About the Authors

Highs & Lows: Canadian Perspectives on Women and Substance Use

Nadya Ahmad, BA, BSc, MHA. The Canadian Addiction Survey gender analysis formed part of Nadya’s Master of Health Administration residency placement with the Office of Research and Surveillance (ORS), Drug Strategy and Controlled Products Program, Health Canada. She has co-published with the Ottawa Health Research Institute for qualitative research in health policy and on Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. Nadya received her BA in psychology and BSc in biology from Queen’s University. She currently works for Health Canada.

Shaughney Aston, BA, BEd, MEd, PhD candidate, is a clinician, lecturer, program developer and researcher in the addictions field, with a special interest in rural women’s issues. Her previous experience includes developing the addiction counselling program for Labrador Community College and graduate courses for the MEd counselling program at Acadia University, and operating a private clinical practice. She currently works as a co-ordinator of women’s addiction services and a part-time university lecturer in rural Nova Scotia. Her doctoral research explores women’s narratives of addiction, gender and rurality, and, in particular, their experiences with addictions in rural Nova Scotia.

Sharon Bernards, BA, MA, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Guelph and her master’s in economics from the University of Western Ontario. She is a research associate at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in London, Ontario, where she works in the areas of alcohol and violence, and is engaged in cross-national research relating to gender and alcohol.

Nancy Bradley, BA, is executive director of the Jean Tweed Centre in Toronto. Over the 18 years she has been at the Centre, she has witnessed many changes, both at the system level and in program planning and delivery of services for women with substance use concerns and their families. Developing services for children of the mothers attending the Centre and having child care on-site is one of the most important and significant additions to the Centre over the last 10 years.

Catrina G. Brown, MA, MSW, PhD, is an assistant professor at the School of Social Work at Dalhousie University, cross-appointed to the Gender and Women’s Studies and Nursing departments. She is also a feminist psychotherapist in private practice with a focus on “eating disorders.” She is the co-editor with Karin Jasper of Consuming Passions: Feminist Approaches to Eating Disorders and Weight Preoccupation, and with Tod Augusta-Scott of Narrative Therapy: Making Meaning, Making Lives. She conducts research in the areas of women, “eating disorders,” body image, trauma and sexual abuse, depression, sex-trade work and alcohol use problems.

Krista E. Brown, BA, is research co-ordinator at the St. Paul’s Hospital Eating Disorders Program in Vancouver. Her primary areas of research interest are motivation for change and the impact of social support on the development of and recovery from eating disorders. In addition to research, Krista regularly facilitates outpatient education groups at St. Paul’s for adult women with eating disorders, and has also facilitated numerous community-based support groups for women in the greater Vancouver area.

Jane Buxton, MBBS, MHSc, FRCPC, is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia. She trained and worked as a family physician in the U.K. and completed her MHSc and community medicine training at UBC. She directs the Community Medicine Residency Program and works at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. Dr. Buxton writes the Vancouver drug-use epidemiology report, co-organized the B.C. methamphetamine environmental scan in 2002 and chairs the provincial harm reduction committee. Her research interests include working with women and youth in custody, and prevention, harm reduction and surveillance of problematic substance use.

Marilyn Callahan, PhD, MSW, is a retired professor from the University of Victoria, where she taught at the School of Social Work for many years. Her ongoing research and writing has focused on social policy, with particular attention to child welfare and substance use. She has been an active participant in many community and national organizations dealing with topics including women’s services and city planning. She is presently the chair of aids Vancouver Island and an active researcher with two child welfare projects underway: one on fathers and the other on the use of risk assessment.

Cathy Chabot, MA, holds a degree in anthropology from Simon Fraser University. She has qualitative research expertise in the areas of mental health, substance use, social inequality and gender studies. She currently works as a youth sexual health researcher in the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia.

Monika Chappell is a community-based researcher and an Aboriginal lesbian with multiple disabilities. She is a forestry technologist who learned from the ground up how to conduct research into the lives of women with disabilities. Since 1993 she has been active as a grassroots researcher with the DisAbled Women’s Network Canada (DAWN Canada), a national, non-profit, cross-disability organization of women with disabilities in Canada. She is currently co-ordinator for Pacific DAWN, DAWN Canada’s B.C. and Yukon affiliate, and runs a consulting business from her home.

Janelle Comeau, BA, BSW, MSW, RSW, is currently co-ordinator of the Bachelor of Social Work program at Université Sainte-Anne (offered in partnership with Laurentian University). She has spent most of her professional life working in rural bilingual communities in south-western Nova Scotia, as part of a child welfare team and as part of a women’s addiction services team. Janelle’s research and practice interests lie in the areas of gender, culture, language and rurality.

Carolynne Cooper, BA, BSW, MSW, RSW, has been a therapist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for the past 18 years. Over this time, she has developed extensive experience conducting group and individual counselling. Carolynne has also gained expertise in working with a range of populations, including older adults, women, couples and family members of CAMH clients. Her therapeutic modalities include motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioural, problem-solving, solution-focused narrative and crisis approaches. Carolynne is currently involved in a research project that examines the use of narrative therapy in groups of older adults.

Christine M.A. Courbasson, PhD, C. Psych., is head of the Eating Disorders and Addiction Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She is on faculty at the University of Toronto. She is involved in training clinicians to treat concurrent eating disorders, addiction and social anxiety. Dr. Courbasson has received many awards, is the author of a number of scientific articles and book chapters, and has lectured on a variety of topics related to her clinical and research interests.

Janet C. Currie, MSW, has been the director of a social policy and research company in Victoria for over 20 years and has directed many national and provincial studies on health, including addiction and related subjects. She has written extensively on the use of psychotropic drugs and their risks, on safe withdrawal and on the marketing strategies of pharmaceutical companies. Janet is active in several national organizations (including Pharmawatch and the Benzodiazepine Awareness Network) dedicated to improving consumer education about psychotropic drugs and increasing the reporting of adverse drug reactions. She also works closely with patients to design safe and effective drug tapering protocols.

Colleen Anne Dell, PhD, is research chair in substance abuse at the University of Saskatchewan and a senior research associate at the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. She is the principal investigator on a community-based three-year project, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, that examines the role of self-identity in the healing journeys of Aboriginal women with problematic substance use. Other projects she is involved in include research with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba on women’s and girls’ self-harm, and with the Youth Solvent Addiction Committee on youth treatment.

Andrée Demers, PhD, is a full professor in the Department of Sociology, and director of the Health and Prevention Social Research Group (GRASP), at the Université de Montréal. Professor Demers is a former president of the Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol. Her research focuses on social determinants of addiction and mental health, especially on work environment and gender inequalities.

Karen Devries, BSc, PhD candidate, has been actively involved in women’s and youth health research for several years. With the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, she has collaborated in the development of a best practices guide on smoking cessation for pregnant women, and is involved in several projects on gender, cultural identity and tobacco use among Aboriginal adolescent girls. Supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, she is currently completing her PhD studies at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in England, on the sexual health of Canadian Aboriginal youth.

Sheila Dick, BEd, is a member of the northern Secwepemc Nation in B.C. She has completed all graduate courses in an education counselling degree (except the final project) and has a degree in education from the University of British Columbia. Her involvement in the helping field, including her own personal growth and healing, began in 1997 and includes working with women’s bridging programs, and with survivors of sexual abuse, interpersonal violence and addictions; and researching the intersection of hiv and violence in rural B.C. A counsellor and family violence worker, Sheila is interested in studying the interconnection between addiction and trauma.

Farzana Doctor, MSW, RSW, is a therapist, writer, trainer and consultant in private practice who specializes in working with individuals and couples dealing with sexual orientation, gender identity, substance use and other issues. From 1998 to 2004, she was a therapist and manager at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where she provided leadership to a program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual (LGBTT) people. Ms. Doctor has co-authored books and book chapters on working with LGBTT people with substance use concerns and on counselling lesbian and bisexual women of colour.

Jennifer Efting co-ordinated the VANDU women’s group from 2004 to 2005. She is a founding organizer of the Vancouver Bus Riders Union and the Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice, where she fights to expand the rights of working class and marginalized people, particularly women. Jennifer currently works at the Hospital Employees’ Union.

Patricia G. Erickson, PhD is a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and a professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Toronto, where she was formerly director of the Collaborative Program in Addiction Studies. Her PhD in criminology and social administration was awarded by the University of Glasgow, Scotland. As well has having written about 90 articles and chapters in the scientific literature, she is the author or editor of 10 books and monographs. Her areas of specialization are youth, gender, violence and drug policy.

Cathy Fillmore, PhD, is an associate professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Winnipeg, where she teaches courses in criminology and the sociology of law. Her research involves participatory community-oriented projects that focus on social justice for marginalized and disenfranchised groups, particularly criminalized women who self-harm. Her current research on self-harm involves a collaboration with Winnipeg’s Crossing Communities Art Project that investigates the potential of art-making for personal healing, for creating a public dialogue and for promoting opportunities for social and economic development.

Margaret Flower, RN, RSSW, was formerly clinical co-ordinator, Addictions, in the Geriatric Psychiatry program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Her areas of specialization include seniors, dual diagnosis, cultural diversity and harm reduction. She has contributed to several publications, including Choosing to Change and Alcohol & Drug Problems: A Practical Guide for Counsellors (both published by CAMH) and Addiction Treatment for Older Adults (Hawthorn Press). Margaret presents nationally and internationally at conferences on older adults with mental health and substance use problems. In her work with clients, she uses a wide base of therapeutic modalities, including brief, motivational, narrative and cognitive-behavioural approaches.

April Furlong, MA, received her degree in occupational therapy from the University of Southern California in 2000. During her work as a research analyst with Correctional Service Canada’s Addictions Research Centre, she managed the interim evaluation of the Women Offender Substance Abuse Program. She currently works for the British Columbia Health Services Authority.

Janine Gates, BA, is the founder and principal of Gates Consulting Inc., an Ontario firm that specializes in planning and development for not-for-profit organizations in the addiction and mental health sectors. During more than 20 years of experience in the women’s addiction treatment system, she has served in a wide variety of roles, including clinical work, program management, curriculum development, evaluation and policy development. She has recently conducted a provincial review of Ontario’s addiction treatment services for women, using the tool described in her chapter in this book.

Josie Geller, PhD, R.Psych., is director of research at the St. Paul’s Hospital Eating Disorders Program in Vancouver and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia. She is the recipient of a Senior Scholar Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research for her work on applications of readiness and motivation models to the assessment and treatment of people with eating disorders.

Sally Gose, MSW, is direct services manager at the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre in Victoria, B.C. She supports a team of counsellors who provide survivors of sexual trauma with crisis response and longer-term individual and group counselling, based on an integrated feminist and trauma theory. Sally has worked for over 20 years toward ending violence against women through her clinical work, creating and strengthening community partnerships, and informing research and policy.

Kathryn Graham, PhD, is a senior scientist and head of Social Factors and Prevention Interventions at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Her current research focuses on the role of alcohol in aggressive behaviour, the social context of aggression, gender differences in the relationship between alcohol and aggression, and cross-national comparisons related to alcohol and partner aggression; it includes the development and evaluation of the Safer Bars intervention to reduce aggression in licensed premises. In 2002, Dr. Graham received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for her contributions to applying research knowledge to community interventions.

Brian Grant, PhD, has been director of Correctional Service Canada’s Addictions Research Centre since the Centre was established in November 1999. The Centre, located in Montague, Prince Edward Island, is responsible for all research and program development in the areas of addiction and substance abuse within Correctional Service Canada. Current research and development activities include a new substance abuse program for women offenders, development of new assessment instruments, and program research in the areas of community interventions, methadone maintenance treatment, institutional environments and urinalysis.

Cindy Hardy, PhD, R.Psych., is a faculty member in the Psychology Program at the University of Northern British Columbia. Her research focuses on the role of relationships in health and well-being, and on access to mental health services in rural and northern communities. Dr. Hardy also provides psychological services to children and families. She is the UNBC site director for the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia.

Sandi Harmer, ECEC, IAC, a pioneer in prevention for both women and children, has worked in the addiction field as a counsellor, researcher and prevention specialist for 27 years. She is the author of two training manuals, Women Juggling Roles: Skills for Change and The Children’s Drug Abuse Prevention Program. She is also a well-known speaker and trainer at a national and international level. Sandi has taught at community colleges and has been a contributor to numerous publications about women and addiction. She holds honours diplomas in both early childhood education (ECEC) and addiction counselling (IAC).

Lucy Hume, MSW, has worked in the fields of mental health, justice and addiction for more than 20 years. She has extensive experience with both provincial and federal levels of government in policy, operations and program development, as well as substance abuse programming in the community. During her work as an associate director at Correctional Service Canada’s Addictions Research Centre, she managed the development of the national Women Offender Substance Abuse Program. Lucy is currently the director of clinical services at the Jean Tweed Centre in Toronto.

Natasha Jategaonkar, MSc, has been working as a project manager with the Framework Convention Alliance since November 2006, monitoring the implementation of the international Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in countries around the world. For three years she conducted community-based research as tobacco research co-ordinator for the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health. She is co-editor of the international report Turning a New Leaf: Women, Tobacco, and the Future. Natasha’s background is in community health and epidemiology, and she has a broad interest in the social factors that influence health.

Linda Jennings, MEd, RCC, SEP, is a counsellor at the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre in Victoria, where she works with women individually and in groups. She holds a master of education degree in counselling psychology, and is a registered clinical counsellor and a somatic experiencing practitioner. Linda has a particular interest in the effects of trauma, including the ways it presents in the body and its correlations with substance use.

Shimi K. Kang, BSc, MD, FRCPC, completed psychiatry training at the University of British Columbia and a fellowship in addiction psychiatry at Harvard University. She is director of the Provincial Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Program B.C. Children’s Hospital. She is a consulting psychiatrist to the B.C. Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Program, where she sees women with concurrent mental health and substance use disorders in pregnancy and postpartum. Dr. Kang is also a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, where she conducts research and teaches on mental health and addiction.

Charlotte Sophia Kasl, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert on addiction. She is author of eight books, including Women, Sex, and Addiction; Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the Twelve Steps; Yes, You Can! A Guide to Empowerment Groups; Finding Joy; and the “Buddha” series: If the Buddha Dated, If the Buddha Married and If the Buddha Got Stuck. She lectures and leads workshops in the United States and elsewhere on addiction, empowerment, relationships, dating, and healing from posttraumatic stress and internalized oppression. She has been a psychotherapist for 30 years, and lives in an octagonal house near Missoula, Montana.

Barb Keith, BA, BSW, MSW, has worked as a clinical practitioner in the addiction field for 15 years, specializing in women and substance use. She lived in northern B.C. for 20 years prior to relocating to the Lower Mainland in 2004. She was involved, as the clinical supervisor for addictions, in the initiation and development of Vancouver Coastal Health’s Aboriginal Wellness Program.

Katharine King, MA, is a doctoral candidate in sociology at York University and a research co-ordinator at CAMH. Her research interests include street-involved youth, gender, and feminist qualitative methodology.

Corinne V. Koehn, PhD, R.Psych., is a faculty member at the College of Arts, Social and Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia. Her research and professional interests focus on co-occurring substance use and depression, substance use treatment, women’s mental health issues and counsellor education. She has extensive experience in counselling women and men on addiction issues. She has taught university- and college-level courses on substance use.

Margaret Leslie, DipCS, C.Psych.Assoc., is director of early intervention Programs at the Canadian Mothercraft Society. Ms. Leslie’s work at Mothercraft over the past 20 years has been in prevention and early intervention services for families and young children living in conditions of risk, through the Mothercraft Parent-Infant Program and the Breaking the Cycle Program. For her work at Breaking the Cycle, Ms. Leslie has received the Kaiser Foundation’s 2006 National Harm Reduction Award for Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use Programming.

Gail Malmo, MA, MSW, is program director at the Aurora Centre, located at B.C. Women’s Hospital & Health Centre in Vancouver. She has held this position for 15 years. Gail has over 20 years’ experience in providing services to women and girls, including work with the Elizabeth Fry Society, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada and the Saskatoon Mental Health Centre. She has also been a lecturer in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Regina, and a tutorial leader for the “Doctor, Patient and Society” course in the Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia.

Lucy McCullough, BSc, has worked since 2003 as a research assistant and project manager in the tobacco research program at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health. Most recently, Lucy has been involved in a multi-method study exploring changes in the substance use and stress levels of women moving through B.C.’s transition houses, and a better practices review of the impact of tobacco control policies on vulnerable populations. Lucy is currently taking a master’s degree in counselling psychology at the University of Toronto.

Lori Naylor, BSc, RSW, RelPsych (Dip), gained her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Toronto. She also holds a diploma in trauma counselling, and completed graduate psychotherapy training at the Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapy. Since 1999, Lori has worked as an addiction therapist at the Breakaway Satellite Clinic, a downtown Toronto treatment resource for people with opioid addiction. She also has a private practice with a special interest in trauma and addiction.

Alice Ordean, MD, CCFP, MHSc, is medical director of the Toronto Centre for Substance Use in Pregnancy at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, and an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Ordean is a principal investigator in numerous research projects, including the development of educational tools and better practice recommendations relating to substance use in pregnancy.

Pamela Patterson has, since 1979, incorporated several styles of yoga and healing to support the women who participate in treatment at the Aurora Centre in Vancouver. She has recently begun passing on this synthesis to other yoga teachers who are interested in working with women with substance use problems. Pam also has a private healing practice and gives workshops in the community.

Sarah Payne, RN, MA, is a senior practice leader at B.C. Women’s Hospital in Vancouver. She has a master’s degree in midwifery, and previously worked as a midwife at Sheway, an outreach program in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for pregnant women who use substances. She was instrumental in the program development and design of the Fir Square Combined Care Unit at B.C. Women’s.

Debbie Pearce, MA, has been involved in health, mental health and social programs for over 30 years as a counsellor, educator, program manager and researcher. Her research endeavours have included work on benzodiazepine use, inhalant use, older women and substance use, and tobacco policy. Recently, she has written for the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health policy series on the need for gender and diversity analysis with respect to Aboriginal tobacco use. She currently works for the Vancouver Island Health Authority in the area of child and youth mental health.

Nancy Pearson is a provincial government employee and writer who is deeply concerned about the effect drugs and addictions are having on young people, families and her community. She was awarded a YMCA-YWCA of Greater Victoria Women of Distinction Award for her communications work with the Crystal Meth Victoria Society.

Ann Pederson, MSc, has worked in health promotion for 25 years and is currently manager of research and policy at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (BCCEWH). She is co-editor of the book Health Promotion in Canada: Critical Perspectives. Ann’s work currently focuses on health promotion and health care reform as they relate to girls and women. She also conducts research on physical inactivity. Ann has been the editor of the Centres of Excellence for Women’s Health Research Bulletin since its inception, and provides policy and research support to BCCEWH.

Wendy Reynolds, MSW, is the founder and executive director of Action on Women’s Addictions—Research & Education (AWARE). She is involved with a number of regional, provincial and national organizations that are interested in developing women-sensitive approaches to women’s use of substances. AWARE has developed information for pregnant women about alcohol and other drugs, curricula for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, training manuals for service providers, and a harm reduction program for single mothers with low incomes who smoke. AWARE has also collaborated with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on a smoking cessation program for pregnant women.

Nancy Ross, MSW, has worked in the fields of mental health and addiction in a variety of rural settings over her career. Her professional interests include gathering women’s stories of their experiences with addiction, and women’s addiction–by-prescription issues. Other interests include seeking alternatives to the traditional medical model that encourage women to feel more empowered.

Deborah Rutman, PhD, is an adjunct assistant professor in the Faculty of Human and Social Development at the University of Victoria, and has been senior research associate in UVic’s School of Social Work since 1994. Her recent projects include a research and video production project exploring support issues for parents living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder; a study exploring policy alternatives and community-based responses for pregnant women who use substances; and several studies exploring the experiences of young people who “age out” of foster care.

Amy Salmon, PhD, is a sociologist and the research program co-ordinator for Gender, Women and Addictions at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Community Health Promotion Research. Her research and publications focus on health education and policy about mothering and substance use, social determinants of health for women who use substances, women-centred approaches to harm reduction and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder prevention, and participatory, community-based research methods.

Peter Selby, MBBS, CCFP, MHSc, FASAM, is clinical director of the Addictions Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is an assistant professor in the departments of Family and Community Medicine, Psychiatry and Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto. He helped start a program for pregnant women who use substances at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, which provides both addiction medicine and obstetric care. Dr. Selby continues his clinical research with this population, and is principal investigator of a knowledge translation program (Pregnets) that aims to increase the adoption of evidence-based interventions with pregnant women who smoke.

Kate Shannon, MPH, PhD candidate, is a graduate student at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the University of British Columbia. She is co-investigator/ co-ordinator of a participatory action and interventional research project that focuses on HIV prevention and treatment among women who use substances and who engage in sex work for survival. Her research focuses on the social, structural and environmental context of hiv prevention and access to care among women in survival sex work.

Barb Smith. From 2003 to 2005, on behalf of Prostitutes Empowerment Education and Resource Society (PEERS), Barb Smith led a national project on FASD prevention, taking into account the unique needs of sex workers. The project built on peers’s overall goals for the empowerment, education and support of prostitutes, and engaged service providers working with prostitutes to see their role in improving support to women in the sex trade on addiction issues and related health and social concerns, to reduce the risk of FASD.

Patricia Spittal, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia. She did her PhD and postdoctoral training in medical anthropology and HIV/AIDS in southwestern Uganda. Her research priorities included the special social and cultural vulnerabilities that women face in extremely high-risk contexts, including sex work for survival.

Suja Srikameswaran, PhD, R.Psych., is professional practice leader for psychology at Providence Health Care in Vancouver, and an outpatient psychologist at the St. Paul’s Hospital Eating Disorders Program. She is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia.

Pamela Stewart, MD, CCFP, FRCPC, ASAM, is a staff psychiatrist specializing in women, trauma and addictions in the Concurrent Disorders Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She supervises and trains psychiatric residents in psychotherapy, and teaches dialectical behaviour therapy and trauma therapy modalities in the community. Dr. Stewart is also a lecturer at the University of Toronto. She is an advanced candidate at the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis, where she also teaches fundamentals of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and is a board member.

Sherry H. Stewart, PhD, is professor of psychiatry and psychology at Dalhousie University. She holds an Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for her work on individual differences in motivations for substance misuse. She also holds a Killam Research Professorship from the Faculty of Science at Dalhousie. Dr. Stewart has particular interests in the overlap of mental health and addictive disorders, and the treatment of such concurrent disorders in women. She has published more than 140 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Stewart has an edited book forthcoming on the comorbidity of anxiety and substance use disorders.

Karen Swift, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at York University. She is principal investigator on a project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, called Risk and Risk Assessment in Child Welfare. Dr. Swift is the author of Manufacturing “Bad Mothers”: A Critical Perspective on Child Neglect, and other books, articles and book chapters related to child welfare, social policy and women’s issues. She is currently at work, with Marilyn Callahan, on a book focused on risk assessment in child welfare and other human service professions.

Vicky Thomas is from the Oweekeno/Wuikinuxv Nation in British Columbia. She is project co-ordinator for the Cedar Project in Prince George, B.C. She has worked with at-risk and street-involved youth in Prince George for the past 12 years.

Anita Vaillancourt, BSW/H, MSW, is an adjunct professor in the social work program at the University of Northern British Columbia and is completing her PhD studies in social work at the University of Toronto. For nine years, Anita worked as a clinical practitioner and conducted research in the areas of women’s addictions, family violence, child welfare and social policy. She also taught undergraduate courses in substance abuse, designed community-based substance abuse prevention programs and provided counselling to women with substance dependencies. Her recent research has focused on the experiences of women with addictions in northern B.C.

Lucy Van Wyk, MSW, RSW, formerly served as clinical director of the Jean Tweed Centre in Toronto, where she was responsible for clinical supervision and program development. She developed a specialized treatment program for women with concurrent histories of trauma and substance use. She is currently best practices co-ordinator for the Early Childhood Development Addictions Initiative. She provides clinical consultation for Breaking the Cycle, a program for women who are involved with alcohol or other drugs, and are pregnant or have young children. In her private practice she provides counselling for individuals and families, and consultation services for individuals and organizations.

Colleen Varcoe, RN, MEd, MSN, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on women’s health, with emphasis on violence against women and its intersections with substance use, poverty and racism; and on the culture of health care, with emphasis on ethical practice. Her recent research includes a participatory study on rural maternity care for Aboriginal women. She is currently co-principal investigator of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Emerging Team on violence against women.

Sydney M. Weaver, MSW, RSW, has worked in child welfare and addiction services for over 15 years. Currently she is a clinical researcher with impart and the social worker at Fir Square, a harm reduction–model maternity unit at B.C. Women’s Hospital. Sydney also teaches in the Substance Abuse Counselling Program at Vancouver Community College, and has presented her work at numerous conferences in Canada and abroad.

Christine D. Willette, BA, MSW, RSW, is a clinical therapist with Addiction, Prevention and Treatment Services, Capital Health, in Halifax. She works primarily with women. Christine graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1991 and is an acudetox specialist and a practitioner of qi gong.

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