faculty health services are built through collaboration. While individuals contribute in different ways, no single role can create accessible, responsive, and trusted systems of support alone. Strengthening faculty health services requires shared responsibility, clear communication, ongoing partnership, and a commitment to continuous improvement across the academic medicine community.
How We Contribute to Supportive Health Services Together
- Build awareness of available supports and reduce barriers to access.
- Foster environments where help-seeking is encouraged and supported.
- Strengthen coordination across departments, institutions, and service providers.
- Identify gaps and opportunities for improvement through ongoing feedback and evaluation.
- Ensure services are equitable, accessible, and responsive to diverse needs.
- Work together to create systems that support health, wellbeing, and sustainable participation in learning and work.
The strongest health service systems are not defined by the number of programs they offer, but by how effectively they connect people with the support they need.
Tools and Resources
Strengthening faculty health services requires more than good intentions—it requires understanding existing supports, identifying gaps, and planning for improvement. The tools and resources in this section are designed to help institutions assess, map, evaluate, and strengthen health service systems in practical and meaningful ways.
What you’ll find in this section
Adapt and use what is most relevant to your context.
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Developed by the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada’s Culture of Academic Medicine Initiative (CAMI) in collaboration with the Okanagan Charter Collaborative.
Suggested Citation
Do, V. Wellbeing Matters: An Okanagan Charter Implementation Toolkit. Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), Culture of Academic Medicine Initiative – Towards Improved Provider Safety (CAMI-TIPS); 2026. Available from: [URL placeholder]
Help Improve the Toolkit
We welcome your feedback to help improve future versions of the toolkit. Questions, suggestions, and corrections are always appreciated.
Developed by the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada’s Culture of Academic Medicine Initiative (CAMI) in collaboration with the Okanagan Charter Collaborative.
Suggested Citation
Do, V. Wellbeing Matters: An Okanagan Charter Implementation Toolkit. Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), Culture of Academic Medicine Initiative – Towards Improved Provider Safety (CAMI-TIPS); 2026. Available from: [URL placeholder]
Help Improve the Toolkit
We welcome your feedback to help improve future versions of the toolkit. Questions, suggestions, and corrections are always appreciated.
Wellbeing Matters: An Okanagan Charter Implementation Toolkit ⋅ Version 1.0 ⋅ September 2026