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Grade 10 students

Tuesday Evan and Rebecca spent several hours with the Grade 10 students at St Michaels. This was a very engaged group and many stayed after to ask questions. Our team fielded more than 20 questions about substance use and how it impacts their brains, their families, thei...
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Adios Albina!

Today Sean had his last day at Albina. Sean is moving into an Outreach role at Umbrella, but has really captured the hearts of the residents and our Our Place partners. They had a little going away shin dig for him. Josh is staying put at Albina and our new Lucy is joi...
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Grade 9 students

After kicking the week off with presentations to the grade 12 students at St Michaels, Evan and Rebecca ended the week with the grade 9 students. There was a lot of differences, not just their age, but the engagement, the questions, the curiosity and more. Some of the fa...
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Recovery Capital Conference

This last week Adriana, Jarret and Louise from Umbrella headed to the 8th annual Recovery Capital Conference in Calgary. The days were full, and the team came back filled with a renewed commitment to the work we do. In addition to the vast learning that took place, thi...
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St Michaels School

Today, Evan and Rebecca presented to the grade 12 students at St Michael University School. There were about 150 students present, as well as a few teachers, and a lot of interest, engagement and questions. Evan and Rebecca stayed after to field some additional question...
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Hep C Education

Today, some of the Umbrella team spent the afternoon learning about HEP C. Daryl Luster, Peer Advocate and Mentor for HEP C based out of Vancouver, joined the team to share about his own journey, misconceptions, stigma, prevention and treatment. The Umbrella staff learn...
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Annual Costco Trip

About once a year Sharlene drags Evan to Costco to do the house shopping. Today Zack was working at the hospital so Evan had to step in and push one of the two carts and follow a carefully crafted grocery list... a big ask. Costco is Evan's least favourite place, and it...
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VNFC Community Fair

Yesterday, Louise from Umbrella manned the table for RAAC (Rapid Access Addictions Clinic) at the Victoria Native Friendship Centre's annual community care fair. This was a very important community care fair, helping people learn about the services that the RAAC clinic o...
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Stelly’s Secondary School

Today Evan and Rebecca presented to the faculty and a few students at Stelly's Secondary today. The principal Melanie Pass (pictured below) and her fellow staff spent their lunch time discussing recovery and how Umbrella can help individuals and their loved ones. Joinin...
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Happy 1 Year Michael

Today we celebrated Michael and his one year of continuous sobriety. What a wonderful milestone and we could not be prouder. Pictured below Michael and his one candle to celebrate his one year, with one of his roommates Barry. Keep doing the work Michael, sobriety look...