The Asante Centre is the recipient of the 2020 Claudette Bradshaw FASD Innovation Award! 

Who We Are

The Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Society for British Columbia, governing body of the Asante Centre, is passionate about supporting people with FASD and other complex neurodevelopmental conditions to exceed their own expectations.   

As we approach our 21st anniversary, we are proud to directly serve over 300 clients and families each year with an integrated approach by a multidisciplinary team providing assessments and diagnoses for clients, and resources and supports for them and for their families. Located in the heart of the Fraser Valley, in Maple Ridge, BC, we offer speech-language therapy, education and research, and our flagship FASD Youth Peer Mentorship Program.  

Our Flagship Program 

Since November 2017, the Asante Centre has been running its FASD Youth Peer Mentorship Program for youth aged 12-25 with FASD. Unique to the Asante Centre, the program is a youth- and community-driven response to significant gaps in mental health and preventative substance use services. Lead by adult staff of the Asante Centre with lived experience of FASD, the Peer Mentorship Program offers participants the opportunity to meet regularly to build relationships, and share strengths, successes, and challenges; to foster positive self-identifies; and to learn valuable life skills and self-advocacy. The current pandemic health crisis and resulting limitations have sidelined some in-person sessions but have encouraged creative, virtual meetings and socially distanced events. 

Future Research 

We are honoured to receive the Claudette Bradshaw Award from CanFASD which will allow us to continue to grow and expand program evaluation. This will include more feedback surveys and interviews pre-, mid- and post-programming with youth and families, reported engagement in various topic areas, learning from individual sessions as well as from the program overall, and reported impacts on mental health and substance use. We are excited to conduct further research into the positive results of this innovative program. 

Written by Katrina Griffin, Asante Centre Staff Member & FASD Mentor