Conversation Starters on Healthy Living for Facilitators of Girls’ Empowerment Groups
These three discussion guides have been developed by researchers at the Centre for Excellence for Women’s Health (CEWH), in collaboration with Girls Action Foundation. They are intended to accompany the Take Care toolkit for girls’ empowerment group facilitators and can be helpful in starting discussions about girls’ health and wellness. They can be downloaded here and featured in girls’ spaces. Developed with the financial support of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Healthy Eating is a Girls’ Issue!
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Physical Activity is a Girls’ Issue!
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Substance Use is a Girls’ Issue!
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50 Trauma, Gender, and Substance Use Cards
These cut-out cards contain key points from the academic research literature on the intersections of trauma, gender, and sex and its role in substance use services and policies. They were developed for a workshop called “Becoming Trauma- and Gender-Informed” held at the Issues of Substance conference hosted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction in November 2017.
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Here’s what we know about alcohol & pregnancy

This infographic provides an overview of what we know about alcohol and pregnancy and the kinds of support women deserve. It was developed with support from Canada FASD Research Network and its Prevention Network Action Team with a goal of promoting engagement between women, partners, providers and communities.
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Alcohol and Pregnancy Brief Intervention Guides
Alcohol and Pregnancy Brief Intervention Guides
The resources in this section were developed to support service providers to successfully engage with women and their partners on alcohol use, pregnancy, and prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). While many aspects of FASD prevention are interconnected, current evidence and practice issues have been synthesized into eight topics that allow service providers to explore issues from different perspectives and that are most relevant to their own practice.
Each topic area includes: a brief overview of recent research findings; practical strategies for addressing alcohol issues with women; online resources for further reading and for sharing with women and their supports; reflection and discussion questions; and referral information for British Columbia.
Click below for each detailed Intervention Guide or download just the 8 infographic posters together in one document.
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1. Who Drinks Alcohol During Pregnancy?
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2. “It Is Safest Not To Drink During Pregnancy.” What Does This Mean?
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3. Alcohol, Contraception and Preconception
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4. Treatment and Care for Pregnant Women who use Alcohol and/or Other Drugs
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5. Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Trauma-informed Practice
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6. Alcohol, Pregnancy and Partner Support
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7. Girls, Alcohol and Pregnancy
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8. Young Women, Alcohol and Pregnancy
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“I love it because you could just be yourself” – A Study of Girls’ Perspectives on Girls’ Groups and Healthy Living
The British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health partnered with the Girls Action Foundation, and researchers from the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, the Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence, York University and the University of Montreal on a study of Girls’ Perspectives on Girls’ Groups and Healthy Living.
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How Girls’ Groups Can Promote Health
This resource was developed by the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health and the Girls Action Foundation following a research project on the ways girls’ groups can support and promote healthy living.
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Making it Better: Gender Transformative Health Promotion
Edited by Lorraine Greaves, Ann Pederson and Nancy Poole
The book explores the ways in which gendered norms affect health and social equity for all human beings, and invites us to rethink conventional approaches to health promotion and to strive for transformative initiatives and policies. Offering practical tools and evidence-based strategies for moving from gender integration to gender transformation, this anthology is required reading for policymakers, health promotion and healthcare practitioners, researchers, community developers, and social service providers.
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Alcohol and Pregnancy: Warning Signage Information Kit for Local Governments in British Columbia, 2014

Prepared for the Ministry of Health by Gerald Thomas, Okanagan Research and Nancy Poole, BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health. This resource includes a discussion of the forms and types of messages that can be provided via FASD prevention signs, including examples of recommended messages to help prevent/reduce drinking in pregnancy and promote health among women of childbearing years.
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Rethinking Women and Healthy Living in Canada
BCCEWH, Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence, and Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health Editors: A. Pederson, M.J. Haworth-Brockman, B. Clow, H. Isfeld and A. Liwander, 2013
The BCCEWH, the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health and the Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence have released a new women’s health resource entitled Rethinking Women and Healthy Living in Canada. The report, funded by Health Canada, is intended to generate an understanding of women and healthy living and to contribute to the development of evidence-informed responses to addressing challenges related to healthy living for women in Canada.
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Physical Activity for Marginalized Women in British Columbia: A Discussion Paper
Pamela Ponic, Rehana Nanjijuma, Ann Pederson, Nancy Poole and Jenny Scott
BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health & ProMOTION Plus, 2011
BC Centre of Excellence in Women’s Health and ProMOTION Plus have conducted an environmental scan on Physical Activity for Marginalized Women in BC. Our aim in the scan was to learn more about the current context for and activities being facilitated to promote physical activity for marginalized women at provincial and local levels in BC.
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You and Your Health: A Woman’s Guide
BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, 2009
A guide to help women understand their health and what they can do to be healthier.
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The Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Girls and Women
Colleen Reid, Lesley Dyck, Heather McKay and Wendy Frisby
British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, 2000
This multi-disciplinary literature review explores the links between physical activity, inactivity, health and well-being for women and girls, including implications of physical activity for disease prevention, management and rehabilitation and the biological, psychological, social and cultural experience of being female in our society.
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