A Conversation With

Together We Can

Wednesday, May 7, 2025
6:30pm – 7:30pm (PST)

SUPPORTING KIDS WITH SUBSTANCE MISUSE
As parents and caregivers, how we talk about substance use shapes how young people see it. This session explores insights from those with lived experience, offering ways to support without judgment.

Topics We’ll Cover:

• Strength-Based Conversations – Focusing on resilience over challenges
• Deficit-Based Thinking – Recognizing and reframing unhelpful narratives
• Trauma-Informed Language – How words shape understanding and healing
• Boundary Setting – Why it’s so hard and how to navigate it
• Taking Care of You! – Prioritizing your well-being while supporting others

Alex Lekei is a Canadian Certified Addictions Counsellor with over 15 years of experience in healthcare. They currently serve as a Family Educator with Together We Can, a Peer Leader with Vancouver Coastal Health, and operates his own private practice, Guiding Solutions Counselling. Drawing from his own lived experience with substance use as a youth and young adult, combined with academic training and community involvement, they bring a unique and empathetic perspective.

Steven Hall is the Public Relations Manager at Together We Can Drug & Alcohol Recovery & Education Society (TWC). A graduate of TWC’s 12-step-based program, Steven draws on his own lived experience with addiction and mental health to support others. Now part of TWC’s Community Relations and Family Support Team, he is passionate about creating safe spaces and believes recovery is possible—and everyone is worthy of it.