News

Dear BCAPOP team, 

I wanted to share the resources that the Reproductive Infectious Diseases Team at UBC recently developed to promote knowledge of syphilis in pregnancy and the general importance of prenatal care. There is a public-facing resource, a Linktree to learn more about syphilis, and a short report for providers about the current situation in BC.

• Syphilis-Resource-Nov-2024.pdf

• Linktree - Syphilis Resource List

• Brief-Syphilis-Report-British-Columbia-Nov-2024.pdf

We would like to acknowledge the incredible contributions of our collaborators from the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, and, our artist, Lise Gillies. 

We would love it if these could be shared through your networks or on any of your platforms. We are also happy to print and ship these to any folks who express interest.

Please let me know if there is anything else you need from us to make this happen!

Thank you so much.

Warmly,

Roisin Delaney

Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator

Reproductive Infectious Diseases

BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre

E: roisin.delaney@cw.bc.ca / www.whri.org

BCAPOP was awarded $100,000 from the Community Prosperity Fund to increase its capacity between September 2024 and August 2026 in preparation to operate a bed-based program in Kamloops for perinatal people who have used substances and their infants. This bed-based program will ensure Kamloops participants remain in the community, strengthen the parent-baby attachment, and stabilize the dyad with proven evidence-based, best practice approaches. The outcomes will be reduced child removals that result from a lack of access to a safe and supervised bed-based program, increased capacity of parents to safely care for their children while simultaneously addressing their substance use.

If you are a local professional, helping peer, community member or person with lived/living experience with perinatal substance use and you are interested in finding out more about the Next Steps Project, then please complete this expression of interest to attend one of our community consultations in the spring of 2025.  Once the event details are solidified, you will receive an invite to register.  This expression of interest does not signify a commitment to engage or attend this event.    

Our Board of Directors and team could not be more grateful to the Community Prosperity Fund, BC Interior Community Foundation and the Province of British Columbia for investing in our organization, our community and most importantly, their investment in improving the outcomes for perinatal people and their infants.

Expression of Interest: EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: Next Steps Project Community Consultation (Live/In-Person/Kamloops/Spring 2025)

This knowledge exchange’s purpose is to bring leadership together from bed-based programs from across BC to share the knowledge and wisdom that can improve the experience of current and future participants who access existing and new bed-based programs. The knowledge exchange will serve as a platform for bed-based programs in BC to share knowledge and get feedback on new ideas in hopes of making the work more efficient, avoid reinventing the wheel and creating a support system for leadership that otherwise tends to work in isolation.

BCAPOP is looking for 5-10 representatives (one/program) from BC community, bed-based programs that serve pregnant, postpartum and/or newly parenting people who have used substances and their infants to join this Knowledge Exchange from October 2024-August 2026.  Meetings will take place quarterly.  Please review the Terms of Reference and if interested, submit your application by Tuesday, October 1, 2024.  

Please contact Heather Cameron, Executive Director (heather@bcapop.ca) if you have any questions regarding this network or application. 

Application Link:  https://forms.office.com/r/cByWW2PtK1

BCAPOP and the Next Steps Project gratefully acknowledge the support of the Province of British Columbia.

BCAPOP is grateful to have been selected as a recipient of the Community Prosperity Fund in August of 2024 and for the financial support of the Province of British Columbia to move forward on our “Next Steps Project”.   

BCAPOP was awarded $100,000 and the funding will increase the capacity of BCAPOP over the next two years to operate a bed-based program in Kamloops for perinatal people who use/have used substances and their infants. Currently, no comparable program in Kamloops/surrounding areas exist; the closest program is in Kelowna. This program will ensure Kamloops participants remain in the community, strengthen the parent-baby attachment, and stabilize the dyad with proven evidence-based, best practice approaches. The outcomes will be reduced child removals that result from a lack of access to a safe and supervised bed-based programming, increased capacity of parents to safely care for their children while simultaneously addressing their substance use.

If you are interested in keeping up with the developments of the Next Steps Project, including updates, call for committee members, partners & volunteers, please be sure to subscribe to our Snapshot E-News: BCAPOP - Mailing List . 

Our Board of Directors and team could not be more grateful to the Community Prosperity Fund, BC Interior Community Foundation and the Province of British Columbia for investing in our organization, our community and most importantly, their investment in improving the outcomes for perinatal people and their infants.

We are pleased to announce a new time limited project, which includes establishing BCAPOP's Provincial Perinatal Substance Use Peer Network.

This network’s purpose is to bring together helping peers with lived and/or living experience with perinatal substance use (PSU) from across BC to collaborate to improve the engagement experience of current and future helping peers. 

BCAPOP is seeking 5-10 helping peers with living/lived experience to join this network from October 2024- March 31, 2025.  Please review the Terms of Reference and if interested, submit your application by Friday, October 4th, 2024. 

Application Link: Application of interest: BCAPOP's Provincial Perinatal Substance Use Peer Support Network

If you have any questions regarding the application or BCAPOP's Provincial PSU Peer Network, please reach out to Andrea Grady, Project Manager at andrea@bcapop.ca. Thank you for your interest in this worthwhile project!