THE SHIFT CHANGE

Claire 

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Claire grew up in Halifax, Charlottetown, P.E.I, and Victoria, B.C.. She started university in Halifax at St. Mary's University before transferring to the University of Alberta to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food Science with a minor in Human Ecology (2009). She completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of British Columbia (2011) followed by a Master of Science in Nursing (2017) also at UBC.

Claire began her nursing career as a Child and Youth Public Health nurse and she has continued to work in public health, sexual health, vaccine research, youth concurrent disorders, teaching and other related areas since then. Her Masters thesis was titled, “Homeless and Street-Involved Youth Access to Primary Health Care Services: What Helps and What Gets in the Way?” Her primary professional interests include adolescent health with a focus on at-risk/marginalized youth and how a public health approach can promote health among adolescents.

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Michelle D. 

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Michelle grew up in Calgary, Alberta. A rebellious and angsty teen, she found her way into nursing fueled by a punk rock spirit, sociology and psychology degrees, and life as an under-appreciated and underpaid youth care worker and behaviour therapist. She completed her Bachelor of Nursing accelerated track degree at the University of Calgary in 2008. Her nursing career started on an inpatient acute mental health unit that primarily admitted people living with mental health and substance use issues. Since then she has worked in diverse mental health-focused programs (inpatient and community-based), outreach, in nurse education with clinical health care systems. She has two Masters degrees (both in nursing), a Master of Nursing from the University of Athabasca and a Master of Psychiatric Nursing from Brandon University.

She completed her PhD in nursing at the University of Alberta in 2023. Her dissertation is titled The Evolution of Registered Psychiatric Nursing Education in British Columbia (1913-2012). Michelle has four beautiful children who are rapidly growing up (one in high school, two in middle school and one in elementary school). She has a wonderful life partner who is also a nurse and passionate about nursing. She loves writing, watching bad teenage dramas and murder mysteries, and rooting for the underdog.