our people
Stan Fraser - Director
Stan has been going to the Parents Forever support group since the first meeting eight years ago, at which time two of his four daughters had already been living through a decade of addictions and abusive relationships.
Also the father of three sons, Stan is the grandfather of thirteen. He refers to one granddaughter as "very special" because as a newborn fourteen years ago, she went to Sunny hill Hospital to detoxify from drugs.
Stan knows that "It really hurts to stand in a back alley in skid row and watch your beautiful daughter stick a needle in her vein, knowing there is nothing you can do but grieve. It hurts when you visit your daughter in jail every week and you feel guilty because you're happy she is there rather than with her addicted husband."
Stan's record of community service includes the presidency of the Skeena Terrace Tenant Association and also of the Vancouver and District Public Housing Tenant Association. In connection with his work, he has given leadership, also as president, of a non-profit labour co-op and has been a representative on the Human Resources Community Resources Board.
Says Stan of his election to the FGTA Board, "I hope I can now go from grief to taking action to help other parents to prevent or survive the kinds of hard things that my family has been through."
Nichola Hall - Treasurer
Before discovering addiction in her family, Nichola had spent many years working and volunteering in the fields of social planning and community development, mostly with the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C. While her two boys were in school she completed her B.A. in Political Science and then specialized with a Masters degree in public policy. She spent 15 years at UBC as a Program Director in Arts, Humanities and Public Affairs, and served on the Board of the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff. She was named as a Woman of Distinction by the YWCA in 2003 for her voluntary activities. Now retired, Nichola represents FGTA on three community boards and has spoken on behalf of FGTA to various groups around the world from Melbourne in Australia to Waterloo, Regina and Quesnel in Canada.
Ray Hall - President
Ray's career in video and film began at the CBC editing for television. In the early ‘70s he held a three-year post as film unit director in Lebanon for the UN Relief Agency, documenting the lives of Palestinian refugees. Then Ray went freelance, becoming principal partner in the film production company Petra for seven years. A film production opening at UBC in 1981 led to a teaching appointment in the Department of Film, Theatre and Creative writing, from which he retired in 1998 as a full professor. Ray still dabbles in film, especially recording the history of his beautiful island birthplace - Norfolk Island in the South Pacific.
Pat Johnson - Director
Pat and her husband have two sons, the younger of whom was addicted to crystal meth. Attending "Parents Forever" meetings for three years gave Pat the support and strength she needed to learn to cope with her son's addiction. In 2003 she was ready and able to take an active role with FGTA as an advocate for addicts and their families. She served as board member and as president. As a former teacher she felt comfortable speaking at drug awareness forums and community meetings to help stress the importance of the "Four Pillars" approach to drug use and the need for a continuum of care for those in the grip of their addiction now.
Pat feels strongly that if families, communities and governments pull together, we will make a difference in the fight against the disease of addiction. With a move to Vancouver Island in 2006, Pat became a long distance board member of FGTA but was still able to attend board meetings and to help find resources for the website. She was active with community groups in the addiction field on the island and was a member of NADAC in Nanaimo. Having returned to Vancouver to live in 2010, Pat is once again eager to support the good works of From Grief To Action. In 2011 Pat's family celebrates their son's 6th year in recovery. He is leading a healthy life and is a a very grateful contributing member of his community.
Catherine Kerr - Secretary
Catherine is President of the Society for Technical Communication, West Coast chapter, and the website content manager for FGTA. She accepted a Board nomination because of the insight, grace, gutsiness and sense of humour she encountered in every interaction with FGTA directors.
She lives in Mount Pleasant, where the community organization named her Volunteer of the Year in 2009. She is the recipient of a Neighbourhood Projects Small Grant for a demonstration community garden and tends eighteen other plots. Bringing grief to weeds, and action to streetscape enrichment, is her joy.
Catherine's university degree in secondary school teaching jumpstarted a career in instructional design, publishing, and managing communication campaigns focused on societal objectives. Her first job was child-care work with adolescents, and as a prevention program manager at ICBC, she worked with school committees dedicated to safety on the road, especially for young drivers. Her lifelong interest in and concern for young people align well with the cause of drug harm reduction.
Catherine is particularly interested in maintaining and improving the impact of the FGTA website and in using social media to help bring the organization to the attention of those who need it.
Joyce Locht - Director
Joyce Locht has a background in counseling psychology and nursing. She is the mother of three children, one of whom has struggled with multiple addictions for seven years. She is committed to an understanding of addiction as a health issue, destigmatization and decriminalization of addiction and believes that this condition is a powerful teacher of what it is be a human being.
Tod Maffin - Director
Tod Maffin is a senior digital marketing strategist based in Vancouver. He owns a small business strategy firm employing five people and keynotes more than 30 business and community conferences a year about work-life balance. On this topic, Tod learned his lessons the hard way, by developing a devastating addiction while at the summit of his early career as an industry innovator and sought-after opinion leader. Tod continues to work each day on his recovery and is a very active member at his addiction recovery meetings.
In the early days of the World Wide Web, Tod was a pioneer webmaster who sought and won industry recognition (8th best worldwide) for his site. Tod launched an artificial intelligence firm that developed technology to analyze public opinion comments posted on the Internet and aired in the media, thus providing a "mood monitor" of stocks. His firm became a publicly traded company in 18 months.
Tod volunteers on the communications committee of the Vancouver Board of Trade and with Beauty Night on the downtown east side, and he is chairman of BCIT's curriculum development committee for the Digital Design and Development program.
Susie Ruttan - Vice President
A former elementary school teacher and mother of three, Susie served as FGTA vice-president for eight years. Highlights of her years representing FGTA include speaking engagements at international conferences on drug addiction in Montreal, Toronto, Venice, and Portugal. Susie has been a nominee for the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award and was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of her service to the community through her work for FGTA. Susie is particularly proud of having helped to bring about the establishment of B.C.'s first long-term treatment centre for youth with the Portage Program at The Crossing at Keremeos.
