Q&A with Bruna: MPH Student at University of Toronto
Learn about Bruna's various practicum and volunteer experiences during her Master of Public Health (MPH) at the University of Toronto!
Welcome to the Invite Health newsletter. These newsletters highlight students pursuing careers in healthcare, and the experiential learning opportunities they've had. From queer health research to geriatrics research to epidemiology, my goal with this newsletter is to introduce you to the various pathways that students can pursue in healthcare.
This week, I invited Bruna to share her various practicum and volunteer experiences during her Master of Public Health (MPH) at the University of Toronto. From working as an Opioid Poisoning Education and Naloxone Distribution (OPEND) practicum student, to volunteering at Toronto non-profits for 2SLGBTQ+ communities, and more. Read on to learn more about her experiences!
Q&A with Bruna, MPH Student at the University of Toronto 🏥
First off, tell us about your journey so far. Where do you study, what inspired you to pursue this, and what’s next? What else do you like to do outside of studying?
Hello! My name is Bruna (she/her), and I am currently a second-year Master of Public Health (MPH) international student in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences (Health Promotion) at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto. This is a professional non-thesis program, and we get the opportunity to do one (or two, if you are interested) practicum over the Summer term. But what inspired me to be here today is a totally different story! During my undergrad, I was sure I was going to be a Neuroscientist. For three years, I worked with fundamental quantitative research. It wasn’t until my last year that I felt something was missing and decided to apply for an internship in Public Health. I have always had that “cliché” thought about wanting to feel that I make a difference in the world, and working in fundamental research did not seem to hit that spot for me. My internship experience in a primary healthcare facility was life changing though.
I decided to pursue a career in Public Health and ended up being selected for a Community Health residency program in Brazil (my home country), where I worked for two years in various sectors of the public health system. I had an amazing experience contributing to a Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) project to prevent and treat sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV and Syphilis. In this role, I developed, implemented and evaluated health promotion interventions, especially with marginalized communities. I worked with people experiencing homelessness, the LGBTQIA+ community, sex workers, kids, and teenagers, among other populations. I was also responsible for creating educational materials (another one of my passions), such as handouts, presentations, and active-learning activities. This experience allowed me to develop myself as a person and a professional and helped me in identifying the path I was going to follow afterwards.
Considering my interests, my focus was to find a practicum in which I would be able to work on planning, implementing and evaluating health promotion interventions and doing community-based mixed methods research. You will see that I am definitely spot-on with my practicum! I am currently working as an Opioid Poisoning Education and Naloxone Distribution (OPEND) Practicum Student with a team at the DLSPH, supervised by Dr. Aaron Orkin. We have a partnership with the Canadian Red Cross (CRC), in which we are evaluating their courses in Opioid Harm Reduction (I highly recommend taking the courses, btw!), funded by Health Canada. Our team recently finished the evaluation for the third year of this project and presented it to the CRC, focusing on the feedback provided by people who completed their courses. I also developed a peer engagement framework for people with living or lived experience (PWLLE) of drug use, particularly opioids, as well as OPEND community leaders and advocates, which resulted in our monthly Opioid Expert Panel that directly provides feedback regarding CRC’s offerings. Additionally, I am conducting a scoping review about distance-based opioid poisoning education and naloxone distribution (OPEND) programs worldwide, which is my main practicum deliverable. This is a 16-week practicum, and at the end of it I have to hand-out an evaluation and some deliverables, such as a narrative report and a poster.
My goal after the practicum is to pursue a career in public health by combining evidence-based interventions with mixed methods community-based research. For me, it is all about the people and the relationships that we build in the meantime, while feeling like I am truly making a difference, even if the smallest one. Therefore, I would say community engagement and social justice are two leading forces in my work and personal life.
Besides my passion for public health, in my spare time, I like to watch Netflix, read (mostly non-fiction), play with my dogs, go ice skating, and hang out with friends (I love hosting game nights!). I am a very chatty and curious person, I love to make new friends, meet new places, and have different experiences. I came from Brazil to Toronto in August, 2022 for my MPH. This is my first time moving to a different country, and it is definitely a rollercoaster. It is not easy to adjust to new social norms, a very different weather, and just a whole new way of living honestly. I am a huge advocate for mental health, and as a person with generalized anxiety and ADHD, I like to bring that up in this context to show that, even though things can be pretty hard having a mental health diagnosis and navigating totally different educational and healthcare systems, it is possible to accomplish great things and to pursue our meaning in life.
Tell us about your public health experiences during your MPH.
When I came to Canada, I wanted to be able to contribute to the community, while putting myself out there and trying to build meaningful relationships. I ended up volunteering in different spaces - at a yoga studio, at the university, and also at The 519 (a non-profit for 2SLGBTQ+ communities). I want to highlight some of my experiences at the university though (there’s tons of opportunities!).
I worked as an External Education Volunteer at the Sexual Education Centre (SEC), and also an International Student Representative to the Public Health Students’ Association (PHSA) at the University of Toronto. At SEC, I had the amazing experience of giving a presentation on sexually transmitted infections (STIs), safer sex and contraception for the Triangle program, a small alternative high school in Toronto specifically supporting underserved 2SLGBTQ+ youth.
While at PHSA, I represent international students' interests at the departmental and faculty levels. I hosted the first PHSA International Students’ social a few months ago, and it was amazing getting to know other fellow international students and chatting about the difficulties and wonders of studying in another country. I believe that volunteering is a great opportunity not only to develop working experience, but also to create meaningful relationships with people that might have the same interests as you, which is really important especially for newcomers.
How did you come across this opportunity? What did the application process entail?
For my practicum, by December, 2022 I started preparing my resume and transcripts and outlining some cover letters to help me in the application process. The Epidemiology and the Health Promotion programs at DLSPH have a specific job board for students, and by January 18th, 2023, we had some positions posted on the website (you could also search outside of that too). I applied for two opportunities through the website, and, in a couple of weeks, I was invited to virtual interview for both. For the OPEND practicum, besides the resume, transcripts and cover letter, I was also asked to provide a short example of my academic writing, which could be one of my past assignments. By the end of the week of interviews, I was offered both paid positions - I was definitely ecstatic! I had two options: one that really resonated with what I was doing in the past, and another one with something that I have never worked with before (not sure if you know this, but we don’t really have an opioid poisoning crisis in Brazil). I decided to go with the option that would challenge me the most, and I do not regret it one bit.
For volunteer positions, it is a little bit all over the place. As a curious person, I am used to just going through Google Maps and seeing what is around, which lead me to find The 519 and the yoga studio, and also navigating the university’s websites top to bottom, which lead me to the SEC position. The PHSA volunteering was through an email, and they send this by the end of every year with positions such as president, treasurer, and communications and social co-chairs, and it is a great opportunity to be involved with pursuing meaningful changes for the academic community.
What were some of the most notable highlights that you had from the experience?
I believe the major highlight for me in the experience of trying to find a practicum position is that I wasn’t sure if my past experiences in Brazil would be valued as much as other people’s, an insecurity that I feel many international students might have. I was very surprised to have applied for only two opportunities and being offered both of them. The interview process, even though it is very nerve-wracking for everyone, was actually pretty enlightening to me. I felt validated, especially for this OPEND position, where initially I felt like I didn’t have as much baseline knowledge in the opioid crisis and process evaluation as other people might have. I had to truly believe in myself, and show the interviewers that my experiences were essential to building my working persona and giving me important transferable skills. Being true to myself and believing I was worth of these positions made me find a great team to work with and an experience that is truly eye-opening.
Did this experience lead you to pursue any other related opportunities?
Whoops, sensitive topic! Hahaha. At this point, I am still working in my practicum position, but I would definitely love to continue if the opportunity comes. Either way, once my practicum is over, I will start my last semester of classes, so things will get busier. Hopefully, at some point, I will be able to juggle all the assignments and readings with a part-time job. :)
Where can students go if they want to learn more about this program?
If you want to ask me any questions or just connect, you can find me on LinkedIn. I like to share some of my experiences there every once in a while.
I also have an Instagram page where I share my journey on Public Health with other Portuguese speakers: @mypublichealthlife
Is there anything else that you would like to add for Invite Health readers?
One of my greatest advices is to be open-minded and open-hearted. Grad school is tough, but it is a great opportunity to help find yourself, to test things out, to get into different projects, and make personal and professional connections. Not everything is fun and giggles, but I’ve found that the most difficult periods in life are the ones that get you to your highest point right after.
It is also important to have clear boundaries and take care of your mental health - it is not possible to do all the readings and be perfect in every assignment, no matter what your profs might tell you (believe me, I’ve tried!). At the end of the day, you know yourself and how you learn best - take advantage of that!
If you are an incoming student and want to get some more advices before jumping into this new experience, here is a compilation of DLSPH students’ advices for you: Advice for Prospective Students from the Incoming Class
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Invite Health newsletters highlight students pursuing careers in healthcare, and the experiential learning opportunities they've had. Invite Health can also be the start of building a network, learning a new skill, or finding your next opportunity.
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