Julian Somers

Dr. Julian Somers is a clinical psychologist and professor of health sciences. His work addresses social policies and clinical practices that reduce homelessness and crime involving people who are substance dependent and mentally ill. Dr. Somers trained and specialized in the field of addiction and wrote some of the first papers addressing harm reduction, relapse prevention, and the effectiveness of brief interventions. He led the first Canadian outcome studies on Drug Treatment Court, Community Court, and other practices designed to divert people from the justice system.

Dr. Somers worked with people who were homeless to design and evaluate different models of supported housing. Results of this work have influenced national and provincial policies addressing homelessness and crime. Dr. Somers has developed clinical practice guidelines, self-help materials, qualitative and statistically-intensive methods, and procedures to integrate and apply cross-government data. He has been the Director of three university-based research centers, served as President of the British Columbia Psychological Association, and is Scientific Director of BC’s Inter-Ministry Research Initiative. He is an optimist, with awards for scientific impact, teaching, and mentorship.

For an up-to-date list of publications by Dr. Somers, please see ResearchGate.