Preceptor of the Year (2024-2025)

“She will not shy away from doing the hard thing if it's the right thing.” - Barry Lyons, Saskatchewan Health Authority Pharmacy Services Director - North

Amy Soubolsky, a BSP graduate of the Class of 2015, is said to navigate her career with clarity in her calling. Barry, a longtime mentor of Amy’s, says that “she’s all in to what she does with an open heart and open mind”. That kind of intrinsic motivation is representative of a strong and salient professional identity that inspires the next generation of pharmacists.

Amy’s expertise in mental health care developed and deepened as one of the pharmacists at Battlefords Union Hospital who established in-person pharmacy services at Saskatchewan Hospital in the late-2010s. She went on to complete a Master of Science (Pharmacy) degree in 2022, focusing on pharmacists’ practices, attitudes, and beliefs in the provision of mental health care. In September 2023, she started a brand-new role with the SHA as a pharmacist clinical specialist in the Mental Health and Addictions Services’ Adult Psych Pooled Referral Program. Soon after starting her new role, she reached out to the EL Office to offer to expose students to this specialty area in Year 4 elective rotations.

Hannah Schlamp completed an elective PHAR 483 rotation with Amy last year, describing her preceptor as “incredibly smart, efficient, and goal driven”. Amy said she was excited to get into precepting right from when she started practicing after graduation. She remembers counting down the months, looking forward to when she became eligible to precept.

With nearly 10 years of precepting behind her, Amy says she still draws on early moments with mentors and teachers who gave her the "initial appetite, intrinsic motivation, and growth mindset". Amy acknowledges the role Barry played in her early career saying, “he was one of the first people for me that opened my eyes to being a better human in my professional world”. She strives to be that kind of mentor for students now. Her aim is to help students “get excited about what a pharmacist can be and do…to know themselves more and be able to lead themselves”.

Hannah appreciated that Amy encouraged her to gain more comfort with discomfort: “[she] challenged me and pushed me to see things from different angles and perspectives”. To Barry, it’s a bit of herself she’s trying to instill in the students. He speaks about Amy’s resiliency with reverence saying, “She does not walk away from the tough situations. She’s resilient, she’s carbon fibred. She will flex, but she won’t break. She’s called to be successful.”.

As Amy works to entrench the indispensable role of the pharmacist in mental health care, she is showing students that they can adapt the Pharmacist’s Patient Care Process and their unique skillset to any practice setting. To Hannah, that makes her an “exceptional role model”. Barry is not surprised by Amy’s nomination because he believes it too; “There’s those people that are special…and [Amy] is very special.”.

Congratulations to Amy on this much-deserved honour!