We hope you have all rung in the new year feeling hopeful and looking forward to all the new adventures 2023 will bring! Our next meeting will be Thursday, January 12th from 5:15-6:45 via Zoom. We are very excited to welcome Heather Cameron, Executive Director at BC Association of Pregnancy Outreach Programs. Heather, is a Registered Nurse with a Perinatal Specialty Certificate who has been working with pregnant people in a variety of settings since 2005.  Her experience includes creating grass-roots programs, public speaking, and spearheading community events. As a Registered Nurse, Heather has worked in multiple settings including withdrawal management, labour & delivery, and maternity.  Heather has a proven track record of being able to bring communities together with her experience organizing conferences, creating grass-roots programs and influencing system changes at the local level.  Two projects that Heather is most proud of included a peer-based recovery support group for birth parents affected by substance use and “Health Pregnancy Care Meetings” that supported perinatal people as early as possible in their pregnancy to overcome identified barriers prior to delivery.  Heather may be most well-known for her delivery of workshops on Supporting Birth Parents and Families Who Use Substances, presented through multiple conferences in BC, Alberta and featured in the World Harm Reduction Conference in England.  Her volunteer involvement on a variety of committees including Make Children First, Perinatal Connections, Raise-a Reader, and S.W.A.T. (Sex Workers Accessing Treatment) has influenced Heather’s knowledge base and ability to create impactful change within communities.  Heather’s experience, passion and credentials all contribute to her drive to support BC Association of Pregnancy Outreach Programs as Executive Director. We are looking forward to the wealth of knowledge, experience and perspective she will bring to our conversation next Thursday! If you have any questions, or if you’re an active member and would like a link to the Zoom meeting, please contact...

Happy Fall Members and Friends! We would like to remind you of our upcoming meeting on Thursday, November 10th, starting at 5:15pm – 6:45pm. We are so happy to welcome Dr. Angela Low, Provincial Lead for Early Years Health and Wellness at Child Health BC, who is overseeing the development and implementation of Feelings First, a provincial program to promote social and emotional development in the early years. She also works alongside other health promotion programs for young children. Angela will speak to upcoming opportunities to get involved in this project, talk about a few resources she can offer you that may be of interest to you. She will allow time for Q&A. Angela is also an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include emotional processes behind learning (particularly the discrete emotions of shame and guilt) and social and emotional development in children and parents. If you are a current member, you should receive an email with a Zoom link early next week. Please contact aris@develop.bc.ca for any inquiries. Looking forward to learning together! *UPDATE – this meeting has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. As we traditionally break in December, we look forward to our next regular meeting in the New...

 For our October meeting, we will have WCAIMH executive committee member, Simone Starr (OT), discuss Jordan’s Principle (what is it, how to access it, etc). We are looking forward to diving into this conversation with everyone! Here are the meeting details: Topic: October 2022 WCAIMH Meeting: Simone Starr (OT) presents on Jordan’s Principle Time: Oct 13, 2022 05:15 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) For the Zoom link, please contact Amy Ris at...

Hello to our members and friends! It has been a few months since we’ve updated our posts on here due to some technical issues. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. The kinks are now ironed out! If you are an active member, you should be receiving email updates from us. If not, please email aris@develop.bc.ca. Below is an announcement of our next meeting and some updates since our last post in March. We hope you have had a wonderful summer. I’m pleased to share a reminder of our upcoming meeting in September. To kick off the “new year” of meetings, we will start in September with a Meet-and-Greet with members along with an introduction to WCAIMH, and with getting feedback about some of the topics we want to explore together as a community this fall and new year, along with who in our community can share the knowledge that they have with us as a group! I am so looking forward to connecting with you all again. Our first meeting back will be, Thursday, September 8th from 5:15 – 6:45pm. Please email aris@develop.bc.ca for the Zoom link. Looking forward to reconnecting with everyone! Updates since March: At our March meeting, we discussed how we could best support the children and families affected by the war in Ukraine. It was collectively decided to donate $400 of WCAIMH’s funds to Save The Children Canada, directly supporting children in Ukraine, including providing: winter kits of warm clothing and blankets, cash transfers and voucher assistance to purchase food, medicine and other essentials, counseling support and child-friendly spaces, water, sanitation and hygiene programs, access to primary healthcare, and education. We took a ‘pause’ in April for member meetings, with the executive team focusing energy on planning an outdoor social/networking event for members in May. The social was such a blast! As a member, you can look forward to more social events with other like-minded professionals in the months to come. Our 2021/2022 year came to a close with a final Lunch & Learn, and our AGM in June. Our new 2022/2023 executive team for the new 2022/2023 year was chosen, and topics for the upcoming year were discussed. It was a wonderful way to end the year. We look forward to reconnecting with you...