Mission

The mission of HRNA is to promote the advancement of harm reduction nursing through practice, education, research, and advocacy. HRNA strives to achieve its mission through the following actions:

  • Serving as a national voice for harm reduction and related nursing issues
  • Promoting education and continuous learning opportunities for nurses
  • Providing opportunities to share nursing knowledge, expertise and practices
  • Encouraging evidence-based harm reduction nursing practices
  • Creating a dynamic network to support and mentor nurses across the country
  • Advocating for the creation and implementation of harm reduction policies
  • Working collaboratively with partners to address structural conditions that create harms
  • Advocating for the rights and dignity of people who use drugs and their families

Statements

Board of Directors

President

Corey Ranger

Based in lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ territory (Victoria, BC), Corey Ranger is the clinical nurse lead for AVI/SOLID’s safe supply project, the Victoria SAFER Initiative. He has a history of working in harm reduction in both Alberta and now in British Columbia, having focused on HIV/HCV programming, overdose prevention and supervised consumption services. Corey is an executive board member for the HIV Legal Network, and a consultant for the Dr. Peter Centre, Urgent Public Health Needs Sites (UPHNS) community of practice. He enjoys writing, and working as an editorial committee member for the UPHNS community blog. He has worked as a nursing instructor in post-secondary, focusing on community health and mental health nursing.

Vice-President

Kate Harland

Kate Harland is the program coordinator at the Centre for Research, Education, and Clinical Care of At-Risk Populations (RECAP) since 2016. RECAP is a harm reduction collaborative care clinic for individuals who are positive or at-risk for hepatitis C in Saint John, NB. In the 5 years at this job Kate has taken on leadership and clinical roles. She has been on various boards and committees advocating for equitable health care, housing, and harm reduction services within the community. Through these experiences she has reviewed and created policy and procedures for different practices such as naloxone distribution and opiate agonist therapy management for RNs in the clinic setting. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Nursing, Nurse Practitioner stream at the University of New Brunswick, class of 2023.

Treasurer

Kate Hodgson

Currently a Nursing Practice Consultant for Substance Use with First Nations Health Authority and a MScN-NP candidate at the University of Northern BC. Kate is a settler of mixed-European ancestry and works, lives and plays in gratitude, on the unceded, traditional territory of the Tla’amin Nation peoples. Kate has been a strong advocate for harm reduction and substance use nursing services that align with the unique strengths and challenges of rural and remote communities.

Secretary

Meaghan Brown

Meaghan is a settler nurse living on the unceded and traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples (Victoria, BC). Her practice background is primarily in community nursing roles related to substance use, harm reduction, mental health, outreach, housing/homelessness services, STIBBI and contraceptive practice. Her experiences caring for a primary family member who experienced homelessness and harms related to criminalization keeps her grounded in harm reduction and anti-oppressive practice. Alcohol harm reduction practice, research, and policy for people experiencing chronic homelessness (Managed Alcohol Programs) has been a central focus of her work since 2014. As a Doctoral fellow and Research Coordinator on the Canadian Managed Alcohol Program Study (CMAPS), she has been involved in local, provincial, and national discussions on alcohol harm reduction with urban, rural, and Indigenous communities across Canada.

Regional Representative
(West)

Michelle Danda

Michelle Danda is a Registered Nurse in the Lower Mainland, British Columbia. She works in adolescent mental health and clinical informatics. She is also a PhD nursing student at the University of Alberta. Over her 13-year career she has practised in mental health and substance use in both Calgary and the Lower Mainland, in diverse settings that include inpatient acute, rehabilitation, extended care, community clinics, and outreach services. Harm reduction practice has been integral to her nursing practice since the beginning of her career at an inpatient concurrent disorder program. She is an advocate for integration of harm reduction, especially for the inpatient mental health setting. Her nursing practice is guided by social justice, patient empowerment and compassionate care. Her research focus is on the history of psychiatric nurse education in B.C., and intersections of caring and coercive practice.

Regional Representative
(Central)

Bryce Koch

Emergency Room Nurse with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. He founded a harm reduction program in Winnipeg called Project Safe Audience (PSA). PSA targets high risk behaviours in the underground/rave music scene. In addition, Bryce has worked at Shambhala Music Festival in a harm reduction and emergency nurse capacity. He has trained their “Sanctuary” staff in naloxone administration for the last 2 years

Regional Representative
(East)

Taliesin Magboo Cahill

Taliesin Magboo Cahill (Tali) has several years of experience working with and for people who use drugs. Currently she is the Nursing Team Lead for the Oasis Program primary care clinic and supervised consumption site at the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. She is also a Masters’ student at the University of Ottawa doing research on supervised consumption sites and hospital-based harm reduction. Previously she was a volunteer at Overdose Prevention Ottawa’s unsanctioned overdose prevention site and an inpatient medicine nurse at the Ottawa Hospital.