Shame is both a wound and a bridge in healthcare. It cuts when a clinician makes an error, falters under workload, or feels like an imposter. It also connects providers when a hard truth is spoken aloud and answered with empathy. In this conversation, family physician and Shame Lab co-founder Dr. Will Bynum joins host Kristy Wolfe and cardiologist Dr. Daisy Dulay to explore how medicine’s culture interacts with shame, and why digital storytelling can transform private distress into collective learning. They trace the arc from an adverse event to language, from silence to community, and from pain to practice change. Along the way, they show how shame shapes identity, performance, and patient safety—and how naming it begins to soften its hold.

Digital stories are short, crafted films that blend voiceover, personal images, and intentional editing to capture a meaningful moment. This episode explores how those stories move beyond memorial slideshows and into tools for care, education, and resilience. Angie Turner, a veterinary technician and legacy specialist guides us through her various storytelling practices. The focus is the human need behind the output: to name hard experiences, set boundaries with content warnings, and share purposefully with an audience that matters. In professional settings, that need is often urgent. Students and clinicians struggle with burnout, grief, and isolation; stories surface truth in a way policy memos never will.

Stories are bridges. They carry feeling, context, and meaning across the gaps that data leaves behind. Together with Fabiana Bacchini host of the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation’s Preemie Chats, we explore how digital storytelling turns lived experience from NICU and congenital heart disease into education, advocacy, and healing. Kristy Wolfe, a preemie parent, digital storytelling facilitator, and host of Co-Created shares a deeply personal bedtime ritual that grounds her family’s coping. Simple questions like “What was the best part of your day?” and “What are you grateful for?” become anchors against fear, uncertainty, and the ongoing realities of cardiology appointments and future surgeries. This everyday practice shows how language, curiosity, and presence can shape resilience for caregivers and kids alike.

Two years after sharing her first digital story about parenting a child with congenital heart disease, Jen Siran returns to the podcast having transformed from storyteller to facilitator. Her journey exemplifies the ripple effects that personal narratives can create; from publishing a book to securing grant funding (after multiple attempts) to developing Caregiver's Corner, a resource hub featuring digital stories for heart families across Western Canada.

Our Co-Created conversation features Katlyn Lamont, a newly trained Common Language digital storytelling facilitator who works as a registered psychotherapist with a youth addictions agency. Her journey into digital storytelling began somewhat unexpectedly – she was offered a last-minute spot in a training workshop and found herself reconnecting with her high school media production skills. What's remarkable about Katlyn's experience is how quickly she discovered the transformative potential of this medium, both for herself and her community.

In the latest episode of Co-Created, we delve into the transformative potential of storytelling within the realm of public health communication. Our guest, Becky McCall, a seasoned medical journalist and PhD candidate at University College London, offers a unique perspective on how narratives can reshape the way we understand and address health challenges. From her journey from microbiology to medical journalism, Becky emphasizes the role of digital storytelling in making complex issues, such as antibiotic resistance, more accessible to the public.