Help Create a Culture of Prevention in VancouverThe City of Vancouver’s Drug Policy Program (DPP) invites you to set aside March 25th for a day-long event focusing on prevention of harm from substance use.

The DPP is working with a broad-based coalition to initiate a movement towards creating a culture of prevention in Vancouver. The group is planning a day-long launch of this process on March 25th.

The event will provide a platform to profile current prevention work in the community, facilitate discussion on current critical issues in prevention and offer a forum for dissemination of recent research and findings. The aim is to build public awareness and support for prevention in Vancouver.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson will open the March 25 event, followed by presentations from various leaders in the field of prevention. Confirmed presenters include:

• • Dr. Anthony Hutchinson, CEO of the Brampton Neighbourhood Resource Centre in Ontario
  • Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia
  • Chris Kelly, Superintendent, Vancouver Board of Education
  • Chelsea, a youth presenter
  • Dr. Gabor Maté, staff physician at the Portland Hotel in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

The event will be held at the Segal Centre in downtown Vancouver.

Current partners in this initiative include the Centre for Addictions Research BC, the City of Vancouver’s Social Policy department and Drug Policy Program, the School Aged Children and Youth Substance Use Prevention Program (SACY), the University of British Columbia, the Urban Native Youth Association (UNYA), Vancouver Coastal Health, the Vancouver Police Department, the Vancouver Board of Education and Watari Research Association.

For more information, please contact Zarina Mulla, Drug Policy Program, 604-871-6481, e-mail zarina.mulla@vancouver.ca.

from Valorem Law

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Everyone eventually faces adversity.

Adversity is often a positive thing, even thought it certainly doesn’t feel like it when we are facing it.  Adversity is what defines us.  It is easy to have a great attitude, a strong work ethic and a positive outlook when things are going well.  The question is how do you stand up to tough times?

Which reminds me that I once went to a wedding where the groom’s speech was essentially a mediation on “failing better.”  Seriously.

It’s been said many times that failure is the first step to success.  And it is darkest before the dawn.

In a flurry of attempts to organize my life as a lawyer/mom/businesswoman/political junkie/friend/person and actually make progress on my to do list, I have implemented the Jones Family Notebook and am using My Life Organized to keep track of all the things I am attempting to juggle.  Although it appears to be directed more to full time moms, I love, love the “mommy blog” http://simplemom.net/, especially the posts on the Home Management Notebook, the Daily Docket & the Chore Chart for Preschoolers.  Seriously great stuff!!

Our Home Management Notebook is a 4 inch binder with a bunch of general info at the front in plastic sheet protectors.  The general info includes Key Contacts, a Daily Activity Sheet where we write down the kids meals and nap times, Notes for Caregiver which is instructions for my nanny, the Jones Family Grocery List template which is filled in with things we need to replace as the week progresses & the following tabs:

• Calendar (printed out by month from Time Matters, my law firm calendar software – I put the kids activities and family info and appointments under my nanny’s name and only print her activities so it’s not too busy looking with all my work appointments included)

• Contacts (just play dates and neighbors, the rest are in my PDA)

• Kids - info on programs they are enrolled in, preschool handbook, schedules for programs at Hollyburn & the library)

• House/Cars - key info

• Health Care - kids immunization print outs etc

• Finance (just our monthly budget & gift cards in an envelope - the rest of our info is paperless & password protected on our home server)

• the Good Life (sheets where I write restaurants & wines to try, books I want to buy, movies to see, wish lists as I think of them)

On the To Do list front, I am a follower of GTD and accordingly was looking for software to automate the process somewhat.  I previously used the Outlook add-in, but it didn’t synch with the Time Matters practice management software we use.  I tried out Life Balance, Achieve Planner and then settled on My Life Organized.

Whereas I liked the general concept of the first two, they proved to be unweildy in practice and had too high of a learning curve. I like MLO because it is the most intuitive and not too cluttered.  I did like the time management course for Achieve Planner, and it reminded me to block out chunks of time to do my most important tasks, rather than lose my day doing urgent but non-important things.

Lovely 4 bedroom family home with mountain & water views! Newly renovated, an entertainment sized deck and a fully fenced, landscaped yard. Situated in a central location on a quiet street. Also includes a completely self-contained suite down with laundry & private entrance. $800/day with a 10 day minimum.

Contact: Nicole Garton-Jones at 778-786-0615 ext. 111 or nicole@bcheritagelaw.com