Blood Tribe elder Charles Weaselhead was appointed to the Recovery Expert Advisory Panel.
A Blood Tribe elder is part of a panel that will shape Alberta’s approach to addiction and mental health care.
Charles Weaselhead, University of Lethbridge chancellor and former Blood Tribe chief and Treaty 7 grand chief, was named last week to the Recovery Expert Advisory Panel.
“Recovery is about resilience, and Alberta has been working to increase access to effective and culturally appropriate systems of care for people struggling with addiction,” Weaselhead said in a news release.
“I’m pleased to lend my perspective and knowledge to build on this momentum and help more people, families and entire communities.”
The Alberta model of building recovery-oriented systems of care is anchored in evidence-based research and best practices from around the world.
To advise on further building out Alberta’s recovery-oriented systems of care for addiction and mental health, the government appointed a panel of leading, world-class experts.
The panel will provide ongoing advice on best practices, research and innovation, policy and standards development, as well as informing evaluation and outcomes reporting.
“Alberta is leading the country in recovery-oriented care,” Mental Health and Addiction Minister Nicholas Milliken said.
“We’re proud to bring together some of the most highly respected experts in North America to provide insight and advice as we further develop our recovery-oriented system of care and help support more Albertans in their pursuit of recovery.”
The Recovery Expert Advisory panel is made up of 16 experts from diverse fields of expertise, including frontline specialists, researchers, physicians, Indigenous leaders, policy experts and other respected leaders.
The group of experts appointed to support Alberta’s government in building recovery oriented systems of care includes leading voices from Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, in addition to local leaders from the universities of Calgary, Lethbridge, and Alberta.
Other panel members are Dr. Keith Humphreys, Dr. Nathaniel Day, Dr. Ray Baker, Dr. Victoria Burns, Dr. Charl Els, Blair Gibbs, Dr. John Kelly, Dr. Anna Lembke, Billy Morin, Dr. Johanna O’Flaherty, Kelly J. Ogle, Bonnie L. Rawlins, Dr. Julian Somers, Tom Stamatakis and Dr. Rob Tanguay.
The Recovery Expert Advisory Panel will provide ongoing advice for a period of one year, with the possibility of extension.
The panel’s mandate is to provide advice on innovative and best practices for recovery-oriented systems of care as well as inform policy and standards.
