CRN Mentors Team of the BC Community Association of Community Response Networks

Kathy Doerksen and April Struthers - two of our 'Regional Mentors

Heather Archer

Covering CRNs in the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap Health Services Area including 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Kamloops, Merritt, Salmon Arm and Revelstoke

Tel:      (250) 377.8181
Email: acts1@telus.net

Heather has been active in the social services field for more than 20 years of her work life after starting out in the leisure and recreation sector (which is not altogether a separate sector!). Most recently she served as Executive Director of People In Motion in Kamloops - a non-profit service provider for people with disabilities - for 12 years. In addition she has run a training and consulting business for many years which has brought her into contact with many small communities in the region over the years, She has worked with associations and clubs in particular around developing organizational skills and community capacity.

She first learned about the Adult Guardianship Legislation and CRNs in 1997 and through her work at People In Motion became actively involved in the Kamloops CRN Steering Committee as Chairperson and host agency for the contract. Heather is also a past member of the PGT convened Provincial Abuse, Neglect and Self-Neglect Planning Group, now known as the BC Adult Abuse and Neglect Prevention Collaborative. A CRN mentor since 2003, Heather continues to support her community and region doing other consulting and training contracts as well.

Kathy Doerksen

Covering CRNs in the Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland, and helping with the North

Tel: (778) 808 - 1139
Email: kathydoerksen@yahoo.ca

Kathy was formerly the Program Manager at Abbotsford Legal Services, a community law office that provided family, criminal and poverty law services. At the CLO, Kathy worked with local community groups such as Violence Against Women, farm workers and tenants groups, and the local CRN and presented numerous public legal education sessions. Due to provincial government cutbacks to legal aid, the Abbotsford CLO was closed in August 2002, after providing 30 years of service to the community. Kathy just completed her role as the Coordinator of the Seniors and the Law Project, funded by the Law Foundation, for the BC Coalition to Eliminate Abuse of Seniors. She served is a member of the PGT convened Provincial Abuse, Neglect and Self-Neglect Planning Group.

Yvonne Kennedy

Covering CRNs in the North and South Okanagan with the exception of Revelstoke and Salmon Arm

Tel: (250) 497-7147
Fax: (250) 497-7140
Email: ykennedy@shaw.ca

Yvonne has have worked in health care for almost 30 years, primarily in community nursing, mental health and health care management. The populations she served were adults and the elderly.

Yvonne lives in Kaleden which is a small village and large agricultural area about 10 Km south of Penticton. Currently she and her husband are developing a small vineyard on five acres that they purchased 10 years ago with a view to a busy “retirement”. They have 3 grown children and 4 grandchildren.

In addition to the work she does with the Elder Abuse Committee and the CRN in Penticton Yvonne is a board director for the Penticton and District Community Resources Society. The society operates residential homes for adults with mental and physical challenges, a sexual abuse treatment program for children, a family center for parent support and education, a recycle program staffed by adults with mentally challenges, and an after-school program, among other programs.

Most recently, Yvonne has conducted qualitative research with regard to the effectiveness of Part 3 of the Adult Guardianship Act for the Public Guardian and Trustee, and identifying best practices in working relationships between police and agencies designated under Part 3 for BC CEAS.

Alison Leaney

Mentors Team Leader, and also covering CRNs in the North with the lead being taken by Kathy Doerksen

Tel: (604) 660-4482
Email: aleaney@trustee.bc.ca

Alison started working with the Adult Guardianship Implementation Project in the summer of 1995. She came to the Public Guardian and Trustee’s office after 15 years on the frontline as a social worker in a transition house, half-way house program and in various settings with people with disabilities. Alison has been involved in implementing all aspects of BC’s adult guardianship legislation, while still spending good part of her time supporting the development of Community Response Networks (CRNs). She has played a leadership role in supporting the development of the new BC Foundation to Support Community Response to Adult Abuse and Neglect, now known as the BC Association of Community Response Networks and is the Association’s part time Executive Director.

April Struthers

Covering CRNs on the Sunshine Coast, Sea-to-Sky, and Vancouver Island

Tel: (604) 885-0651
Email: witworks@dccnet.com

April is a consultant and trainer who works in BC and the United Kingdom for large and small clients in all sectors. She has lived for 25 years in a small rural community, and the last 13 years has worked for several months each year internationally.

Past work has involved being a College staff/ faculty, co-ordinator and project manager; and an alternative school teacher. She is a contract family counsellor for the Ministry for Children and Families with a small private counselling practise. Volunteer assignments have included being a Board Member for a Transition House and Community Service organizations.

Consulting practise is in management development, organizational development, and community development-all three at once in some of the larger projects. Recent projects include an early Intervention childcare review, working with a ballet (teamwork and communications); co-ordinating development of and training for members of a Social Planning Council in rural BC, organizational development of a regional hospital social services team, doing a strategic review for a mental health not for profit; and Stress Management Training for teachers.

April has been involved with the Adult Guardianship Project at the Public Guardian and Trustee of BC since 1997, and is coordinator of the Sunshine Coast Community Response Network. She has helped write protocols, led workshops in Recognising and Dealing With Abuse, and has written a handbook on that topic.

April’s specialties are developing teamwork and collaborative skills, building community capacity, developing high performance work and agency relationships, and helping groups and agencies learn from their projects and experiences. People report working with April to be fun, productive and inspirational, April follows principles of cross cultural good practise, (has worked with many First Nations peoples); is committed to diversity and equality; and service user involvement. She loves to travel and to hear community stories.

Heather von Ilberg

Covering CRNs in the Kootenay Boundary and East Kootenay

Tel: (250) 352-6813
Email: heathervonilberg@shaw.ca

Heather lives in Nelson and works in the East and West Kootenays. Heather has focused on making communities safer, more accessible places for over thirty years; she has worked primarily with people living with disabilities and those living with HIV/AIDS and/or Hep C. She has always been a strong advocate for people and was appointed and sat on the Provincial Advisory Committee for HIV/AIDS for several years, until its dissolution. Heather has been involved with the Adult Guardianship Project since 1994 and was one of the original CRN Pilot Project coordinators. Heather currently sits on the BC Adult Abuse and Neglect Prevention Collaborative.