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Wellness Supports Accommodations Team

The Wellness Support and Accommodation Team offers support for trainee accommodations, individual wellness services for faculty, referrals to care providers, and guidance to strengthen wellness within program curricula.
Dr. Erika Tanner

Dr. Erika Tanner, Director of Learner Wellness, Faculty Wellness Program

Dr. Erika Tanner, Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, is a practising family physician at the West Ottawa Nepean Family Health Organization. She started practice as a community family physician after graduating from the Family Medicine Residency and a Fellowship in Women’s Health at the University of Ottawa. Along with her practice, Erika has worked in a variety of positions including organizing and running a Women’s Health Clinic at Shepherd’s of Good Hope, organizing a street youth drop-in health clinic at Operation Come Home, practising Inpatient Medicine on the Short Term Rehab Unit of the TOH General, and practising Obstetrics and Inpatient Mental Health at the Queensway Carleton Hospital. Erika also teaches medical students and residents through the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa.

Erika previously worked as a professional classical singer based in Toronto, Ontario, having achieved top honours in an Artist Diploma from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Acadia University. Erika continued singing during medical school at Dalhousie University with the Dal Medical Chorale and Dr. Ron Stewart. She continues to spread her love of Music and Medicine by organizing and running the GAD7s Medical Choir, a group of University of Ottawa medical students and Department of Family Medicine staff and faculty who meet weekly to sing and find wellness. The GAD7s Medical Choir is funded by a grant Erika won at the DFM Dragon’s Den. The choir performs in various concerts each spring to promote Health and Humanities.

In her new role as Director of Learner Wellness PGME, Erika meets with struggling trainees and helps direct them to resources or medical accommodations that help them find success in Residency. Erika was awarded the University of Ottawa Faculty Award in Wellness 2024. Erika is also a member of the Canadian Association of Health Humanities and is helping lead the development of the Creating Spaces conference in Ottawa in 2026. She hopes to bring more humanities-based initiatives as a vehicle for Wellness to the University of Ottawa Faculty and trainees.

Fill Director of Learner Wellness form to book an appointment 

Felicie Young

Felicie Young, Learning Specialist, Faculty Wellness Program

Felicie Young is a student-support professional with extensive experience across both K–12 and post-secondary education systems. She holds a Master of Education degree in Counselling Psychology from Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she cultivated a strong foundation in student-centred and strengths-based approaches to learning and development.

Throughout her career, Felicie has supported a wide range of learners, including autistic students, Indigenous learners, and newcomers to Canada, while living and working in small northern communities as well as in both western and eastern regions of the country. These experiences have informed her practice, which emphasizes fostering resilience, building confidence, and guiding students as they navigate academic challenges.

Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, Felicie worked at Algonquin College in the Centre for Accessible Learning, where she provided individualized support to students with disabilities and collaborated with faculty to promote inclusive teaching practices.

In her current role as a Learning Specialist within the Faculty Wellness Program at the Faculty of Medicine, Felicie integrates her expertise in educational psychology, accessibility, and student support to promote learner well-being and academic success. She is deeply committed to advancing equity in education, with a particular passion for supporting individuals with disabilities to realize their full potential.

Fill Learning Specialist form to book an appointment

Forms

Medical Certificate and Functional Abilities Form:

The Functional Abilities Form (FAF) is used as a tool to facilitate the collection of information of residents or clinical fellows who may require a medical accommodation. The FAF must be completed by the health professional who is treating the trainee and actively involved in their care.

Please return the completed form via LiquidFiles to [email protected] to schedule an appointment with our Director of Learner Wellness, Dr. Erika Tanner.

Medical Certificate and Functional Abilities Form  (PDF 1,340 KB)

Wellness Supports Accommodations Team Services Information

Confidentiality Disclosure:

Accommodations are provided to medical residents who have short term, long term or permanent disability-related needs that impact on their ability to fully participate in their program.  Accommodations are determined based on functional limitations and their impact on the advancement of your academic progress as it relates to the demands of your program.

The Faculty Wellness Program’s Support and Accommodation (FWPSAM) team encourages medical residents to inform their program director if they require accommodations and to engage in a discussion about a potential accommodation plan.  Accommodations are a shared responsibility and a collaboration between the resident, the FWPSAM, the program and the institution.

Your personal information is collected under the authority of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Ontario, the University of Ottawa Act, and used to assess the eligibility of your registration with the FWPSAM Team and for the delivery of the program. (See Student Record Policy 14a.) We also aggregate the personal data of medical residents participating in the FWPSAM program to document summary statistics. Data is grouped and tracked across time, programs and other variables. No individual is identified, and no direct identifiers are provided. 

If you have questions or comments, please contact the Faculty Wellness Program by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 613-562-5211.

For more information about your privacy rights, including access to your personal information, please refer to the University of Ottawa’s Privacy Policy.

Confidentiality

All medical documentation provided to the FWPSAM remains confidential. It is stored in our client management system which is hosted on a secure server. Once accommodations for a medical resident are established, the FWPSAM Team provides a “Confirmation of Accommodation”(CAM) letter to the Program Director. The CAM letter outlines exclusively the accommodations recommended for a medical resident, no diagnosis is disclosed. Registering with the FWPSAM team and or receiving accommodations will not appear on official University of Ottawa documents such as transcripts, letters, or university degrees.


Policy on Non-Disclosure of Disability

The FWPSAM Team will not disclose a medical resident’s diagnosis to a third party unless given express permission from the medical resident to do so or unless disclosure without your consent is permitted under FIPPA. It is generally the medical resident’s choice to disclose their disability or medical condition.


The FWPSAM Team will engage in collaborative discussions with stakeholders closely implicated in the accommodation process. These discussions will focus on the medical resident’s accommodation needs without disclosing their diagnosis.

Limits to Confidentiality

In cases where there is a reasonable and specific indication that a medical resident may pose a threat to themselves or others, the FWPSAM Team has a duty to notify the appropriate services. Information such as the resident’s identity, the nature or cause of a disability, diagnosis, symptoms, treatment plan, or affiliation with FWPSAM is otherwise kept confidential and would not be disclosed without the resident’s explicit consent (verbal, written, or electronic), except where required by law.