Knowledge Exchange and Collaboration
As a provincial resource on women's substance use treatment, Aurora is committed to providing leadership locally, provincially, and nationally on women's substance use issues. Through sharing knowledge, outreach, and collaboration with policy makers, other program providers, and others interested in women's treatment and prevention, we hope to expand our knowledge of women's substance use patterns and treatment needs, and increase our ability to apply this information to our work. We:
- bring together representatives of other agencies and programs to share information on research related to treatment, early intervention, harm reduction and prevention with women. For example, we facilitate quarterly meetings of the Vancouver and Area Women's Addictions Services Providers Network
- work with institutions of higher learning to promote research, training and professional education on women's substance use. For example, we have developed curriculum on women's substance use issues for the Justice Institute of BC’s Substance Use Certificate Program, see: learning.jibc.ca/
- contribute to books on women and substance use issues such as the book entitled Highs and Lows: Canadian Perspectives on Women and Substance Use Issues published by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Ontario, see: http://www.camh.net/Publications/Resources_for_Professionals/Highs_Lows/index.html#top
- work with planning and policy bodies to assist with bringing a gender lens to provincial and national work on substance use issues. For example, we participate in the Provincial Substance Use Network and working groups such as the National Treatment Strategy Working Group sponsored by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, see: http://www.ccsa.ca/Eng/Priorities/Treatment/NationalTreatment/Pages/default.aspx
- collaborate with other BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre programs to identify ways of integrating information and intervention on substance use in their work, and to bring their expertise on women’s health into ours. Together, we work to define and apply women-centred approaches in specialized women's health care
Evaluation and Research
- At the Aurora Centre, we are committed to continuous quality improvement. We conduct ongoing client satisfaction and outcome evaluations for our treatment programming. We value feedback from all clients on the impact of their experience at Aurora both during treatment and in the aftercare period
- We have participated in a number of research studies led by researchers at the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, a recent example is a study on ethical practice in research with women substance user, see: http://www.bccewh.bc.ca/publications-resources/default.htm
Online Resources on Women’s Substance Use
These weblinks may be of interest to those providing treatment on women and substance use issues in BC :
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, Topic: Women http://www.ccsa.ca/Eng/Topics/Populations/Women/Pages/default.aspx
Coalescing on Women’s Substance Use: Linking Research, Practice and Policy http://www.coalescing-vc.org/
Healthy Choices in Pregnancy http://www.hcip-bc.org/
Quit Now smoking cessation program http://www.quitnow.ca/
You and Your Health: A Women’s Guide http://www.bccewh.bc.ca/publications-resources/default.htm
Updated March 31, 2010