Capturing Essence for Care
Capturing Essence for Care
Podcast Description
Capturing Essence for Care focuses on the importance of incorporating personal life stories into health care and through each episode, Lisa invites guests and listeners to share their ideas and insights from their own experiences. We dive into various ways we can capture our own essence and have meaningful conversations about all types of storytelling methods, including through writing, video, voice, visuals and so much more! Join Lisa for solo episodes and interviews with diverse storytellers including personal historians, digital storytellers, guided autobiography instructors, healthcare practitioners among many others.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast delves into personal narratives, care transformations, and storytelling methodologies with specific episodes exploring topics like the impact of sharing life stories on dementia care and techniques for guided autobiography, emphasizing the exploratory nature of personal histories.
What if healthcare teams knew what lights you up?
Capturing Essence for Care celebrates the everyday moments, passions, and stories that make us who we are—right now, while we’re living fully.
This podcast explores the many ways we can capture and express our essence: through storytelling, photography, video, music, autobiography, meaningful conversations, creative arts and more. We talk with artists, musicians, storytellers, people living vibrant lives, and experts who help preserve stories. Along the way, we discover how engaging with our creativity and stories isn’t just about preservation—it’s about nurturing our overall health and wellbeing in the present moment.
Why “for Care”?
Because life is unpredictable. When we eventually need healthcare support—whether for ourselves or loved ones—having our essence captured means care teams can see us as whole people, not just patients. They’ll know what brings us joy, what matters most to us, and how to connect with who we truly are.
This podcast is for:
- Anyone who wants to preserve what makes them uniquely themselves
- People curious about life story work, personal history, and creative expression
- Those who believe our identities matter throughout our entire lives
- DIY-ers looking to learn how to capture stories themselves
- Professionals interested in person-centered approaches
- Anyone inspired by hearing how others capture and share their essence
Join host Lisa Joworski
Lisa is a Recreation and Life Story Resource specialist who brings together storytellers, artists, musicians, advocates, people living with dementia, healthcare practitioners, and life story experts. Each conversation offers insights and practical approaches for the beautiful ways we can honour our own stories and the stories of those we love—not just for memory’s sake, but for the fullness of living and for the care we may one day need.
Connect with Lisa:
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: facebook.com/AWEStruckAspirations
- Etsy Shop: etsy.com/ca/shop/AwestruckAspirations
New episodes release every other week. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation!
Episode Description
What if one simple question could transform healthcare? In this episode, Lisa talks with Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, the renowned psychiatrist who developed the Patient Dignity Question: ”What do I need to know about you as a person in order to take the best care of you possible?”
Dr. Chochinov shares the research and stories behind this deceptively simple yet profound question, explaining how it shifts healthcare from treating a diagnosis to caring for a whole person. Through moving stories—including one about his sister Ellen—he illustrates the ”platinum rule”: doing unto patients as they would have done unto themselves, not as we would want for ourselves.
Key Topics
- The Patient Dignity Question and its impact on care
- The platinum rule vs. the golden rule in healthcare
- Seeing patients as whole people, not just diagnoses
- The story of Ellen: why personhood matters in medical decisions
- Preventing iatrogenic (healthcare-caused) suffering through dignity
Memorable Quotes
”What do I need to know about you as a person in order to take the best care of you possible?”
”If we fail to see our patients as persons, we're going to be letting them down and complicit in iatrogenic suffering.”
”He can see her blood gases falling and her scoliosis, but he can't see Ellen.”
Resources
- Canadian Virtual Hospice
- Book: In Search of Dignity
- Related: Episode with Dr. Sammy Winemaker
About Dr. Chochinov
Distinguished professor of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and senior scientist at CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute. Developer of Dignity Therapy and co-founder of Canadian Virtual Hospice. Officer of the Order of Canada and Canadian Medical Hall of Fame inductee (2020).
Latest Book:In Search of Dignity: A Lifetime of Reflections (Oxford University Press). Listen to the recorded book launch: https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-18875/Harvey-Max-Chochinov-Book-Launch
Connect with Dr. Chochinov:
- Websites: dignityincare.ca and virtualhospice.ca
- LinkedIn: Harvey Max Chochinov
- X @HMChochinov
How do you capture your own essence?
To connect with Lisa, text using the link above in this Episode Description or:
- awestruckaspira
Thank you for listening!
Do you have a question or a topic related to ”capturing essence for care” that you would like discussed on the podcast? Text the show using the link above or send Lisa an email: [email protected]
Interested in learning more?
Intro and outro music with thanks: Upbeat and Sweet No Strings by Musictown
Lisa brings over 25 years of experience working in healthcare settings with older adults. The perspectives shared on this podcast are her own and do not represent the views of any past or current employer. Patient/resident stories are shared only with explicit permission or as anonymized composites for educational purposes.
Disclaimer
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