Demystifying Concurrent Disorders Webinar Series

Victoria Maxwell (she/her)

Host, BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services

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Victoria is a recognized international keynote speaker who uses her personal story of recovery from mental illness to increase awareness, transform negative beliefs and ignite powerful conversations about mental health. She lives with bipolar disorder, anxiety and psychosis. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health named her a leader in mental health and her theatrical keynote “That’s Just Crazy Talk” has been rated one of the top anti- stigma interventions in the country. Her media appearances include CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Women’s Health UK. She can also be seen in season 2 of CBC TV’s series ‘You Can’t Ask That’. She is also a lived experience strategic advisor at BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services.

Laurie Edmundson (she/her)

Panelist, BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services

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Laurie Edmundson, MHA, CHE, is a passionate mental health advocate and the senior leader of Patient Experience and Community Engagement with BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services. A settler of mixed European ancestry living on the unceded and stolen territory of the Sto:lo people, Laurie draws from both her professional experience, education and her own lived experience with borderline personality disorder (BPD) to improve health systems, advocate for greater access to evidence based mental health supports, and offer hope to individuals and families who are struggling. For over a decade, Laurie has worked to reduce stigma, enhance services, and showcase the voices of people with BPD across health care, policy, and community spaces. She is a member of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD) Lived Experience Committee and has served on the Board of Directors for the BPD Society of BC since 2022. Laurie is the creator of The Super Feelers Club, a free and low-barrier virtual peer support group for people living with BPD and intense emotions. She is the host of The Super Feeler Podcast, a BPD-focused show exploring DBT skills, emotion dysregulation, and lived experience perspectives. From 2020–2024, she co-hosted the Bold Beautiful Borderline podcast and has shared her story to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Laurie was honored with the 2024 Leadership in Advancing the Patient Voice Award from Health Quality BC for her work amplifying lived and living expertise in the mental health system. She actively focuses on building a life worth living through using DBT skills, practicing yoga, cleaning up after her four cats in that hopes that they will love her as much as their dad, and building a strengths-based community for people living with BPD.

Dr. John Wagner

Panelist, DBT Centre of Vancouver

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Dr. John Wagner is a registered psychologist in British Columbia. He is the director of the DBT Centre of Vancouver, a clinical associate at Simon Fraser University, and an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Wagner received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Toledo in Ohio (APA-accredited). He completed a joint 2-year postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Marsha Linehan (founder of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) at the University of Washington (UW), and with the DBT Center of Seattle. He has served as the clinic associate director of the psychology clinic at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and taught graduate level courses on DBT at both the UW and UBC. In addition, he was trained as a DBT adherence coder for Dr. Linehan’s research studies at UW and is a certified clinician by the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification. Dr. Wagner provides psychological services to both adolescent and adult clients and has led adolescent and adult DBT skills groups for over 20 years. He has provided workshops across Canada and frequently consults with mental health providers in working with persons struggling with complex multi-systemic disorders.

Holly

Panelist, BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services

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Holly is a passionate mental health advocate whose work is deeply rooted in lived experience. After years of struggling with undiagnosed mental illness and self-medicating from a young age, she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in her early 40s. A traumatic event shortly after marked the beginning of the most challenging chapter of her life – but also sparked her mission. For the past five years, Holly has worked to dismantle the stigma surrounding BPD and mental illness, using her voice to foster compassion, awareness, and hope for others on similar journeys. In partnership with BCMHSUS, she shares her story with honesty and tenacity, empowering others to find and use their own voices.

Demystifying Prison Health (Nov. 18, 2024)

Speakers: 

• Steve Pelland (peer support coordinator, Community Transition Teams, BCMHSUS)
• Pam Young (program manager, Unlocking the Gates)
• Dr. Amanda Butler (assistant professor, Simon Fraser University)
• Deanna Romm (regional director, Correctional Health Services, BCMHSUS)

Demystifying Bipolar Disorder (Feb. 13, 2025)

Host: Laurie Edmundson (senior leader of Patient Experience and Community Engagement with BCMHSUS)

Speakers: 

• Kagan Goh (filmmaker, published author, spoken word poet, playwright, actor, curator, mental health advocate and activist)
• Victoria Maxwell (keynote speaker and lived experience strategic advisor at BCMHSUS)
• Dr. Ivan Torres (clinical neuropsychologist, clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC, and research scientist at BCMHSUS)

Demystifying information sharing and privacy (April 12, 2024)

Speakers: 

• Becky Hynes (director, interprofessional practice, AMHSUS)
• Anita David (lived experience strategic advisor)
• Margo Dent (family partner)

Demystifying recovery (Oct. 18, 2023)

Speakers: 

• Rick Johal (senior lead of provincial education, BCMHSUS)
• Chris Lamoureux (leader of patient experience and community engagement, BCMHSUS)
• Dr. Heather Fulton (registered psychologist)

Adjusting our response to drug poisonings (April 28, 2023)

Speakers: 

• Cherlyn Cortes-Manderson (clinical nurse educator, BC Centre for Disease Control)
• Corey Ranger (president, Harm Reduction Nurses Association and project lead, SAFER Knowledge Translation & Exchange project)

Demystifying psychosis (part 2): Supporting yourself and your loved one (Feb. 10, 2023)

Speakers: 

• Tracy Windsor and Abigail Schultz (lived experience experts)

Demystifying psychosis (part 1): Understanding psychosis (Feb. 3, 2023)

Speakers: 

• Dr. Randall White (medical director, Vancouver Community Mental Health Services and clinical director, BC Psychosis Program)
• Dr. Matthew Johnston (sociologist)

Demystifying prescribed medications for treating psychosis and substance use (Sept. 9, 2022)

Speakers: 

• Reza Rafizadeh (clinical pharmacy specialist, BCMHSUS)
• Dr. Christian Schutz (psychiatrist and clinical researcher, Red Fish Healing Centre, BCMHSUS)

Forensic journey and beyond: Where healthcare and legal systems intersect (June 10, 2022)

Speakers: 

• Peter Parnell (director of access, transitions and forensic clinical risk, Forensic Psychiatric Hospital)
• Midhath Mahir (deputy supervising lawyer, CLAS)

Demystifying the Mental Health Act (Feb. 22, 2022)

Speakers: 

• Dr. Vijay Seethapathy (MD and fellow of The Royal College of Physicians of Canada and chief medical officer, BCMHSUS)
• Kendra Milne (executive director of health justice, Canadian Mental Health Association)

Demystifying trauma-informed health care (Nov. 26, 2021)

Speaker: 

• Dr. Linda Uyeda, MD, CCFP

Related resources: Trauma-informed practice tips (PDF)