HOLDING HOPE CONFERENCE: SUPPORTING A LOVED ONE, SUPPORTING EACH OTHER
HOLDING HOPE CONFERENCE:
SUPPORTING A LOVED ONE, SUPPORTING EACH OTHER
April 20-21, 2023
Please join BC Stronger Together (Moms Stop the Harm) for a virtual “Holding Hope Conference - Supporting A Loved One, Supporting Each Other “ on Thursday, April 20th & Friday, April 21st, 2023.
This conference is for anyone who has a loved one living with problematic substance use. Families, friends, supporters and professionals are invited to attend this important conference with knowledgeable speakers sharing a wealth of information about boundaries, anticipatory grief, communication skills and more.
THURSDAY, APRIL 20
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM PST
Opening Welcome
Leslie McBain, Co Founder - Moms Stop the Harm
Land Acknowledgement, Elder, Doreen Peter
9:15 AM - 10:45 AM PST
Keynote Speaker - Dr. Bach
”The Forever Emergency: Finding Optimism in a Dark Time”
BREAK
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM PST
John Koop Harder
”Understanding our relationship with anticipatory grief as we support a loved one who uses substances”
FRIDAY, APRIL 21
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM PST
Opening Welcome
Land Acknowledgement, Norman Leech
9:15 AM - 10:45 AM PST
Amie Anderson (Amie Anderson Counselling)
“Emotion Focused Family Therapy and Setting Boundaries”
10:50 AM - 12:00 PM PST
Alison Gear & Amir
“Welcome to Foundry”
BREAK
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM PST
Garth Mullins
“Necropolitics and the Overdose Crisis”
LESLIE MCBAIN
Leslie McBain lost her only child, Jordan Miller, to a drug overdose in 2014. He was just 25 years old. Jordan became addicted to the pain medication Oxcycodone when it was prescribed by his family doctor after a back injury on a job site. Jordan was just starting his life, had his own business, had friends and community. His death shook their family and friends to the core. Soon after Jordan's death Leslie became an advocate for more compassionate, evidenced based drug policies. She co-founded Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH) in 2016. Leslie is the Family Engagement lead for the British Columbia Center on Substance Use (BCCSU). Leslie sits on several B.C. provincial and federal committees dedicated to changing drug policies. She attended, as a member of the Canadian Delegation, the United Nations annual Commission on Narcotic Drugs 2018 in March. Leslie sees ending the failed war on drugs as the overarching solution to the overdose epidemic. Jordan Millier, age 25, died from an accidental overdose on February 4, 2014.
DOREEN PETER
Doreen is the Mother of four, Grandmother of thirteen and Great-Grandmother to three. Doreen is surrounded by much love in her family. Doreen is a retired Community Health worker after working for 31 years and is from the Cowichan Tribes. Doreen continues working with Harm Reduction and Substance use/abuse and participates in Mom's Stop the Harm (MSTH) advocacy initiatives. Doreen also works with other committee's in the area of prenatal and postnatal wellness. She sits as an Elder advisor on many different committee's. "It is an honor and pleasure to be able to participate in all the educational work going on for community wellness."
PAXTON BACH
Paxton Bach MD, MSc, FRCPC, FASAM is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a general internist and addiction medicine physician at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC. He additionally serves as the Co-Medical Director for the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use and is the Director of the BCCSU Clinical Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program.
Beyond his clinical and educational roles, Dr. Bach conducts research in the area of opioid and stimulant use disorders, with a focus on epidemiologic trends and on the development of evidence-based treatment strategies. He is a Michael Smith Health Research BC Health Professional-Investigator and is involved in a number of ongoing research collaborations within Canada and the United States.
Dr. Bach is certified as a specialist in General Internal Medicine through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and an Addiction Medicine specialist through the International Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Board of Preventative Medicine.
JOHN KOOP HARDER
Much of John’s career has centred on working with people dealing with crisis and trauma. While he has a diverse practice, he has particular interest and specialized experience in working with families and individuals impacted by grief, addictions, mental health and/or violence, post-war trauma recovery, gender/sexuality issues and sexual abuse recovery.
John’s work is also informed by his international experiences working with individuals and communities impacted by civil war and ethnic conflicts in Colombia, Albania and Northern Ireland. John also has a lot of experience working with and learning from Indigenous communities in Canada’s North. Much of his learning about the dynamics of intergenerational trauma and resilience has been informed by his experiences in these contexts.
John approaches his practice from a strengths-based perspective. His approach to both therapy and training assumes that people are their own best experts and already have many of the skills, abilities and competencies that will assist them to address the challenges influencing their lives.
John is a Registered Social Worker and holds a Masters of Social Work from the University of Manitoba.
NORM LEECH
Executive Director, Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre (VACPC), IFOT Practitioner.
The VACPC serves the 70,000 urban Indigenous people in Vancouver who are over-represented in virtually every negative social health indicator measured. Programs include MMIWG, overdose prevention, homelessness, youth at risk, education, training, outreach, trauma, food security, etc.
Norm speaks on the Indigenous experience and trauma due to colonization. He grew up in East Vancouver, with ancestry in the T’it’q’et community of the St’at’imc nation where he has served as Chief and then Administrator. He draws on his experiences as a recovering alcoholic/ addict, inter-generational survivor, and spiritual explorer to inform his current work. Other past experience includes President and Executive Director of the First Nations Technology Council, School Board Trustee SD74, and current roles include; Aboriginal Front Door Society President and Metro Vancouver Aboriginal Executive Council Co-Chair, among others.
Norm worked with the National Centre for First Nations Governance developing Indigenous governance models. He facilitates the Indigenous cultural sessions for Police Academy and Sheriffs Academy at the Justice Institute. He teaches Indigenous Tools For Living (ITFL) across Canada and online. ITFL is built upon Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy (IFOT), which is an Indigenous, body-centred and land-based approach to trauma.
AMIE ANDERSON
Amie Anderson is a Registered Social Worker and Registered Clinical Counsellor holding a Masters Degree from UBC. She has been supporting individuals and families struggling with mental health and addiction challenges for over 15 years in Vancouver (the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musquem and Tsleil-Waututh Nations). Amie is passionate about working with caregivers to improve relationships and increase capacity in supporting their loved ones. Through her various roles, Amie provides therapy to individuals from all walks of life from Downtown Eastside residents to university students to health care professionals. She sees youth at Foundry Vancouver Granville, runs a private practice at Amie Anderson Counselling and has recently taken a role providing clinical supervision at Peak House Treatment Centre for youth. Her specialties include trauma, substance use, family therapy, suicidality and self-harm. Amie grew up in East Vancouver, is a solo-parent of two teen boys, partner to a New Zealander and in her downtime can often be found running, hiking or riding in the North Shore Mountains.
GARTH MULLINS
Garth Mullins is an old school dope fiend, drug user activist and award-winning radio documentarian. He is host and executive producer of the Crackdown Podcast where drug users cover the drug war as war correspondents. He is also an organizer with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, trade union activist and musician in local band Low Dead Space. Photo by @faerie_gothfather
ALISON GEAR
Alison Gear is a parent with living experience. She became involved in Foundry through her work on a community action team in Victoria focusing on improving substance use support services for young people. She is passionate about supporting families through the substance use journey. Alison has worked as a Family Peer Supporter at Foundry Victoria and currently works as a Family Peer Supporter at Foundry Penticton. She is also on staff at Foundry Central Office as a Family Peer Engagement Coordinator.
AMIR
Amir is a youth peer support worker at Foundry Virtual, a provincial organization in BC focused on youth mental health. He is a graduate of UBC with a bachelor’s of science in cognitive systems where he focused on cognition and the brain. He is a peer researcher at Crest.BD based out of UBC studying a wide array of psychosocial topics related to individuals with Bipolar Disorder. He is an individual with lived experience with Bipolar II, ADHD and Anxiety. He is a strong believer of lived expertise as a wealth of knowledge and empathy.