Our team believes everyone has a right to health care, housing, dignity and purpose, and that every life is worth saving.

Administration 

Michelle Pittman, RN, Clinic Manager While managing River Stone's Fredericton location, Michelle is also pursuing a Master of Nursing degree to become a Nurse Practitioner. Michelle’s goal is to provide primary care to vulnerable populations, such as those we are currently serving with substance use disorder and mental health concerns. Michelle began working with Dr. Davidson in 2017 at FDCHC, where she discovered her passion for addiction medicine and community health. Michelle has implemented a nurse-led Hepatitis C (HCV) treatment program at River Stone.

Erin Green , Administrative Lead  Erin's welcoming face is often the first one people see when entering the clinic. Erin joined the team in 2023 and was drawn to River Stone for the opportunity to help her community. She quickly became indispensable both to other staff and to patients. Without her administrative and organizational skills and calm presence in the face of what sometimes looks like chaos, everything might just grind to a halt.

Nursing Team

River Stone couldn't function without our team of dedicated, compassionate, highly trained trauma-informed nurses. They understand the complex nature of substance use and work with individual participants to ensure their needs are met. Each River Stone location has a physician who prescribes medication and oversees patients' treatment plans, but much of the day-to-day medical care is provided by nurses. 

We're proud of the system we've designed during our Health Canada-funded pilot project, which is mandated with creating best practices for iOAT delivery. It allows us to treat more patients per prescribing physician than many other Canadian OAT and iOAT programs, which often have wait lists. We hope other programs will adopt our model. 

We're also extremely proud of our nurse-led Hepatitis C (HCV) testing and treatment program. 

Our iOAT patients have the most contact with nursing staff, who provide medical assessment and supervision of iOAT dosing. Feedback from iOAT patients makes clear that the support and lack of judgment they feel from the nurses are important components of their treatment. 

Below are profiles of just a few of our nurses. 

Jody Roberts, LPN: Jody believes in providing non-judgmental and trauma-informed care, accepting others as they are, and meeting them where they are. Prior to her graduation from NBCC Fredericton in 2019, Jody favoured clinical rotations in community nursing, so she jumped at the opportunity to work for River Stone Recovery Centre in August 2020. With a firm belief that everyone has a back-story that leads them to where they are, often with many heart-breaking stories out of their control, Jody wants to be a person participants can rely on.

Jennifer Goodine, LPN: Jennifer graduated from NBCC in 2016 and joined the River Stone team in 2020 after deciding what area of care she felt most passionate about. She prides herself on the compassion that exists at River Stone and is blessed to be part of a team that works together while meeting people where they are to provide help and support.  

Julia Hansen, RN: Julia has been part of the team since River Stone first opened. Julia  has been passionate about working with marginalized communities and people living with substance use disorders for a long time. Growing up in Vancouver, the epicenter of the opioid crisis in Canada, she learned about the strengths and challenges facing the community. Her experience volunteering at the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective in the Downtown Eastside inspired her career in nursing, which began in 2016. She built a relationship with the community River Stone serves while working at the Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre and volunteering with the Out of the Cold Shelters.

Wellness & Empowerment Team

River Stone's Wellness & Empowerment team includes case managers, outreach workers, a peer worker, a program coordinator on loan to us from The Works Housing and Social Enterprise, and a human services worker. Our case managers help participants navigate complicated systems outside of River Stone related to such things as social assistance, housing, corrections, child welfare and healthcare, and assist with any goals and plans participants may have. 

A few team members are profiled below. 

Claire Hargrove BSW, Case Manager: Claire is a social worker with experience working in First Nation communities, special care homes, long term care facilities, the Out of the Cold Shelter and the mental health Mobile Crisis Unit. These experiences have taught her that everyone needs an advocate and that many people, particularly those with concurrent mental health and substance use disorders, face additional barriers accessing proper treatment in New Brunswick. She credits the River Stone team and participants with allowing her to get creative  in how she conducts her practice and advocates for reform. She has learned a great deal from a group whose insight, trauma and resilience often go unnoticed. 

Hadrian Abbot, LPN, Case Manager: Hadrian came to River Stone as a casual LPN while working full time in the DECH's emergency department. He loved the work at River Stone so much that he joined us full time in 2021. As our case management needs expanded, Hadrian began pitching in and discovered a real talent for working with participants in this capacity. He now splits his week between nursing and case management. He also leads a weekly meditation group for participants. 

Willa Mathews, Housing Coordinator : Willa's wide skill set has allowed her to conduct iOAT supervision, case management, support groups, administrative work, and, most importantly, coordinating housing/housing supports. She strives to meet all clients where they are at and excels at advocating for our community. She strives to see our entire community housed and safe.

Tony Kelly BA (Hons),  Research and Development: Tony has been on loan to River Stone from a related not-for-profit, The Works Housing and Social Development. Tony benefits from office space, colleagues and access to our patient population while he designs social and economic inclusion programming for people who are homeless or vulnerably housed and struggling with substance use and/or mental health disorders that have kept them from taking part fully in the broader society. River Stone and our patients benefit tremendously from Tony's energetic dedication to this population and the programming he's developing for and with them.