We Are IH: East Kootenay social worker inspired by her team

March 9, 2023

Fiona on Hopeful Trail near Invermere, B.C.

Name: Fiona Bradford (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Social work professional practice leader
Years of Service: 6
Worksite: East Kootenay Regional Hospital
Community: East Kootenay region – between Invermere, Kimberley, and Cranbrook
Ancestral Territory: I live and work between the Ktunaxa and Secwepemc territories
Favourite Quote / Advice to live by: We generally regret the things we didn’t take a chance on in life, rather than the things we did.

As a forester turned social worker, ultra-marathoner and team leader, Fiona Bradford brings her full focus and passion into everything she does in life.

For Fiona, social work was an intentional career choice. She originally completed a forestry degree and worked in the B.C. forest industry. Says Fiona, “I was a forester before GPS was invented, and I admit that my directional skills were not very good. I spent a lot of time looking at upside-down maps and wondering where my truck was parked!” After eight years in that profession, she realized that her heart was more suited to a people-focused career, and returned to university to pursue a bachelor and then master degree in social work.

When she and her husband decided to raise their three kids in Invermere, Fiona started a private practice, which she ran as a sole practitioner for 10 years. She then realized she wanted to work toward systemic change within a team of social workers, which led her to Interior Health. At IH, Fiona has had several different roles: she’s worked in mental health counselling; renal social work; on the regional mental health and substance use team; and now works as a professional practice leader out of the East Kootenay Regional Hospital.

In this Story…

Learn more about her journey with IH

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Learn more about her journey with IH

Woman standing in front of mountains and a lake, smiling, with sunglasses on her head. — Fiona hiking on Mount Swansea in Invermere.

In her current role, she supports the professional practice of all of the social workers in health care in the East Kootenays; everything from debriefing difficult situations and providing clinical guidance and support, to ensuring her team is taking care of themselves and practicing healthy work-life balance. Fiona loves her role as a mentor and leader, but emphasizes peer-to-peer connection and support. She’s proud of the work her team has accomplished together.

The team is amazing individually and collectively. Every single person on the team has something that they’re really good at… from palliative care and end-of-life to pediatric mental health presentations. What I find is that each person shines, and they connect and support.

-- Fiona Bradford (she/her/hers)

Fiona lives and breathes the East Kootenay lifestyle, and loves to spend her free time on mountain trails. She discovered trail running around 10 years ago, and hasn’t stopped exploring since! Currently training for the Sinister 7 Ultra 80 km trail run in Crowsnest Pass in July, Fiona is an avid early-morning runner. Says Fiona, “Some of my most awe-inspiring life moments have been watching the sunrise emerge along the mountain tops.”

In the summer, you can catch her hiking up Kimberley’s ski hill for a sunrise, or running her favourite route, the amazing Rockwall Trail in Kootenay National Park - a 55 km run – often with her chocolate lab Harry in tow. She even once ran from the Kimberley ski hill to the East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook (30+ km!) before work one day. Says Fiona, “It took me three hours and I left in the dark with my headlamp and arrived in my sunglasses. I had great endorphins until about 2 p.m., when I just wanted to nap on the floor of my office!”

Three women standing next to each other. The first (left) is wearing black and has short, blonde hair. The second (center) has brown hair, bangs, and is wearing glasses, and the third (right) wears a yellow turtleneck and has brown hair. — Fiona (right) with her colleagues Jamie (left) and Genesta (center) at East Kootenay Regional Hospital.

Fiona is passionate about supporting the work of a whole team of amazing social workers, and is “so proud of the heartfelt, passionate and complex work that social workers in health care do.” She’s particularly excited about the work she’s done to be able to expand social work positions in the East Kootenays so that every single hospital and medical clinic will have access to a social worker, and looks forward to finding new social workers to join her amazing team.