Call for Submissions: Special Issue on Community

Fostering community

Practicing whole person care can sometimes feel like a solitary effort — an ongoing commitment to values and aspects of care that are often underappreciated in clinical environments. Over time, this can leave practitioners feeling isolated, uncertain, and exhausted. Fostering community among like-minded individuals can be a vital source of renewal, helping to sustain one’s energy, confidence, and growth. Creating time and space to cultivate meaningful relationships is essential to maintaining and deepening one’s work in whole person care. This special issue of the International Journal of Whole Person Care explores the role of community in the practice, teaching, and scholarship of whole person care.

We want to hear about how community shapes your work in whole person care

We welcome first-person narratives that reflect on what community means to you. We invite you to consider questions such as: 

• In what surprising places have you found (or not found) a sense of community? 
• What nurtures (or thwarts) your sense of community? 
• How do you make time and create space to connect with others? 
• How has your understanding of community evolved over the course of your career?
• How do you grow community around you? 

Submissions are welcomed from clinicians, educators, researchers, and health professionals at all career stages. In the spirit of fostering community within McGill’s unique bilingual environment, both English- and French-language submissions will be considered for this special issue.

Submission guidelines

• Brief paper (up to 3000 words) focused on the theme of community in the context of whole person care.
• Submit via the Commentary stream of IJWPC’s online portal. 
• Please email the Managing Editor (emily.mannard@mcgill.ca) regarding any questions.
• Submission deadline: February 8th, 2026