RN, MN, MPN; Clinical Informatics Specialist, Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA)
Presenting on: Tuesday October 19 (workshop)
Session Title: Meeting Patients Where They Are At: Strategies for Nurse Driven Harm Reduction Interventions in Inpatient Mental Health Settings
Session description: This workshop will be co-facilitated by two board members of the national Harm Reduction Nurses Association. This workshop explores the history of harm reduction in hospital settings, principles of harm reduction, how it works, and how it can be applied to the inpatient mental health setting. Participants will learn practical strategies for working with individuals and families within a harm reduction framework and how these strategies align with evidenced-based practice for inpatient mental health. This training will also explore participants currently knowledge, values, and beliefs about harm reduction and strategize ways that these concepts can be used in policy, procedure, and practice
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the historical and social contexts out of which harm reduction emerged and how harm reduction fits into an international human rights agenda.
2. Understand harm reduction models of intervention and their applications in inpatient settings.
3. Reflect on challenges and strategies to overcome integrating HR in inpatient MH settings
Presenting on: Wednesday October 20 (breakout)
Session Title: Hearing Our Voices: Nurses Speaking Out About De-Centering Whiteness in Health Care
Session description: With its undeniable impact on individual health, racism is currently and always has been a public health crisis. While British Columbia is already in the midst of two public health crises, the impact of systemic racism is a crisis in its own right and one that disproportionately dictates who is most severely impacted by the poisoned drug supply and COVID-19 public health crises. These health crises are examples of syndemics. This current moment continues to illuminate the critical areas of work we still have to do as nurses to ensure that we are creating inclusive spaces and health care systems not only for the Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities serve, but also for the people who work within those systems.
Learning Objectives:
1.Share a process
2.Demonstrate and example of nurse activism
3.Encourage anti-racist discussion
Speaker Biography: Michelle Danda is a nurse and PhD nursing student at the University of Alberta. Over her 13-year career she has practised in mental health and substance use in both Calgary and the Lower Mainland. Her nursing practice is guided by social justice, patient empowerment and compassionate care. Her research focus is on the history of mental health nursing in B.C. and intersections of caring and coercive practice.
Claire Pitcher (co-presenter)
MSN, RN(c); Integration and Access Lead, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH)
Claire Pitcher MSN, RN(c) is a Registered Nurse who works in the area of child and youth mental health and substance use.