Education – FOE

Program entry date: 2021

My name is Ali and I am a Registered Nurse (RN) with a practice history focusing on mental health, addictions and public health. Through my work as a nurse, I have become increasingly curious about the domain of mental wellbeing, homelessness, and harm reduction, specifically as it relates to preventative health care.

I chose to return to school for my Master of Education at Brock University with a dual focus on administration, leadership and policy and adult education. My study interests include developing skills in policy development to bolster health education in the direction of harm reduction as well as examining the role of adult learning in a community setting as an emancipatory tool. Within my studies, am also interested in learning about women in leadership and the role of intersectionality in determining who is trained for and offered leadership positions within the healthcare industry.

I chose Brock University due to the ability to have a dual concentration within my graduate journey as well as the ability to complete the program in one year. For me, this modality of delivery allows me to continue to gain experience in my career area whilst gaining new skills and insights from concurrent studies. The frontline knowledge that I have gained from my practice as an RN has been deepened and complemented by courses focusing on leadership, organizational constructs, and the role of adult learning as a tool for emancipation. My professors have been accessible and helpful in discussing course concepts as they apply to harm reduction, healthcare, and marginalized populations. I continue to look forward to the ways in which my studies at Brock will make me a more informed and effective practitioner.