The Addiction Nursing Fellowship program strives for excellence in clinical training, scholarship, research, and advocacy. The program includes specialty training in inpatient and outpatient addiction management, as well as related concurrent disorders training. The program prepares Nursing Fellows to work clinically in the field of addiction and take leadership roles in academic and/or research settings.

OVERVIEW & ELIGIBILITY
FELLOWSHIP CORE ROTATIONS
APPLY
FELLOWS
PROGRAM LEADERSHIP
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS

OVERVIEW & ELIGIBILITY

Nursing Fellows are accepted into the program each year from a range of clinical and academic backgrounds. The program runs from July 1 to June 30 the following year (one year) and all Fellows must be available for the first two weeks of July to attend a virtual, online, academic block. To maximize practical clinical learning opportunities, a six-month full-time or one-year part-time commitment to clinical rotations is recommended. In circumstances where the Fellow may be unable to meet the recommended clinical hours due to work/life obligations, availability and/or funding, the program offers flexible hours and scheduling to support nurses to meet the minimum requirement of 500 hours.

Fellowship Overview

Addiction Nursing Fellowship (ANF) program applicants with a focus on clinical practice, education, nursing research, and/or leadership are accepted annually and participate in the following activities over the course of their fellowship year:

Learning activities:

  • Two week academic block at the beginning of the program, academic presentations from interdisciplinary leaders in the field of addiction care and people with lived and living experience.
  • Academic half-days scheduled throughout the year focusing on providing care for specialized populations, building research, advocacy and academic skills.
  • Motivational Interviewing certification training.
  • Clinical placements across a variety of settings, including: bed-based recovery or treatment, withdrawal management, concurrent disorders, acute addiction medicine consult teams, corrections, perinatal care, primary care, youth care, chronic pain, iOAT clinics, nurse prescribing and more.
  • Fellows are encouraged to develop their teaching, leadership and presentation skills through providing education to site staff as they move through their clinical rotations. Fellows will also provide scheduled education sessions for other learners and nursing students during RAAC and AMCT placements.
  • Monthly journal clubs via Zoom, each Fellow is responsible for presenting one journal article with their assigned interdisciplinary partner, supported by a Research Fellow.
  • Fellows are supported to develop and present an evidence-based oral presentation based on an area of interest for “What’s New in Addiction Nursing,” a public BCCSU education series, each Fellow will be supported to develop and present an evidence-based oral presentation based on their area of interest.
  • Fellows are encouraged to develop their teaching, leadership and presentation skills through providing education to site staff as they move through their clinical rotations. Fellows will also provide scheduled education sessions for other learners and nursing students during RAAC and AMCT placements.
  • Attend a relevant research conference virtually or in person that is relevant to academic or clinical interests.
  • Each Fellowship project: Fellows are supported to conducts a research, quality improvement, leadership and/or advocacy project aligning that aligns with their initiatives prioritized by their funding health authorities’ initiatives and their learning interests.
  • Fellows share their research or quality improvement project results in oral or poster presentation format at the annual BCCSU Research Conference in May 2023.
  • Prior to the ANF program, Fellows are required to compete: The BCCSU Provincial Opioid Addiction Treatment Support Program (POATSP)Addiction Care and Treatment Online Course (ACTOC); fellows must complete the (Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS 2 CORE) Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans prior to commencing fellowship projects and Indigenous Cultural Safety training.

Eligibility

  • The BCCSU Addiction Nursing Fellowship accepts applications from registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses who are licensed to practice in BC through the BC College of Nurses and Midwives. Nurse practitioners can must apply for the Addiction Nurse Practitioner Fellowship. Successful out of province applicants must apply for practicing BC registration for the duration of their clinical placements at their own cost.
  • The ANF program is currently able to accept funded candidates; funded spots are limited and program leadership works to find funding for successful candidates.
  • All applicants are encouraged to contact the Program Directors to discuss eligibility and funding options.

FELLOWSHIP CORE ROTATIONS

Although many of the Fellowship core and elective clinical rotations are located in the Vancouver region, we support clinical placements across the North, Interior, Island, Fraser, Vancouver Coastal and First Nations Health Authorities. The program recommends all Fellows participate in the following core rotations and strives to ensure additional elective clinical placements are tailored to the Fellow’s individual learning goals, location and interests.

The St. Paul’s Hospital Addiction Medicine Consultation Team (AMCT) provides in-patient consultation services for patients admitted to all areas of the hospital including Internal Medicine, ICU, Psychiatry, Surgery, OBGYN. Consultation services include initial assessments, ongoing collaborative care in hospital, and facilitating transition to community services at the time of discharge. This includes treatment of addiction, withdrawal management, harm reduction and substance use stabilization in the context of complex pain, psychiatric and medical presentations. The AMCT consists of an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, and trainees from a variety of backgrounds. Nursing Fellows on AMCT will offer a teaching on most Thursdays; these slides are updated each year by incoming Fellows.
The St. Paul’s RAAC provides expert outpatient consultation and stabilization for individuals with substance use disorders on a short-term basis. Nurses will be provided with hands-on experience in completing addiction nursing assessments and consultations and will be embedded within an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, and peer navigators. Referrals for the clinic will be received from St Paul’s Hospital’s Emergency Department, the inpatient Addiction Medicine Consult Team, community agencies, as well as self-referrals.
The ACT team is a community based mobile team of health professionals and law enforcement personnel who meet patients in their homes and on the street to help with stabilization, medical treatment, and assistance staying out of the criminal justice system. The team is composed of an Addiction Psychiatrist, Addiction Nurse, Social Worker, and police officer, among other staff. The ACT team is based on the Pathways to Housing model from New York which incorporates a ‘housing first’ approach into the Assertive Community Treatment model.
This provincial referral source 100 bed treatment centre treats patients with severe concurrent disorders. Admission criteria include severe, active substance use disorder and psychiatric illness. Withdrawal management, stabilization, psychosocial interventions and Indigenous healing circles are offered by members of the interdisciplinary team. Fellows will work with Addiction Psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, health care workers and psychologists.
The Crosstown Clinic offers pharmaceutical heroin (diacetylmorphine) and hydromorphone within a supervised clinical setting for patients with severe, chronic opioid use disorder. They have an on-site pharmacy, and a large interdisciplinary team. They also offer counselling, housing referrals and direction to legal assistance.
The Heartwood Centre for Women at British Columbia Women’s Hospital provides in-patient withdrawal management and treatment for pregnant and non-pregnant women within a trauma-informed interdisciplinary setting. Services include a comprehensive addiction treatment programs offering evidence-based psychosocial treatment options, psychiatric and full primary care to women with multiple comorbidities.

The PHS has an array of services located in the DTES. PHS provides meals, computers, and programming including drumming, talking circles, and support groups, harm reduction supplies and have an alcohol exchange for non-beverage alcohol users. Their primary care clinic is embedded within this larger program. They provide full scope OAT (including novel and trial medications), take home naloxone training, and alcohol relapse prevention alongside common family medicine issues such as COPD, diabetes, and hypertension.

The PHS clinic offers comprehensive primary care and addiction treatment, including injectable opioid agonist treatment. Other services include:

  • Mobile Harm Reduction Services
  • Community Managed Alcohol Program
  • iOAT & TiOAT programs (at The Molson, 166 E Hastings, first door in the alley)
Vancouver Detox provides an excellent clinical learning environment for withdrawal management and related care. Fellows will learn about the full bio-psycho-social assessment for admission and complex withdrawal management in this 24-bed inpatient medical withdrawal management unit. START supports care across the SU continuum including outpatient/home withdrawal management, nurse prescribing, ACCESS Central/withdrawal management referral triage and bed-based support recovery and treatment programs.

APPLY

Application Timeline for the 2024-2025 Addiction Nursing Fellowship:

  • September 4, 2023: Application process opens
  • November 20, 2023: Application deadline
  • December 2023 through January 2024: Interview period
  • February 22, 2024: Acceptance notification
  • March 1, 2024: Deadline for acceptance of offer by applicant
  • July 2, 2024: Fellowship begins

Please note: While the Fellowship is envisioned to begin July 2, 2024, there may be some flexibility with the start date, particularly for applicants who bring their own funding.


Application Details
Interested candidates must submit an electronic copy of the following documentation:

  1. Three (3) letters - two letters of reference and one letter of support (pdf preferred):
    • One letter of reference should speak to the applicant’s clinical expertise and experience
    • One letter of reference should speak to the applicant’s character, leadership, advocacy, etc.
    • One letter of support should be from the applicant’s manager or supervisor and outline employer/organizational support for the applicant to complete the Fellowship program
  2. A 700-word letter of intent, in letter format (pdf preferred) describing:
    • The applicant’s background and preparation for the Fellowship to date
    • The applicant’s learning objectives and any specific areas of clinical interest or research interest
    • Why the applicant is interested in a career in the field of addictions
    • How the applicant envisions their fellowship experience will advance the system of substance use care
    • Specific health authorities or programs where they are interested in completing their clinical placement and/or research or quality improvement activities
    • Employer, operational and financial support that may be available, preference for 6-month full-time or 12-month part-time format, or other proposed schedule
  3. A curriculum vitae


Please send an electronic copy of all application materials to [email protected].

Note: It is the applicant's responsibility ensure that their manager(s) and director(s) support their participation in the Addiction Nursing Fellowship.


Interviews

Interviews may be scheduled virtually or in-person, where possible, with candidates after the application deadline and take place from between December 2023 and January 2024. A representative from the applicants funding health authority or, employer may request to participate in conducting the interview panel.


General Inquiries
For further information about this Fellowship program, please contact us at [email protected]. For managers and supervisors, please feel free to reach out with questions pertaining to program funding and institutional support.

FELLOWS

Past Addiction Nursing Fellows are below.

2022-23

  • EMILY POULSON
  • JENNIFER COULOMBE
  • TY-LEIGH WHITELEY
  • DANIELLE KOOP

2021-22

  • BRUCE LANGE
  • 
SIFAT CHHABRA

  • STEFANI HUMAN

2020-21

  • SIMRAN RIARH
  • ELLERY CLEVELAND
  • CHRISTINE DEZIEL
  • BENNY BLOOMFIELD

2019-20

  • ERIC ELIGH
  • GUIDO THYLMANN
  • MAGGIE TONG
  • PATTI JOHNSON

2018-19

  • JEN FUNO
  • KEVIN LORENZ
  • SUSAN WRIGHT

2017-18

  • NICOLE COWAN
  • COLIN McWILLIAMS
  • KENDRAH ROSE

2016-17

  • EMMA GARROD
  • MEGHAN THUMATH
  • MOHAMED IBRAHIM

2015-16

  • ELYSE VANI
  • PAULINE VOON

2014-15

  • CHEYENNE JOHNSON

2013-14

  • MONICA GREGORY

PROGRAM LEADERSHIP

Emma Garrod, RN, MSN, Co-Director, BCCSU Addiction Nursing Fellowship

Nicole Cowan, RN, BSN, Co-Director, BCCSU Addiction Nursing Fellowship

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS

providence-healthcare-logoSt. Paul’s Hospital at Providence Health Care is an acute care, academic, and research hospital located in downtown Vancouver. With over 500 acute care beds in use and home to many world-leading medical and surgical programs, the hospital serves both the local community and patients from across BC. Its downtown location brings many of Vancouver’s tourists and visitors to its doors. St. Paul’s also has a longstanding history of providing care to disadvantaged populations. For more information about St. Paul’s Hospital, please click here.


logo-webThe BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) is a provincially networked resource with a mandate to develop, implement, and evaluate evidence-based approaches to substance use and addiction. The BCCSU focuses on three strategic areas: research and evaluation, education and training, and clinical care guidance. With the support of the province of British Columbia, the BCCSU hosts the largest interdisciplinary addiction medicine training program in North America, building capacity in the healthcare system in BC to improve access to evidence-based care. Although physically located in Vancouver, the BCCSU is a provincially networked resource for researchers, educators, and care providers, as well as people who use substances, family advocates, support groups, and the recovery community.


ubc-logo-fullThe University of British Columbia (UBC), established in 1908, is one of Canada’s leading research universities, consistently ranked among the top 40 in the world. The university attracts 54,000 students from across Canada and 140 countries around the world to two major campuses. For more information about UBC, please click here.


spf-logoSt. Paul’s Foundation raises funds to support compassionate world-class care, research, and teaching at St. Paul’s Hospital. The BCCSU Addiction Medicine Fellowship is a partnership between St. Paul’s Foundation, St. Paul’s Hospital, the BC Centre on Substance Use, and the UBC Division of AIDS. The program was launched with a $3 million landmark donation to St. Paul’s Foundation, gifted by Goldcorp, Inc. The Foundation continues to secure additional funding to support the program. For more information, or to donate, please click here.


vch-logoVancouver Coastal Health is a regional health authority providing direct and contracted health services including primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care; home and community care; mental health services; population and preventive health; and addictions services in part of Greater Vancouver and the Coast Garibaldi area. For more information, please click here.

BC Centre on Substance Use

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E: [email protected] | T: (778) 945-7616 | F: (604) 428-5183

24/7 Addiction Clinician Support Line: (778) 945-7619

Online Addiction Medicine Diploma: [email protected].


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