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** August 2019 News & Notes
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** Here's what's going on at CAI
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* Welcoming our new Community Grants Manager
* We're hiring!
* Impact Corner - Ridge Meadows Community Action Team
* Five Questions with Emily Jenkins
* Community Updates & Learning Opportunities
* What's Caught Our Attention

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** Welcoming our new Community Grants Manager
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CAI is pleased to introduce Darcie Bennett!

Darcie joined CAI in July 2019 and hit the ground running in her new role as the Community Grants Manger. Darcie will be managing $10 million in grants for the Community Counselling Grants initiative. These grants aim to support community organizations to increase their counselling capacity.

Since completing her PhD in sociology at UBC, Darcie has worked at the intersection of non-profit management, legal advocacy, and social science research. In 2006, Darcie joined Pivot Legal Society as a community-based researcher and went on to hold several positions including Child Welfare Campaigner, Campaigns Director, and Interim Executive Director. She also spent two years as Director of Marketing and Communications for Ecojustice Canada. In 2018, Darcie completed a graduate certificate in executive coaching from Royal Roads University. Darcie is also mom to three young people.

Welcome to the team, Darcie!
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** We're hiring!
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We continue to grow! CAI is seeking a Community Grants Manager. This position's role is to manage and facilitate two mid-sized projects: a province-wide training bursary program and community of practice for a subsection of the community-based mental health and substance use sector; and a harm reduction granting stream in partnership with the Overdose Emergency Response Centre.

This portfolio includes the implementation, management and administration of approximately $2M million in grants/bursaries in addition to supporting training, evaluation and knowledge exchange activities.

For more information and to apply, visit our website ([link removed]) .
Deadline to apply is Friday, August 30th.
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** Impact Corner - Ridge Meadows Community Action Team
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As part of the provincial government’s response to the overdose crisis, BC communities most impacted are receiving support from Community Action Teams (CAT) with dedicated funding from the Overdose Emergency Response Centre (OERC) managed in partnership with CAI.
CATs include representation from municipal governments, first responders, front-line community agencies, people with lived experience, local health authorities and Indigenous groups and Nations.

These teams work to identify the most effective overdose prevention interventions for their communities, while also sharing lessons learned with the CAI and the OERC in order to spread innovation that works to save lives.
Ridge Meadows Overdose Community Action Team is leading Ridge Meadows Hospital's Compassion Campaign and Peer Advisor Project. The campaign engages community members and service providers in dialogue to reduce stigma, increase compassion, and develop a better understanding of the complexities of individuals who experience homelessness and also have mental health and substance use issues. This project provides the first opportunity of it's kind for front line health care providers to receive training directly from people with lived and living experience.

Other initiatives led by the Ridge Meadows CAT include:
• Leading a coffee van pilot project in partnership with Starbucks as a novel way to reduce stigma and disseminate information about local services. The van attends work sites and places where youth gather to provide free coffee and water and share information related to overdose prevention and education.
• Ridge Meadows CAT is delivering pop-up outreach, empowering people with lived and living experience to deliver overdose awareness and response training at local events and venues.
• A community forum “Partners in Resilience Gathering Strength ([link removed]) ”, which brought together people who use drugs, friends and family members, first responders and other service providers – essentially, "everyone and anyone who wants to build a community response". This forum included interactive panels on a range of topics such as drug policy, harm reduction, advocacy and provided a place to honour lives lost in the crisis. A legacy project is currently underway to focus on culturally safe healing practices with residents at Anita Place Camp.
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** Five Questions with Emily Jenkins
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Mental health challenges are the leading health issue facing youth in Canada, yet most youth in need of mental health supports are not being reached. To address this gap, CAI is supporting a multi-sectoral project let by Dr. Emily Jenkins (PhD, MPH, RN) at UBC. This partnership aims to explore how youth aged 15-30 can be meaningfully engaged in the public policy process towards the development of relevant and responsive policy to promote improved mental health and substance use outcomes among themselves and their peers.

We caught up with Emily to ask her five questions related to the Youth Mental Health Project.

To learn more about the Youth Mental Health Project and to read Emily's answers, visit our blog! ([link removed])

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** Community Updates & Learning Opportunities
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Near and Far: the Harm Reduction Landscape in the Interior
On September 18th, Cheryl Dowden, Executive Director of ANKORS, will be hosting a webinar in partnership with Pacific AIDS Network focusing on the harm reduction landscape in the BC Interior. This webinar will cover not only the ideas for new directions in harm reduction, but also how ANKOR’s services are provided over great geographic distances, supporting people long distance, and ideas for anyone who is working with small teams in large areas.

This includes information on:
* Harm reduction services and gaps in the Interior
* Working in large service-delivery areas
* Building trust-based relationships with people who use drugs
* ANKORS programs and resources

Date: Wednesday, September 18th, 2019 - 10:00 am
For more information and to register, visit the Pacific AIDS Network website. ([link removed])
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CMHA BC Division - Community Talks
Canadian Mental Health Association BC is hosting a series of free community talks in the Interior and the North about stress in the face of natural disasters. These talks are aimed at helping people build resilience and find ways to safeguard and manage their mental health in the face of stressors associated with extreme weather and natural disasters.

The community talks will take place in 25 communities in the Interior and Northern British Columbia between July and October 2019. These events will focus on normalizing the experience of stress and anxiety due to wildfires, smoky skies and flooding and on helping local citizens connect and talk about their experiences coping with the mental health impacts of actual or anticipated events. The talks will also help them learn how to support family members, including children and youth.
To learn more about event locations and dates, visit the CMHA website ([link removed]) .
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International Overdose Awareness Day

August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day - a day that aims to raise awareness of overdose, the impact of overdose in our communities and to remember those who have been lost. It is also an opportunity to stimulate discussion about evidence-based overdose prevention and drug policy.

There are a number of events taking place across British Columbia on August 31st.

Visit the Overdose Day website to find an event near you ([link removed]) .
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** What's Caught Our Attention
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Check out what's caught our attention in August 2019!
Visit our blog section on our new website to access videos, articles, books and other media related to the Mental Health and Substance Use sector.

This month's entry includes International Overdose Awareness Day actions, Pivot Legal's "Know Your Rights: A guide for people who rely on public space" and more!

Read the blog here. ([link removed])

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