Lynne Leonard MA, CQSW, PhD
& Craig Ross MA, BSW
Urban and provincial public health departments and community agencies now have over ten years’ experience with crack pipe distribution as a strategy for harm reduction, prevention of blood borne infections, and community engagement. In this webinar, Winnipeg and Ottawa offered two case examples to consider what we’ve learned about a range of program outcomes, how we measure effectiveness and features of implementation or contexts that may influence results. Lynne Leonard discussed the challenges experienced and lessons learned in implementing and evaluating a safer inhalation program (SIP) in Ottawa and the developments that led to provincial funding of SIPs in Ontario. WRHA’s Craig Ross shared recent evaluation findings from their ‘Street Connections’ program and several questions raised by the findings. The presenters then invited viewers to be part of an open discussion on such issues as challenges of service delivery and cost, the availability of surveillance data, and ethical considerations, among others.
An archived version of this webinar is now available for viewing.
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Presenters
Lynne Leonard MA, CQSW, PhD
Director, HIV and HCV Prevention Research Team, University of Ottawa
A social scientist by training, Dr. Lynne Leonard is the Director of the HIV and HCV Prevention Research Team at the University of Ottawa. Working from a harm reduction perspective, Lynne undertakes social and applied health research to understand the individual and social construction of HIV- and HCV-related risk among people who use drugs and with women at higher risk of HIV and HCV infection in order to affect policy and program change at the community, provincial and national level. As a component of this strategy, Lynne is a member of many national, provincial and local committees and advisory boards focusing on policy and program development to reduce the harm associated with drug use.
Craig Ross MA, BSW
Program Specialist, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
Craig Ross is the Program Specialist with the Healthy Sexuality and Harm Reduction team in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s Population and Public Health department. His responsibilities include research, policy development, evaluation, and special projects, all related to the prevention of sexually-transmitted and blood-borne infections. Craig has a bachelor of social work from McGill University and an MA from York University. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health.