Steering Committee Minutes (for Wednesday, January 31, 2018)

Below are the minutes from CRHESI’s last Steering Committee meet (Wednesday, January 31), as well as additional documentation:

Do you have updates or reports on projects or initiatives that should be shared around the CRHESI Steering Committee table at an upcoming meeting? Please get in touch with co-coordinator James Shelley at jshelley@crhesi.ca

Community Events Investigating Drug Policy in Canada

Over the next two Mondays, Curious Public at Central Library is hosting community events — including a student debate — on issues surrounding drug policy in Canada.

January 22: Panel Discussion

First, a panel discussion featuring leading experts on drug policy, public health, and intervention strategies. We’ll dig into the complexities and controversies of how we legislate and control drugs of all kinds in Canada. Monday, January 22, 2018, 7:00 pm at Central Library (Second Floor). See full event details.

Tara Bruno is an Associate Professor in Sociology at King’s University College. Her research interests include addictions, mental health, criminology, homelessness, youth and families, and research methods. Tara’s new book, The Drug Paradox: An Introduction to the Sociology of Psychoactive Substances in Canada, will be released in the Summer of 2018.

Christopher Mackie (@Healthmac) is the Medical Officer of Health for Middlesex-London and is the Chief Executive Officer of the Middlesex-London Health Unit. He previously served as the Associate Medical Officer Health for the City of Hamilton for four years. Dr. Mackie has published peer-reviewed papers and abstracts on a number of public health related issues, including vaccination policy, emergency planning, environmental health and child and youth mental health.

Ana Ning is an Associate Professor in Sociology at King’s University College. Her research includes addiction treatment and harm reduction interventions, as well as the integration of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) in mainstream healthcare. She also studies traditional Chinese medicine and issues of evidence-based medicine model.

Robert Solomon is on the Faculty of Law at Western University, where he holds the rank of Distinguished University Professor. He has been engaged in research on alcohol and drug policy, and tort, criminal and health law for over 45 years and has published widely in these areas. He has served as the National Director of Legal Policy for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD Canada) for 20 years and has frequently appeared as an expert before various Parliamentary Committees.

January 29: Public Debate

Second, a public debate featuring students from the UWO Debate Society. Monday, January 29, 2018, 7:00 pm, at Central Library (Second Floor). The motion: the Canadian government has not done its due diligence in responding to the opioid crisis. See full event details.

Questions? Email hello@curiouspublic.com

Happy Holidays from CRHESI

On behalf of the whole team here at the Centre for Research on Health Equity and Social Inclusion, we just want to wish you a wonderful holiday with friends and family. We look forward the projects, discussions, collaborations, and partnerships ahead in 2018. (As always, if we here in the CRHESI network can support your work towards equity and inclusion, we’d love to learn more about your efforts. Perhaps we should start off 2018 with a coffee? Please get in touch with us anytime.)

MHCC Webinar on Stakeholder Engagement and KT

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), in collaboration with the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), have created the Knowledge Exchange Collaborative as a joint initiative that brings together people in the fields of mental health and substance use and addiction in order to learn more about knowledge exchange.

As part of this collaborative, the MHCC and CCSA will be hosting a series of webinars to highlight and discuss key issues related to knowledge exchange. This first webinar will explore approaches to engaging stakeholders, an important part of knowledge exchange to effectively move research into policy and practice.

Join the first Knowledge Exchange Collaborative webinar on Tues. December 19, 12 to 1 pm ET.

Speakers are:
Eugenia Canas
Coordinator, Centre for Research on Health Equity and Social Inclusion

Liz Wigfull
Manager, Knowledge Exchange, Mental Health Commission of Canada

Laurence Caron
Project leader and instructor, Anti-stigma Initiative, Association québécoise pour la réadaptation psychosociale

Register here.

Click here for more MHCC webinars.

Let’s continue to make London a Trauma- and Violence-Informed Community

CRHESI and community members convened on November 15 for a collaborative symposium about trauma- and violence-informed care (TVIC) in our community. The discussion reviewed activities currently in progress and explored potential for collaboration moving forward.

Read the follow-up one-pager report of the event.

Presenters included:
Margaret MacPherson, who presented on the possibilities and characteristics of a trauma and violence informed community, including ongoing work by the Southwest Region Coordinating committee.

Susan McPhail, of CMHA and My Sisters’ Place, shared on-the-ground experiences and organizational lessons from MSP’s process of becoming trauma- and violence-informed.

Marilyn Ford-Gilboe and Nadine Wathen, both from Western University, shared current tools and lessons learned from EQUIP trainings. They also discussed the role of TVIC in broader Equity-Oriented Healthcare.

Based on this community conversation, important actions moving forward are:
1. To share what we know about trauma- and violence-informed care
2. To map out what different organizations and individuals are already doing, or need to do towards TVIC
3. To build capacity, commitments and evaluation of TVIC training and initiatives

This event was co-hosted by Centre for Research on Health Equity and Social Inclusion (CRHESI) and the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children (CREVAWC).

If you were unable to join us on Nov. 15, but are interested in joining this community of interest, please email us at info@crhesi.ca to be notified of further events and news. A compilation of resources for Trauma- and Violence-Informed Care is available at crhesi.ca/resources/tvic.