Jill Harnum
Expertise:
Jill’s areas of expertise include substance use health, lived expertise with substance use and mental health peer support.
Biography:
Most of Jill Harnum’s experience working in substance use health has been as a frontline worker. These personal accounts provided her with a greater understanding of the realities of substance use health issues, the substance use health workforce and for people who use substances.
Jill wants to use this knowledge to influence the policy decisions of federal, provincial and territorial governments to help create safer and healthier communities for people who use substances. This led to her joining CCSA as a Policy Analyst in September 2023. Since 2019, she worked on many projects for CCSA as an active member of the lived and living experience and family and friends (LLEAFF) advisory group. Jill has also completed a peer researcher contract position with CCSA.
Jill’s previous roles include serving as the Mental Health Ministry Director for The Worship Centre, a Regional Peer Lead for SUNAR (Substance User Network of the Atlantic Region) and the Regional Manager of Newfoundland and Labrador for Prison Fellowship Canada. Jill holds a bachelor of nursing from Memorial University. She began frontline work in this field as a mental health and addictions nurse.
Living in Newfoundland and Labrador, Jill spends her free time with her growing family and loves to explore all the island has to offer.