Dinner Basket Conversations have been hosted on Selkirk College campuses for the past six years in an effort to gather information from students about substance use patterns and mental health challenges. These conversations have been observed to have a therapeutic effect on both the participants and the facilitators, and demonstrate the potential to shift values, cultural understandings and viewpoints. The Changing the Culture of Substance Use (CCSU) Community of Practice was interested in knowing whether the Dinner Basket Conversations were instrumental in changing culture.
As such, the Most Significant Change Story evaluative technique was adapted to a research instrument so the results could be published. After a number of stories were collected, they were reviewed by two committees: one comprised of students and another comprised of administrative staff at Selkirk College. See which story was Most Significant and why…