I am on a train travelling home from Quebec City. I have been to visit my younger sister. As I get further away from her, I am watching the landscape of my youth – the flat plain of the St. Lawrence River lowlands – pass by. An important element of my relationship with my sister …
One of the best parts of my work with youth is watching the impact that they have on learners, especially medical students. On the day that they finish their rotation, many students will speak of how much they enjoyed their time. They will speak about what they learned, and I know that most of what …
As everyone who reads my book review posts knows, I read a lot – at least one book a week. I like reading and talking about books and so, for many years after they became popular, I looked for a book club. I loved the thought of meeting regularly with a small group of people …
Last week, as I sat teaching a group of youth to knit, I mentioned that one of the things I liked best about knitting was that it gave me time to be introspective. Immediately I was greeted by five people all staring at me in that way that makes me wonder how I always get …
Often when I speak with parents and youth about the cognitive problems that can arise because of using marijuana, they focus on the long term impact. Parents, and even teens, are worried about permanently decreased cognitive functioning because of marijuana use – and rightfully so. When I remind them that there are immediate cognitive effects …
Tomorrow, it will snow, if the weather forecast is correct. This will make for an interesting Remembrance Day at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, where I live. I have been to the War Memorial in all weather, including snow, but I do not ever remember it snowing through the ceremony before, except for a …
If you are the parent of a teen who uses marijuana or a health professional looking for clear reasons to back up your pleas to a youth not to use marijuana, you can find it in the vaping crisis. To date in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported …
A common practice in the Monday group is to find out what people did on the weekend: what was fun, what was difficult, what helped you feel better, what made you feel worse. Also, most people can become engaged in this conversation and the topic lends itself to discussing behavioural activation which is one of …
Harm Reduction is a difficult topic to explain to people: parents, educators, lawmakers don’t always understand why I can be satisfied with a youth lowering their drug use when they really need to stop their drug use. Harm reduction can sound like a clinician is giving in – the second to last step before giving …
This book by Marne Venture, a well-known children’s author and blogger, is one of the Pros and Cons series of books put out by Focus Readers. Published in 2018, this book has the advantage of being recent and much of the information it contains is as up to date as it can be, given how …
