Pictured: Maria Desroches, Claudette Bradshaw, Dr. Nicole Leblanc, Annette Cormier, Elder Noel Milliea, Nadine Cormier, Melissa Bonefant

Yesterday, the Honorable Claudette Bradshaw presented her namesake award to a team of service providers from New Brunswick.

CanFASD created the Claudette Bradshaw Innovation Award to celebrate the work of individuals and organizations across Canada who are using innovative approaches to improve the lives of individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

The award is named after the Honorable Claudette Bradshaw. Claudette recently retired from the CanFASD Board of Directors. In the late 1990s and early 2000s she served as a Member of Parliament, holding office as the Minister of Labour and as the Federal Coordinator on Homelessness. Throughout her personal and professional careers, she has been a champion for women in poverty and an early advocate for the importance of addressing prenatal alcohol exposure. This award recognizes her dedication and impact in the field of FASD, early education, and homelessness.

This year the award goes to the team of service providers at the New Brunswick FASD Centre of Excellence. This is one of two centres that offer FASD assessment in the province of New Brunswick, and one of only two bilingual clinics in Canada. They are making waves in the field of FASD assessment and support through their Dream Catcher service delivery model.

The Dream Catcher is an innovative model designed in partnership with Indigenous elders. It provides a framework for service providers to tailor resources and supports specifically to each client. It takes into consideration the skills and needs of not only the client, but also their support system. This holistic, person-centered practice ensures that Indigenous clients with FASD and those surrounding them are involved in supporting the individual across the lifecourse. The Dream Catcher Service Delivery Model serves not only First Nation communities, and the New Brunswick FASD team has also implemented this approach with all of their clients across the province.

Claudette Bradshaw and Elder Noel Milliea

As a team, they feel the Dream Catcher has helped to improve service delivery and has helped generate better outcomes for individuals with FASD, but they have not had the opportunity to formally evaluate their model. The team plans to use the funding they receive from the 2019 Claudette Bradshaw Innovation Award to fund research initiatives to assess the effectiveness of the Dream Catcher and to identify any areas for improvement.

Annette Cormier and Dr. Nicole LeBlanc of the Réseau de Santé Vitalité Health Network (the regional health authority managing the New Brunswick FASD Centre of Excellence) accepted the Claudette Bradshaw Innovation Award on behalf of their team at an award ceremony held yesterday in Moncton, New Brunswick. Claudette Bradshaw herself was there to present the award, giving these individuals the chance to interact with one of the earliest contributors to this field.

We would like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate the New Brunswick FASD Centre of Excellence for their incredible contributions to the field of FASD service delivery and support. We would also like to give a huge thank you to all those who applied for the Claudette Bradshaw Innovation Award. Your continued contributions to this field have been integral to improving the lives of individuals and families across Canada.