On September 26, 2003, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) and the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health (BCCEWH) formalized an opportunity to enhance their respective roles and effectiveness with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement that brings together the unique strengths of each organization.
Context
It is widely recognized that substance abuse and addictions have a negative impact on the health, and social and economic well-being of women and girls. It is also known that effective partnerships between research and policy groups and non-governmental organizations can contribute to leading-edge research, policies and programs that reduce the harm associated with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and promote women's health and well-being.
CCSA and BCCEWH have pledged to work together in a spirit of cooperation, learning and support to implement practical means of bringing the policy and research fields closer together; sharing data, information, networks and resources; creating and promoting participatory forums for those interested in substance use among women and girls in Canada; supporting and facilitating the exchange of professional staff between CCSA and BCCEWH and their affiliates; and sharing information on issues of mutual interest regarding gender, women, girls and substance use.
Highlights of Activities to Date
- A BCCEWH Associate led a plenary session entitled Partnerships that Move Systems to Improve Women's Health and Prevent FASD at CCSA's 2006 National Summer Institute on Addictions.
- In 2006, CCSA presented at BCCEWH's lunch & learn session at the BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre on the topic of women, girls and self-harm.
- BCCEWH, CCSA and Health Canada are collaborating on a gender-specific analysis of the Canadian Addiction Survey. A report will be published in 2006.
- BCCEWH and CCSA have developed an information resource on Girls, Women and Substance Use. It is intended to be the first in a series.
- BCCEWH and CCSA presented keynote addresses at the 2006 Prevention of FASD: Addressing Pregnancy and Addiction conference in Toronto, Ontario. This conference examined the root causes of women's alcohol use during pregnancy, including addiction and mental health problems, and ways to support women with significant alcohol problems or addictions in pregnancy.
- BCCEWH served as a member of the program committee for CCSA's 2005 national conference, Issues of Substance, and also presented at the conference.
- CCSA is collaborating with BCCEWH on a project entitled Coalescing on Women's Substance Use Issues: Linking Research, Practice and Policy, a three-year national project funded by Health Canada's Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund. The project will bring experts on women and substance use issues together to share knowledge and to develop consensus documents.
- BCCEWH and CCSA presented a joint poster entitled Women-Centred Harm Reduction, Evidence for their Integration at the 17th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm. The poster outlined two women-centred research projects that BCCEWH and CCSA have been involved in that support a harm-reduction approach to women's treatment and healing.
- In collaboration with the Aurora Centre at B.C. Women's Hospital, CCSA and BCCEWH participated in organizing the 2003 National Conference on Women's Substance Use Treatment: Celebrating and Moving Forth. CCSA has also contributed a chapter on a women-centred approach to substance use research as well as one on self-harm to a book that resulted from the conference, to be published by the BCCEWH and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in 2006.
- A BCCEWH Associate participated as a member of CCSA's Advisory Committee on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Information & Consulting Service.
- CCSA and BCCEWH co-authored a chapter entitled Women and Substance Use Problems in the October, 2003, Women's Health Surveillance Report published by the Canadian Institute of Health Information.
- A BCCEWH Associate is an expert reviewer for CCSA's Web page on women.
This agreement expired in September, 2005, and was renewed in November, 2005, for a three-year period. It can be renewed again with the consent of both parties.