Description
Substance Use & Anxiety during COVID-19 Times With Dr. Bill MacEwan
COVID Let’s Talk Remote Learning Series
All profits will go towards supporting Odd Squad Productions.
Odd Squad Productions is a charitable organization comprised of serving and retired police officers and volunteers. It is recognized as an international leader in the field of drug and gang education for youth. Donations made to Odd Squad Productions help the organization in delivering valuable and needed reality-based education on the consequences of engaging in risky behaviour to thousands of youth in the Lower Mainland, through B.C., and across Canada.
Friday June 12th 2020
Login 10:00am PT
Session 10:30am – 11:30am PT
Tickets: $19 (An email will be sent closer to the event date giving details of the Zoom Link to join this session. Please look out for this and check your spam in case it goes in there by mistake)
Young adults and high school students are experiencing anxiety at much higher rates than ever before. There can be many contributors to this e.g., high academic loads, lots of extracurricular activities, social/family pressures and uncertain futures. This anxiety can result in sleep loss, depressed mood, psychological distress as well as poor functioning at school and in the community. Some young adults can get caught up in very high-risk behaviours – selling, addiction, and theft in part as ways to deal with their anxieties.
The challenge is to try to understand the pressures young adults are experiencing and recognize the signs and symptoms of dysfunctional coping mechanisms.
This remote learning session is designed to help educators, students and health staff understand the psychological challenges associated with COVID. We will explore choices and strategies that help young adults.
This interactive dialogue will cover:
- Life’s pressures such as school, the COVID pandemic and social media affecting young adults
- Signs and symptoms of Anxiety, Sadness, and Substance Use
- Positive choices young adults have in life
- Strategies that help young adults facing problems or challenges
Currently, Dr. MacEwan runs the Urban Psychiatry Program at St. Paul’s Hospital. He is the medical lead for the Downtown Community Court psychiatric teams. Dr. MacEwan is the former Head of Psychiatry at St. Paul’s Hospital and is the clinical lead in the Hotel Study, a cohort study of the health, addiction and mental health of 500 residents of the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver.
Dr. MacEwan graduated from UBC in medicine and completed his specialty training in psychiatry at UBC in 1987. His clinical and research interest has always focused on psychosis.
Academically Dr. MacEwan is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC and Associate Department Head, Clinical Affairs, UBC, Department of Psychiatry. His research interests have been in the study of novel antipsychotics in the treatment of Schizophrenia; he has also been looking at clinical correlates of Schizophrenia, Early Psychosis and Addiction.
Bill has worked in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver for the last 19 years. Initially this work was psychiatric outreach to the single room occupancy hotels in the DTES. His present work now also involves working at the Downtown Community Court (DCC) in the DTES. The mental health teams in DCC allow the opportunity to use the court as a health point of contact for individuals with extreme mental health issues. The DCC Mental Health programs help patients with their illness and prevent them from entering into further problems with criminal behaviour.
Bill lives in Surrey and has a blended family of 7 children, 5 horses, 2 Sicilian miniature donkeys, Pedro and Al, as well as 2 dogs, Biff and Eva.
