Staff
Shelley Karrel
Manager of Counselling and Community Education
Shelley Karrel is a Registered Clinical Counsellor and member of the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors. Shelley comes to JACS with over 25 years of coaching, and counselling experience, and has worked in the Vancouver Jewish community for the past 15 years. She brings with her a true desire to help individuals in their search for clarity and wisdom.
Shelley has been dedicated to life long learning and education. She is committed to helping clients and their families understand the disease of addiction and the possibilities that recovery brings.
Shelley holds a BBA from Acadia University and a Masters of Counselling from the City University of Seattle.
Originally from Nova Scotia, she enjoys cooking, reading and is a practitioner and facilitator of Mussar, the Jewish path if self transformation.
Board of Directors
Howard Harowitz
Board Chair
Howard is a co-founding Board member of JACS Vancouver, and the Principal of Howard Harowitz Consulting Limited, a management consulting firm specializing in strategy and leadership development. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematics from University of British Columbia (UBC) and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MBA from Stanford University.
Howard’s passion for community work includes current/past Board positions with Vancouver Coastal Health, Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, Beth Tikvah Congregation, and Richmond Gateway Theatre Society.
Alisa Lipson, MD
Alisa is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. She is on staff at BC Children’s Hospital, where she teaches pediatric residents and medical students on the wards. She has a particular interest and expertise in child behaviour and development. In addition to maintaining a private practice for over 25 years, Alisa is the Consulting Paediatrician to the UBC Health Clinic, where she teaches family practice residents. She is also a member of the BC Autism Assessment Network, doing autism assessments at Sunny Hill Health Centre. She is also the President and co-founder of The Learning Buddies Network, a volunteer tutoring organization in the Lower Mainland.
Ramm Hering MD MSc CCFP (AM) Dip PH Dip ABAM CCSAM FASAM is the Victoria Site Director for the BCCSU Clinical Addiction Medicine Fellowship and works as a clinical consultant on various projects for the BCCSU. He is the Medical Director, Addiction Medicine for Island Health. He is the founding physician lead at the Addiction Medicine Consult Service and founded the Rapid Access Addiction Clinic (RAAC) both in Victoria BC. He also works at the Island Health Addiction Outpatient Treatment (AOT) Clinic and the Pandora Clinic in Victoria.
Steve Whiteside, PhD.
David Zack