The Fellowship as a
Learning Community
Lauren Lamers, MPH
Menominee Tribal Clinic
Keshena, WI
One of the unique things about the Population Health Service
Fellowship is that it is truly intended to be a learning community. Earlier this year, fellows, faculty, and
preceptors had the opportunity to discuss and outline exactly what we wanted our learning community to
look like. Some of the characteristics
we thought were important to include as guiding principles for our community
included:
·
Recognizing and valuing the different
perspectives that all members of the learning community bring to the group
·
Creating safe spaces to share questions,
opinions, ideas, and constructive feedback
·
Supporting each other to take chances,
celebrating each other’s strengths, and advocating for each other
·
Engaging with others in the community to enhance
our own and others’ learning
·
Being committed to long-term, ongoing learning
and self-improvement
The true value of the fellowship learning community,
however, is that these principles are not merely words on a page - they play an
integral role in our projects, meetings, and interactions with each other. This was particularly apparent during our annual
overnight retreat in Shawano and Menominee
Counties
 |
| The group touring Keshena Falls, Menominee County/Reservation, WI |
Our meeting, like each of our monthly meetings, started with
time for fellow updates. I was (and
always am) so impressed at the fantastic work everyone is doing. It’s truly inspiring to be part of such a
passionate, talented, and dedicated group.
Having the opportunity to be inspired by each other has, for me, been
one of the best parts of the fellowship learning community.
Throughout the meeting, everyone was actively engaged. Fellows and faculty alike brought enthusiasm
to learning more about our meeting topics (American Indian health and farm
health). There was great discussion and
thoughtful questions for our speakers, and while the speakers themselves
brought fantastic perspectives to our meeting, I think we learned just as much
by engaging with each other around the topics we were discussing.
Another staple of our monthly meetings is the CALs
presentation, when one fellow presents on a project they’ve done and how it
helped develop their core areas of learning.
In this case, I was the one presenting.
I so appreciated the interest that everyone showed, the great questions
that opened up deeper discussion and challenged me to think about my project
differently, and the supportive atmosphere that helped me feel comfortable
talking about not only what I thought went well, but also things I could have
done better. Having this safe space
within our learning community to talk about our fellowship experiences has been
so beneficial for growing both personally and professionally.
 |
| A little fellowship team building time. |
Finally, one of the strongest aspects of the fellowship learning
community is the varied expertise and insights that everyone brings to the
table. There were a few stellar examples
of this at our retreat. One was when
second-year fellows Mallory Edgar and Crysta Jarczynski facilitated a skill
building session about community readiness assessments – a topic on which
they’ve developed quite bit of expertise through their fellowship
projects. They did a fantastic job not
only presenting, but also developing interactive ways for us to see how
readiness assessments could be useful in our own work. Another example that really resonated with me
was the insight, wisdom, and experience that my preceptor Faye Dodge, brought
to our discussions around American Indian health. For me, this exemplified the invaluable
contributions that all of us – fellows, faculty, staff, and preceptors - make
toward building the fellowship community.
All of these are just
a few examples of what makes our fellowship a true learning community. What I think makes it truly special, though,
is that this commitment to sharing our learning and to supporting and
challenging each other to grow isn’t confined to our monthly meetings – it’s a
culture we’ve built. Being part of this
community has been one of the best parts of my fellowship, and it’s an
experience for which I am profoundly grateful.