Every year Strathcona Mental Health Team hosts a series of lectures related to mental health and addictions issues in Vancouver. I have attached a 1-page brochure. Please circulate, post, and spread the word about this event. We usually get excellent participation and this is an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with some of the experts in the field. The lectures are designed to be accessible to the general public as well as to professionals. The series is free and no RSVP is necessary.
Thank you,
Stephen
Mental Health Week Lecture Series
Tuesday, May 6th to Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Strathcona Mental Health Team
330 Heatley Avenue
All talks are free and open to everyone. Please come and bring your friends, family, colleagues, and people you meet on the walk over here. All talks include interactive discussion on issues related to mental health and addictions for people living in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
May 6, ’08, 9:00-12:00. “Borderline Personality Disorder for the Everyday Worker,”
Alex Chapman, Ph.D., associate professor of Psychology at S.F.U. and co-author of The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide. Things are constantly changing on how we perceive and treat this disorder. Dr. Chapman has conducted numerous workshops on BPD and has done post-doctoral work with Marsha Linehan.. He has done in-depth research on emotional regulation, self-harm and suicidal behavior and is the President of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Centre of Vancouver. Come and hear the latest on prognosis, treatment, and research on this disorder.
May 6, ’08, 1:00-4:00. “Heroin, Cocaine, and Amphetamine Substitution Pharmacology.”
Dr. Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, Research Scientist, CHEOS, Dr. David March, Vancouver Coastal Health, and Donald MacPherson, City of Vancouver. Vancouver’s illicit drug problem make the local papers virtually very day. At its most pessimistic, it seems like nothing can be done. However, there are people devoting a great deal of time trying to understand and to develop solutions for these problems. Come and hear the philosophical underpinnings and the research findings of substitution trials and programs worldwide, and what they might portend for the Vancouver scene.
May 7, ’08, 9:00-12:00. “Alone in the Woods Without the Bread-Crumb Trail: Mental Health Housing and the Circuitous Paths to Other Neighborhoods.” Allyson Muir, Vancouver Coastal Health, and Dominic Flanagan, B.C. Housing. It has long been an observation, maybe even a criticism, of Vancouver that many of the services have been “ghettoized” to the Downtown Eastside. Come and hear Allyson and Dominic describe the efforts being made in Mental Health Housing to address this situation and to bring a continuum of housing to Vancouver City at large.
May 7, ’08, 1:00-4:00. “Community Court, the Urgent Response Team and the 100 Bed Facility: Implications for Re-institutionalization, Enforced Treatment, or Just Good Old Problem Solving?” Judge Gove, Denise Bradshaw, Urgent Response Team, and Lorna Howes, Vancouver Community Mental Health Services. There has been much speculation and prognosticating about this new form of service delivery. Come and get the latest information from the planners of this exciting new service.
May 8, ’08, 9:00-12:00. “Far Away Pastures are Always Greener: A Comparison/Contrast of San Francisco’s Tenderloin and Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.” Dr. Tim Sinclair, Strathcona Mental Health Team, and Dr. Bill MacEwan, St. Paul’s Hospital. It is part of the mythos of alcohol and addiction programs that things are always better elsewhere-Scandinavian Countries, Amsterdam, or small agrarian countries with few urban centres. Come and hear the thoughts of two psychiatrists who work in the inner city of two very different cities, both of which have their model programs and staggering challenges.
May 8, ’08, 1:00-4:00. “Community Capacity Building: What Do Mental Health Services Have to Give Back to the Community?” Stephen Epp, O.T. Strathcona Mental Health Team and James Ash, Rain City Housing. Neighborhoods are usually concerned about the burden mental health services in their area will bring. But what can services give back? Stephen and James will look at some initiatives where the mental health community has given back tangible services to their local neighborhoods, and what a difference this makes in the great dialectical debate between stigma and xenophobia.