BC Centre for Disease Control - Harm Reduction Services
Digital Director & Content Designer
2012 - ongoing
In 2012, I led a team to build a new website that showcased harm reduction best practices and support materials. We created “Toward the Heart” as the brand identity (a reference to the technique of always inserting a needle in the direction of blood flow), which conveys a compassionate approach to health care to help reduce the stigma that surrounds the field.
After the program grew considerably and BC declared a public health emergency in response to the overdose crisis, I again directed the development of a redesigned and expanded website in 2017. The site engages and provides tools for peers, support workers, health professionals and community members as they navigate the devastating impacts of the crisis.
I continue to help with content strategy, site management and reporting on web metrics.
From 2012 to 2017, I produced e-Zines or issue-based small magazine sites with an accompanying email that was sent out to a network of harm reduction stakeholders and advocates. I also immediately helped set the client up on Facebook and Twitter, providing strategic advice on its use.
I worked with a designer and programmer to create the custom built e-Zine theme. The client would pass on a rough outline of the content, and I would fill in the gaps, polish the copy, gather images and lay out the pages. I followed that through to the email marketing, hitting send on the final version, and then promoting the release on social media.
With the rebuild of towardtheheart.com in 2017, this type of content creation was folded into the main website, along with the integration of social media channels to continue engagement.
In 2016, I was the assistant director on two documentary style videos to teach people how to recognize and respond to an overdose, while also helping to counter the stigma associated with drug use. Although the subject matter was the same, they were targeted to two very different audiences: youth and people who use drugs.
I wrote the creative treatment and shooting script, as well as managed the project and production of interview shoots.
