About Us
Jan Lutke Senior FASD Consultant
Jan Lutke is the co-chair of the National Advisory Committee on FASD to Health Canada, Government of Canada, (appointed by the Minister of Health), chair of the sub-committee on Quality of Life Issues, founder and former director of the FAS Support Network of B.C. and the founder of FASD Connections. She sits on numerous provincial and national advisory committees with respect to FASD, including the Advisory Board to the University Of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine “Doctor, Patient and Society” (DPAS) Courses, facilitates and advises on a wide range of research projects and chairs both of the bi-annual FASD conferences (regular and adult specific) held in Vancouver for the past 16 years. She chaired the FASD Provincial Consultation Group to the Province of British Columbia, acts as advisor to many different media projects and provides consultation services to a wide range of agencies, organizations, government bodies and individuals. She is also a consultant for the FASD Consulting Service of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) and a material reviewer for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the US Dept of Health, Center for Excellence in FASD.
Jan is the Senior Consultant for FASD Connections. She and her husband have been foster and adoptive parents for 37 years, and have adopted 12 children with a diagnosis within FASD, currently ranging in age from 12 to 30. Jan has developed and written much material on this subject that is widely used, and has been published by both the University of Washington Press and the University of Alaska Press and is in the beginning stages of writing a book with Dan Dubovsky, the FASD Specialist for the Center for Excellence in FASD at SAMHSA. Jan has been providing education, training, consultation and support to a wide range of professional agencies, organizations, and groups across North America for the past 20 years.
Tina Antrobus, B.A. FASD Consultant
Tina has had over five years experience providing support and services to individuals who have suffered severe marginalization due to homelessness, poverty, addictions, criminal justice involvement, and mental health issues. As a Parole Officer and Coordinator of Volunteer Services with the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), Tina was responsible for both the case management of federal offenders on conditional release into the community, and for developing practical reintegration-based programs to assist her clients in transitioning back into the community. Tina was responsible for the design, development, implementation and documentation of the first pilot project for federal inmates with FASD in Canada. This was an innovative and effective three-year community based residential and reintegration program for adult male offenders funded by Corrections Services Canada (CSC), located in the Westcoast Genesis Society's Genesis House in New Westminster, B.C. In those three years, Tina developed significant expertise in meeting the needs of these affected adults on a concrete, practical and effective level that significantly increased release times. She was also the CSC Pacific Region FASD Trainer, providing training to corrections professionals and agencies, including the National Parole Board, involved in providing services to corrections clients.
In the last several years working with adolescents and adults with FASD, she has been impacted most profoundly by the severe marginalization faced by these particular members of society and has become actively involved in advocating for the rights of adolescents and adults and their families to the necessary community services and resources needed. In addition to her work with FASD Connections, Tina is presently involved in a Youth Justice FASD pilot project of The Asante Centre for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and the Pacific Legal Education Association (PLEA), funded by the Department of Justice and is an active member of the FASD community. She sits on the Provincial FASD Consultation Group; the CSC Consultation Committee on FASD; the Action Committee on FASD (ACtFAS); and nationally, the advisory committee to the HRDC National Secretariat sponsored "WE CARES" training program for working with homeless adults affected by FASD; and as a consultant for the FASD Consulting Service of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA). Tina has presented at many conferences and is actively sought out for her specialized expertise on FASD in the corrections system and her abilities to work effectively with this population.
Bob Steeves FASD Consultant
For 25 years, Bob was a front line worker in the Corrections field. His experience includes working with maximum security and high-risk offenders, Mentally Disordered Offenders as well as medium and community based Corrections. His knowledge and experience with FASD has made him a passionate and committed advocate within the legal system.
For the past eight years, Bob has presented on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder to various audiences including Corrections workers, Parole Boards, Parent and Community groups, Pre-Adoptive Panels, Conferences and First Nations Communities. He has been involved as an advisor on regional and provincial FASD projects, and sits as a member of various committees working in the area of FASD.
Bob and his wife, June, have been married for 35 years and have raised two adopted children who are now adults. Their son has FAS and was diagnosed as an adult.
Bob's favourite quote is - "You'll be amazed at what can be achieved, if you don't care who gets the credit". Harry S. Truman
Brenda Knight Registered Psychologist
Brenda is a registered psychologist who has specialized for more than 30 years in working with children and adults with FASD, many of whom come from the foster care system or have been adopted. She is particularly respectful and resourceful in counseling parents of individuals with FASD, and is herself the adoptive parent of three adults, including a daughter with FASD.
Although she has been in private practice for 22 years, she previously worked in centers for physically and mentally disabled children, schools, psychiatric hospitals and residential treatment centers for children with severe behaviour disorders. She acquired a wide spectrum of experience which has contributed to her understanding of the many layers of issues related to caring for those with FASD. Brenda now has a particular specialty in treating adults with FASD who also have serious mental health problems, or ones that arise as a result of the lack of early diagnosis and/or due to the effects of living with FASD without adequate resources.
Brenda has a vast knowledge of both foster care and adoption and has provided specialized assessments, consultation and services in these areas for many years. She is particularly interested in the emotional issues related to special needs such as FASD.
Brenda is highly skilled in treating children and adults who have been sexually, emotionally and physically abused. She exposed the rampant institutional sexual abuse at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in 1982, and has continued to advocate for the safety and rights of deaf individuals. She co-authored the book "Am I the Only One", a children's book about a sexual abuse in 1985. She is proficient in American Sign Language and is highly regarded in the deaf community for her skills as a therapist.
Brenda was a member of the Advisory Panel to the Law Commission on Institutional Sexual Abuse; is currently a member of the Development and Review Team for disseminating the funds to claimants of the successful Jericho Hill class action suit and is in her second term as an Oral Examiner for the College of Psychologists of British Columbia. She is also a consultant for the FASD Consulting Service of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA). Brenda has been nominated for the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for her work in child abuse, and awarded the B.C. Psychological Association Humanitarian Award for outstanding advocacy in child abuse.
Janet Christie FASD Consultant
Janet 's experience overcoming her own substance abuse issues while raising someone with FASD has taught her the importance of honesty, an open mind, willingness and a sense of humour. She believes that FASD is an extremely complex dynamic complicated by the denial associated with issues related to overuse of alcohol in society.
Janet's biological son was diagnosed as FAS when he was an adult. She has been advocating for services for him and others like him since that time. With over 20 years of administrative, management and accounting experience, coupled with her social conscience and personal experience, she has been successful at advocating for and developing programs and services for those with FASD.
Janet has become a well known speaker, presenter and teacher in the area of women's addictions and FASD. She has been involved in provincial and national projects in this area, including the nationally recognized Knowledge Network video on adults with FASD. Janet currently co-facilitates a group for women who are overcoming addictions and exiting the sex trade. She is also a
Janet has been actively involved in the recovery community for the past 12 years and openly shares her experiences based on what it was like, what happened, and what its like now.
Marsha Wilson (Teichman)Educator, Employment Training & Family Support
Marsha has worked for over 25 years with individuals with disabilities and their families in various educational settings. For the past 15 years, she has been exclusively involved in adult vocational training, and in the last five, developing program approaches for FASD that are models to be replicated. She is a tireless advocate, dedicated educator and has a way of connecting the right people together so there is a success story at the end. Marsha is particularly adept at program creation and curriculum development that works for FASD, and will use her critical thinking and advocacy skills to take on leadership roles in the formation of innovative projects for FASD. Marsha has a background in Early Childhood Education, Teaching English As a Second Language and also has a Master’s Degree in Leadership.
In addition to her work with "Connections", Marsha is a post secondary educator and facilitates a monthly parent support group. She also provides on-line and volunteer telephone support for foster and adoptive parents who are raising children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. (see details).
Marsha grew up in a home where she was exposed daily to people with various disabilities, as her parents were foster parents for 25 years. She developed an awareness and sensitivity to the needs of those children, and in particular, those with "hidden" disabilities. She parents a 21 year old son who has FASD and has been her greatest teacher!
Marsha is actively involved in the FASD community, does ongoing volunteer work in her local community and was the 2004 recipient of the Woman of Excellence Award.