Events

September 14, 2023

Addiction: The Growing Crisis We Can't Ignore

Time: 12 Noon EST via ZOOM

Join the Montreal Council of Women on Thursday, September 14, for a Zoom seminar on women struggling to overcome addiction. We will hear from Liane Berry, a woman who has first-hand experience with addiction and recovery, and who now helps others through the non-profit she founded, LI-BER-T House. We'll also hear from Concordia University Professor Felice Yuen, whose work with incarcerated women led her to embrace a holistic approach to determining why addiction occurs and how support and accompaniment can help.

Registration

MCW Member and Non-Member Registration

About Our Presentaters

Liane Berry

Liane Berry (lianeberry.ca) has personal experience living with the vicious cycles of substance abuse (drugs/alcohol = addiction), institutionalizations (rehab, jail, hospital), and the 'revolving door syndrome'.

Her first publication, Seven Times Rise - A Memoir, recounts her real-life story of addiction, criminality, incarceration, despair and ultimately, HOPE. She was formerly employed as a substance abuse counselor at the Portage Treatment Center and is now the executive director of LI-BER-T House, a non-profit charitable organization offering a safe housing alternative for women leaving substance abuse treatment centers.

Professor Felice Yuen

Concordia University Professor Felice Yuen has a PhD in Recreation and Leisure Studies from the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on leisure and its impact on the quality of life of individuals and the communities in which they live. More specifically, she is interested in leisure as a context for individual and community healing. Recent research explores the healing and rehabilitation of Indigenous women in provincial prison.

Her research, predominantly arts-based and community-based, has been done in collaboration with community-based organizations such as la Société de Elizabeth Fry du Québec (an organization supporting women who have experience with the criminal justice system) and Li-ber-T House (a women’s transition house).