Join this webinar to hear from experts in the United States and Ireland who will discuss harm reduction and recovery from substance use problems among Housing First tenants. The presenters will also discuss evidence-based overdose prevention practices, services, and policies that can support recovery and address problematic substance use in these settings.
This webinar is the 9th in the International Housing First Webinar Series and is presented by the Canadian Housing First Network, the Housing First Europe Hub, and the Evidence Exchange Network at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Date: March 19, 2025
Time: 10-11:30 AM Eastern Time (3 PM UK Time)
About this Webinar
The presenters will discuss the following topics:
- Evidence-based overdose prevention practices in permanent supportive housing
Co-Presenters: Dr. Kelly Doran and Lauren Velez
Kelly and Lauren will provide an overview of the Permanent Supportive Housing Overdose Prevention (POP) Study, a community-partnered study funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted in collaboration with the Corporation for Supportive Housing. The study evaluates the implementation of evidence-based overdose prevention practices in permanent supportive housing in New York. They will also present early findings on substance use in Housing First from surveys and focus groups with Housing First staff, tenants and leaders, as well as early lessons learned. - Service User Accounts of Pursuing Recovery in Housing First
Presenter: Dr. Branagh O’ Shaughnessy
This presentation will review the initial findings from a longitudinal study of recovery from homelessness and substance use problems. The researchers interviewed homeless service users with lifetime experiences of substance use issues and homelessness to learn about their conceptions of recovery and their personal recovery journeys. Branagh will discuss the findings in relation to Housing First programs, including service features that support recovery and policy approaches for addressing the overlapping issue of homelessness and problematic substance use.
About the Presenters
Dr. Kelly Doran (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine, where she founded and currently co-directs the Health x Housing Lab. She works as an emergency physician at Bellevue Hospital in NYC. Dr. Doran’s research spanning topics including homelessness and substance use is funded by the NIH and the CDC. She previously served as a Senior Advisor to the New York State Department of Health on novel efforts to use Medicaid to fund supportive housing and has been an invited panelist at the National Academies of Science and the White House on the topics of housing and other social determinants of health. Her research has been published in leading journals, and she co-edited the first textbook on Social Emergency Medicine, Social Emergency Medicine: Principles and Practice. Dr. Doran has been active in homelessness-related work since serving as a director at a student-run homeless shelter as an undergraduate.
Dr. Branagh O’ Shaughnessy (she/her) is a Lecturer in Psychology at York St. John University, United Kingdom, where she teaches clinical psychology and research methods for psychology. Dr. O’ Shaughnessy’s research focuses on recovery from homelessness and substance use issues, and empowering interventions for homeless adults. In 2022, she was awarded the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for her research project: “The Complex Recovery Experiences of Homeless Service Users with Substance Use Disorders: A Qualitative Longitudinal Examination.” This research project was completed at the School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin. Dr. O’Shaughnessy has presented nationally and internationally at various conferences on the topic of interventions for the psychological well-being of homeless adults. View her peer-reviewed publications.
Lauren Velez (she/her) is the Director of the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)’s Metro Team, focusing on advancing supportive housing initiatives throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Lauren joined CSH in 2021, after a decade of overseeing supportive housing programs for a nationally recognized leader in the supportive housing field. Lauren’s portfolio includes work with youth and families, single adults and high utilizers of Medicaid and emergency systems, justice-impacted populations, Community Building, Moving On, Aging in Place, and Keeping Families Together as well as expertise in harm reduction and housing first, federal and philanthropic grant management and oversight, working with various continuum of care organizations, and supportive housing development.
About the Organizers
Canadian Housing First Network - Community of Interest
The Canadian Housing First Network – Community of Interest (CHFN-COI) assists communities across Canada to develop, evaluate, and improve Housing First (HF) programs based on the Pathways model tested, adapted, and shown to be effective in the At Home / Chez Soi Demonstration Project.
The CHFN-CoI (formerly the Ontario Housing First Regional Network Community of Interest (OHFRN-CoI), consist of HF champions, HF programs across Canada, policy-makers planners, managers, service providers, researchers, and persons with lived experience, including representatives from the housing, health, and justice sectors and Indigenous housing and support providers. The CHFN is hosted by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) and the Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
Housing First Europe Hub
The Housing First Europe Hub was established in 2016 by the Y-Foundation (Finland) and FEANTSA (the European Federation of National Organisations Working with Homeless People) along with more than 15 partners. Since then, the Hub has grown to include more than 37 organizations, cities, government ministries, housing providers and researchers from across Europe and beyond. The Hub works in partnership with core and associate partners to promote Housing First as the first and central response to homelessness.
Evidence Exchange Network
The Evidence Exchange Network (EENet) is part of the Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. EENet moves evidence to action to improve programming and inform policy change. The EENet team works closely with researchers, clinicians, policymakers, system planners, service providers, and people with lived experiences to mobilize knowledge and help people connect with each other.
