The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Nolan Hop Wo from the Chief Medical Office, and Dr. Robert Fox from the Virtual Doctor of the Day program, are rotating co-hosts of season four of the Addiction Practice Pod: Elevating Indigenous Perspectives on Substance Use Care Through Strengths-based Approaches. This podcast is produced by the BC Centre on Substance Use and features clinicians and people with lived and living experience discussing substance use topics. Dr. Hop Wo and Dr. Fox will be joining as co-hosts with journalist David P. Ball, during the six episode season.
Dr. Hop Wo will co-host the first episode of the season, where they will address how culturally-centred Indigenous harm reduction can mitigate the impacts of colonialism. They will be joined by guest Lacey Jones who is the Program Director of QomQem Coastal Connections and is from the Snuneymuxw First Nation.
Another FNHA staff member, Keshia Cleaver, will also be on the Addiction Practice Pod as a guest. Keshia is a Harm Reduction Program Advisor in the Chief Nursing Office. Her episode is with Dr. Hop Wo and they will discuss the complexities of abstinence-based perspectives within Indigenous communities by emphasizing cultural strengths.
Dr. Hop Wo's final episode as a co-host, which is also the last episode of the season, will go over breaking down the stigma around alcohol use disorder in Indigenous communities through culture and traditions.
Dr. Fox will co-host an episode on perspectives of Indigenous youth who use substances on incorporating culture and tradition in healing and wellness.
The other co-host this season is Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, the former senior medical director with Alberta Health Services' Indigenous Wellness Core.
Dr. Nolan Hop Wo, Medical Officer, Mental Health and Wellness, is a member of the Métis Nation of Greater Victoria. He completed his medical training at UBC's Island Medical Program in Victoria, BC, and his psychiatry specialty training at Western University in London, Ontario. Dr. Hop Wo specializes in mental health and wellness, and addictions.
Dr. Robert Fox is a family physician and addiction medicine specialist at Seabird Island Health Centre. He is originally from the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta. Dr. Fox obtained his Medical Degree from the University of Alberta. He has completed the St. Paul's Addiction Medicine Fellowship and is certified in Addiction Medicine by the International Society of Addiction Medicine. In 2023 he was awarded the Award of Excellence in Rural Medicine Lifetime Achievement by the Rural Coordination Centre of BC.
FNHA resources on substance use and mental health and wellness can be found here.
The Addiction Practice Pod: Elevating Indigenous Perspectives on Substance Use Care Through Strengths-based Approaches can be heard here or wherever you subscribe to podcasts.
