Medical students in the UK are taught little about addictions, and even less about recovery. The idea of involving experts by experience of addiction and recovery in medical education at this scale is novel, and the sparse research that does exist is predominantly from the United States. While it is recognised that learning about addictions is essential for doctors, and direct contact with people who have experienced addictions humanises a group who often face stigma, the use of “simulated patients” rather than people with real recovery stories is concerning and, in our view, unnecessary.
A new way of doing things – Conversation Cafés
In the last 4 years, something different has been happening in medical schools in Scotland. With funding from the Scottish Government, the organisation Humanising Healthcare has been bringing together undergraduate medical students with people from local recovery communities. In a relaxed environment over tea, coffee and chocolate biscuits, small groups of students, people with lived experience and family members spend 2 hours together and enjoy a series of short conversations during which various themes around addiction and recovery can be covered. Each discussion is initiated by a question such as “What does recovery mean to you?” or “What are the first steps of recovery and how can healthcare professionals help people make them?”. This is preceded by a 15-minute share of an individual’s recovery journey, and each session ends with the opportunity to be trained in the use of, and supplied with, naloxone.
The feedback speaks for itself
Honestly it’s just the kind of learning that stays with you for life. We can learn symptoms and complications of addiction from a textbook but to be able to treat the person and not just the illness, sessions like this massively bridge that gap. Year 3 medical student, Dundee
Listening to their stories first hand allowed me an invaluable experience, understanding, and a level of empathy that I do not feel I would have achieved otherwise. Year 2 medical student, St Andrews
This is such a valuable session, addiction + recovery is going to be a huge part of our career no matter what field of medicine we end up working in (especially in Glasgow) and I’ve always felt education around addiction is very lacking in the curriculum. Year 5 medical student, Glasgow
The following film provides insight into what the sessions look like and how valuable people find them.
The Conversation Café format developed by Humanising Healthcare is an innovative and very enjoyable way of educating medical students about addiction and recovery. It strengthens relationships between academic institutions and the communities they are part of, reduces stigma and helps students understand the complexities of the people they will be caring for once they become doctors.
Humanising Healthcare has been approached by medical schools in other parts of the UK, Europe and even as far afield as Australia, as there seems to be an appetite to adopt this learning experience widely in undergraduate medical education. In addition, it is recognised that such experience would be useful for other disciplines, such as nursing, social work and pharmacy students as well as in postgraduate training.
Humanising Healthcare is working to develop a training package to support the widespread development and provision of Conversation Cafés. If you work within a medical school and are interested in setting Conversation Cafés up in your institution, please get in touch with us via email (humanisinghealthcare@gmail.com).
Written by Dr Seonaid Anderson, Consultant Addictions Psychiatrist, Angus Integrated Drug & Alcohol Recovery Service.
All IAS Blogposts are published with the permission of the author. The views expressed are solely the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute of Alcohol Studies.