beginnings
I grew up in Ottawa, Canada and went to University of Toronto in 1977 for undergraduate studies in English literature, then biochemistry. I attended medical school at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1982.
Following family medicine residency in 1987, I began part-time clinical work in occupational health at a community health centre in Toronto, while undertaking a Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, and resideincy in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, at McMaster
…more about my career
At the time of the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990 and the impending Persian Gulf War, medical classmate Dr Eric Hoskins and I joined an short-lived international non-violent peace protest, that took up humanitarian relief efforts during the conflict. The collaborations led to formation of the International Study Team’s assessment of post-war Iraq, for which I was field supervisor in a landmark study in public health war epidemiology, of national mortality, that found a near quadrupling of child under five mortaility
…more about Iraq
¸Support for such initiatives at McMaster University led to formation of the Health and War Program, that undertook the 4-country Health of Children in War Zones Project at McMaster University 1993-1996. websiteI
I led the Sri Lankan project team. that studied the psychological effects on children in ethnic communities (Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim) that had experienced communal violence and massacres, a study of 308 schoolchildren studied across eight affected communities, child mental health survey research in Sri Lanka . The model of ‘health initiative as peace initiative’ included a second phase responsive to the identified needs.
more about McMaster University
The Health Reach Report was published in Sri Lanka and distributed to government health and NGOs. https://lifestoryboard.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/HCWZ-SriLanka_report-1996.pdf
The envisioned second phase of project work of the Health to Peace approach brought on board Paul Hogan, a Toronto artist and creative founder of an outdoor art and play based Spiral Garden in Toronto https://hollandbloorview.ca/stories-news-events/news/celebrating-40-years-creativity-spiral-garden
A small community based organization was established in 1996 to provide a ‘zone of peace’ with a holistic creative arts experience ethnically mixed groups of local children. The Butterfly Peace Garden in Batticaloa, Eastern Sri Lanka psychosocial programming in a complex conflict and natural disaster setting. serving a network of 20 schools providing children with difficulties at school or home (orphaned, trauma, neglect, poverty). …more about the Butterfly Peace Garden
Looking for a better way to interview War Affected Children
On the last day of the field survey work in Batticaloa, I trialed with some of the children a ‘genogram board game’, I devised played on a sheet with cards for household members and markers for death, departure and displacement events as an alternative interview process . The activity was engaging, drawing out much information in a narrative flow that was less hampered by the sequence of items in administering a questionnaire.
For an early evaluation of the BPG, he adapted the genogram into a visual tactile activity, on a painted canvas mat for a child to talk about their life experience and time at the BPG .
Healing and Reconciliation for War-Affected Children and Communities: “Learning from the Butterfly Garden of Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province“, PDF (Presented at International Conference on War Affected Children, Winnipeg, CANADA, Sept. 2000) [2000 REF].
the Butterfly Peace Garden, in Batticaloa in 1995 to provide site-based play program for affected children through a network of schools in both ethnic communities in the district.
Paul Hogan’s pioneering work with the model was recognized in 2003 by the Ashoka Foundation https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/fellow/paul-hogan
Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University, Canada http:/ /www .humanities.mcmaster
.ca/peace-health
Helping Paul Hogan develop the program came with the stipulation not to use questionnaires and psychological checklists, they were inimical to the creative expressive process of the program. As part of an early evaluation project, an activity called the Amma Appa Journey (Mother Father Journey) using a genogram-based activity of painted canvas, with which to depict their family, present and past, using cards and markers in a guided enquiry into life and circumstances (Figure 4). The typic al session took one to two hours with a closing process to honor feelings and evoked memories. The primary intent was for comfortable expression came through the creative activity.
Twenty children baseline and follow up sessions in the included home and teacher interviews, and reported as a case series
Winnipeg
in 1997 i moved to Winnipeg to take up position as assistant professor in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba in the Dept the Community of Health Health Sciences, now in 2025, College of Community and Global Health, and as occupational health physician at the MFL Occupational Health Centre.
early Life Story Board field work,
At University of Manitoba, exploratory work with colleagues Linda Diffey and Rachel Eni situated the collaboration in the context of indigenous health and historical impacts. Demonstration workshops, sharing the Sri Lanka project with mature social work students involved in child welfare on reserve were very informative. …more, photos
War Child Canada field test in Northern Uganda, stipulating that the sessions involve multiple children as one to one sessions were not practicable given the numbers. UPLOAD study report. consolidated grant application in gender based violence was unsuccessful in funding. Chip Pouch Collection
Around this time, I was encouraged to considering its value in the North American context, e.g. therapists, counsellors and school settings.
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Over years and other pilots, the activity evolved into the Life Story Board [2008 REF], as a tool in qualitative research and in counselling and therapeutic applications.
Linda Diffey contributed her graphic design to the Life Story Board in the emerging Life Story Board
Winnig School Division study PHOTO- publication
2010 Life Story Board toolkit was designed and I started a small company to produce a tool kit for (e.g. therapists, qualitative researchers and …more about Vidaview Info Systems
As physician, my clinical work in occupational health at a community health centre has brought me into contact with newcomer workers, who have recently immigrated to Canada through different pathways, many of whom experience precarity in their employment in food processing industries. On occasion I have used LSB to interview some of my patients, and in a few research projects …more about LSB in Occupational Settings
situate LSB methods in qualitative research, and the range of methodologies, approaches, disciplines