Storytelling in Nursing with Chantel Antone and Chantalle Clarkin

Welcome to our first episode of Nurses’ Voices! 

In this episode, we chat with Chantel Antone and Chantalle Clarkin. We discuss the importance of story telling and the criticality of nurses telling their own stories rather than having their stories told by others. Plus, we discuss the role storytelling plays in nursing eduction and practice.

As well, we hear from Chantel and Chantalle on the importance of storytelling to build connections between nurses, nurses and other healthcare professionals, nurses and patients and nurses and the public. And finally, how storytelling can be used by nurses in these especially challenging times.

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About Our Guests

Chantel Antone, RN, BScN, MPEd

Indigenous Nurse Navigator

South West Regional Cancer Program, London Health Sciences Centre

As a registered nurse working as an Indigenous Program Specialist/Navigator, I have been able to walk along side Indigenous people and their families during the most vulnerable times of their lives. Through this journey, I have had many experiences that contributed to my own growth and learning experience. Through my journey of self-reflection, awakening, and healing, I am embarking on new endeavours to share my experience as an Indigenous professional working in the health care system.

I am an Indigenous woman from the Oneida Nation of the Thames a First Nation community located southwest of London, Ontario. I am a graduate of the Masters of Public Education, from Western University, and hold a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Ryerson University.

I am a health activist and advocate on behalf of First Nation, Inuit and Metis patients and families navigating the health system. My areas of advocacy include ensuring equitable access to health care and social services, addressing racism and discrimination, and collaborating with FNIM communities across the southwest region. My publications includes practices of going beyond Patient Navigation to ensure culturally safe care in the cancer system for First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and urban Indigenous patients in Ontario.

Chantalle Clarkin RN, PhD

Project Scientist in Virtual Mental Health and Outreach at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Associate Director of HeART (Health equity, Arts, Research & Technology) Lab (healthequityart.com)

Memories are strange—sometimes it’s the little things that really stick. My anxiety level on my first nightshift as a pediatric surgical nurse when my ICU transfer arrived—I learned a lot about teamwork that night; the first academic paper I ever wrote—it got swiftly rejected; the lifelong friendships I forged with other nurses—from the wards, to our weddings, and far beyond; and the memories of patients who made miraculous recoveries—as well as those who, sadly, did not. It’s been 20 years since that first night at the bedside, and this nursing journey has contributed innumerable memories and stories that have shaped my whole career.

I now work in mental health and community wellness as an arts-engaged qualitative health researcher. In addition to co-creating participatory research, I have specialized in documentary filmmaking—something I never would have imagined when I first became a nurse. I am passionate about cinematic storytelling and making space for stories in healthcare—I firmly believe this is where healing journeys and innovative outcomes can co-occur.

Thanks to the RNFOO Nurse Innovator Award (2020), I am currently developing an app (Your Storyline App) that brings digital storytelling tools to patients, nurses, providers, and caregivers, and allows users to identify and communicate meaningful moments in their health experiences through reflective storytelling prompts. All this to say, I am forever proud to be a nurse and grateful that nursing can mean so many things!