Bringing Community Experts to the Classroom: Donna Maidment’s Correction and Penology Class

Donna Maidment is trying something different this year with her third year Corrections and Penology Class. Partnering with The Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy Committee, Maidment is engaging her students through an exciting series of community sessions on the Four Pillars Drug Strategy. The sessions have also been opened up to select faculty, graduate students, and community members.

Taking place over a series of Monday evenings throughout October and November, the sessions bring together multiple representatives—from Police Services, the Crown Attorney’s Office, Public Health, the AIDS Committee, and the Guelph Community Health Centre, to name a few. People with lived experience of drug addiction are also represented on the panels. The opening presentation, given by Raechelle Devereaux, Manager of the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy Committee, provided an overview of the Committees current projects, local successes, and future directions.

Devereaux, who has been involved with the committee since its inception in 2006, stresses that “addiction is a complex issue, and is one that touches each and every one of us.  The 4 pillars drug strategy model is one that recognizes this complexity, realizing that no one sector can respond to drug use in isolation. By integrating each of the pillars in our approach– Enforcement and Justice, Treatment, Harm Reduction and Prevention - we can reduce the impacts of substance misuse in Guelph and Wellington County.” Devereaux is thrilled to be developing links with the University to support in furthering this important work.

In addition to the panels in Maidment’s class, the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy Committee and CSAHS (ICES/ The Research Shop) is engaging several Research Shop interns in rapid response research on Housing First models, the Omnibus Bill, and evidence-based harm reduction strategies, more generally.

 

A full list of speakers is detailed below.

The Enforcement Panel

  •  Deputy Chief of Police, Bryan Larkin, Guelph Police Services The provincial drug strategy from an enforcement perspective, and the approaches that Guelph Police Services is taking locally to respond to illicit drug use;
  • Inspector Garry Male, Guelph Police Services (panel lead) The role of undercover policing locally and provincially. Policies in place that impact undercover work. Personal experience in the undercover role;
  •  Pamela Borghesan, Provincial Crown Attorney’s OfficeGuelph Auxiliary crime linked to drug use – rates, and impacts on the community/justice system.
  •  Lynette Fritzley, Provincial Crown Attorney’s Office Kitchener Drug Treatment Courts – The approach, their outcomes, Kitchener’s experience.
The Prevention Panel
  • Ernesto Marzoa, Concurrent Disorders Program, Guelph CHC Ernesto, who practiced as a physician in Cuba, and who now works with some of the most vulnerable individuals in our community at the Guelph CHC, will speak about the “reverse optic of damage,” describing how we can learn about more effective prevention by having a greater awareness of what causes the harm to the clients that are in the recovery process.
  •  Lindsay Klassen, System Coordinator, Waterloo Wellington Addiction and Mental Health Network, previous Coordinator with the WGDS (panel lead) The role of evidence-based prevention in reducing substance use among youth, with a focus on the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy’s efforts to expand evidence-based prevention programs
  •  Inspector Scott Smith, Wellington County OPP The role of effectivecrime prevention, and the Wellington County OPP’s efforts to engage the community in prevention efforts.
  •  Amy Gray, Youth Engagement Coordinator, Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health Meaningful engagement of youth in prevention programs – the evidence and benefits of peer led models.
The Harm Reduction Panel
  • Adam Rutherford, City of Guelph What is Harm Reduction? What are the myths, what is the truth?
  •  Tom Hammond, Executive Director, AIDS Committee of Guelph and Wellington County Harm Reduction services locally and provincially- What services are provided, who funds these programs, and how are they administrated?
  • Estera Brudek, Social Services Support Worker, Sanguen Health Centre Harm reduction and Hepatitis C – How does a harm reduction philosophy engage people in accessing support? Why is this important? 
  • Michael Matte, Lived Experience Panel Member Peers and Harm Reduction – What is the peer outreach program? How do individuals with lived experience connect with those in need of support?
The Treatment Panel
  • Heather Kerr, Executive Director, Stonehenge Therapeutic Community An overview of therapeutic communities, and the Stonehenge treatment model;
  • Stonehenge Resident A lived experience perspective on the role of treatment, how they came to Stonehenge and their experience in the program;
  • Christy Kolb, Portage Ontario Youth Treatment  An overview of the Portage treatment model for youth;
  • Portage Resident A lived experience perspective on the role of treatment for youth, how they came to Portage and their experience in the program.