Invited Speakers
![](https://bcwppsup2024.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vipler-Sharon-headshot-300x300.png)
Bio: Dr. Sharon Vipler completed her medical degree at the University of British Columbia and her family medicine residency at the University of Alberta. She is a diplomat in the American Board of Addiction Medicine as well as a diplomat in Addiction Medicine through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She is a UBC Clinical Associate Professor. She is the Program Medical Director and Regional Department Head of Addiction Medicine and Substance Use Services at Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia. This year, she is the acting Executive Director of the BC Centre on Substance Use. Clinically, she works in a wide spectrum of addiction medicine settings in BC’s lower mainland.
Presentation Title: What We Bring – Examining What We As Care Providers Bring With Us Into Our Clinical Spaces
![](https://bcwppsup2024.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Sana-Preferred-e1717509362838-300x300.jpeg)
Bio: As a Co-Director of the Equity Science Lab and Lead researcher for the PHAIRNESS Research program at the University of British Columbia Okanagan’s School of Nursing, Sana’s work is at the forefront of interrogating and intervening on systems-level conditions that hold the problem of inequitable health outcomes in place. This includes applying a critical population health lens to things like: decolonizing health and social systems; moving our understandings and imagined solutions of pressing health problems upstream to address root causes; and, building better processes and data sources to evaluate the things that really matter to communities. She does this work in partnership with health systems, Indigenous scholars and Nations, and communities. Grounded in an intersectional and life-course approach, issues related to maternal, child, youth and family health, and their intersections with substance use, are a distinct population of interest in her work. Among other roles, she’s also the Nominated Principal Investigator for the innovative Grandmother-led initiative exploring equity-oriented surveillance, monitoring and reporting practices for perinatal substance use, The Mothering Co/Lab. This is the first-ever comprehensive application of the ground-breaking Grandmother’s Perspective approach to disaggregated data released by the BC Human Rights’ Commissioner’s office in 2020 and building on the Perinatal Substance Use Blueprint released in 2021. Sana is a recipient of the BC Reconciliation Award, as well as a Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar, and a collaborating scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research.
Presentation Title: Equity Science and Perinatal Substance Use: Opportunities and Risks
![](https://bcwppsup2024.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Grenier-David-Headshot-e1715610045562-300x300.jpg)
David Granirer, RPC, MPCC, M.S.M. is a counselor, stand-up comic, author, and founder of Stand Up For Mental Health™ (SMH), a program teaching stand-up comedy to people with mental health issues. David who himself suffers from bipolar is featured in the VOICE Award winning documentary Cracking Up. He also received a Life Unlimited Award from Depression Bipolar Support Alliance, an Award of Excellence from the National Council of Behavioral Health, a Champion of Mental Health Award, and a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada, and was recognized as one of the 150 Canadian Difference Makers in mental health. A sought after keynote speaker, he has worked with mental health organizations to perform and train SMH groups in over 50 cities in Canada, the U.S., and Australia. www.standupformentalhealth.com
Stand Up For Mental Health: Recovery – One Laugh At A Time!
What’s so funny about mental health? As far as Stand Up For Mental Health™ (SMH) is concerned – everything! Founded by award-winning counsellor and stand-up comic David Granirer who himself suffers from bipolar, SMH teaches stand-up comedy to people with mental health issues as a way of building confidence and fighting public stigma. This show takes a hilarious look at the lighter side of mental health. You’ll get to see mental health from a totally different perspective and how David and his SMH comics are creating recovery one laugh at a time!