Oceanside Community Action Team and the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) will hold a community forum at the Bayside Oceanfront Resort on Oct. 6 to discuss opportunities and challenges in the local substance use system of care.
Members of the Parksville community are invited to join and share their perspectives on what is — and is not — working within the substance use system of care and provide insights on how best to respond, according to a news release by BCCSU.
The forum will also include a panel discussion featuring local service providers on regional service supports across the substance use system of care, as well as a keynote talk by Dr. Ray Baker, addiction medicine physician.
Baker spent 12 years in rural family medicine practice and 30 years in addiction medicine, serving as a medical educator, consultant in occupational addiction and medico-legal expert. He retired from clinical practice to focus on recovery medicine.
Baker developed and directed UBC’s undergraduate Addiction Medicine program, for which he received teaching awards from UBC and the Association of Medical Colleges of Canada.
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In 2019, he served as an expert consultant to Alberta’s Mental Health and Addiction Advisory Committee as Alberta Health shifted toward a Recovery Oriented System of Care. He has developed a Canadian Recovery Coach training curriculum currently being implemented by several organizations in educating several hundred recovery coaches.
Baker is a person in long-term recovery from addiction.
The forum begins at 10 a.m., with registration and light refreshments starting at 9:30 a.m. The event includes a catered lunch and door prizes. It runs until 3:30 p.m.
All attendees must pre-register online.
Contact Ashley Cole at ashley.cole@bccsu.ubc.ca if you require further assistance.
— NEWS Staff, submitted