Tara Lyons
BA (SFU), MA (Concordia), PhD (Carleton)Image
Tara Lyons, PhD (she/her), is a faculty member in the Department of Criminology and Chair of the KPU Research Ethics Board. Dr. Lyons’ research examines how legal and health systems and policies impact the health of criminalized communities. Specifically, her work examines how intersecting social and structural factors shape the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ2+ people, sex workers, and people who use drugs. Her community-based research with trans and queer individuals engaged in sex work and/or substance use has contributed to some of the only Canadian evidence in this area of study. Dr. Lyons has extensive experience conducting community-based research and has a strong record of effective and meaningful knowledge translation.
Dr. Lyons has worked extensively within social justice activism, including prison justice and drug policy reform. She co-founded Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) and currently serves as a CSSDP Strategic Advisor. She is committed to integrating diversity, equity and inclusion into her classes and at KPU more broadly. Dr. Lyons is a member of KPU's Pride Advocacy Group, a group working towards safer and more inclusive classrooms and spaces for LGBTQ2+ students, staff, and faculty at KPU.
Courses taught
- ARTS 1100 Exploring the Arts – Cannabis
- CRIM 1100 Introduction to Criminology
- CRIM 1101 Introduction to the Criminal Justice System
- CRIM 3104 Qualitative Research Methods
- CRIM 3217 Women, Crime, and Justice
- CRIM 3270 Substance Use and Harm Reduction
- CRIM 4900 Special Topics: Drugs, Crime, and Policy
- CRIM 5000 Honours Thesis I
- CRIM 5020 Honours Thesis II
Scholarly Work
- Lyons, T., Krüsi, A., Kerr, T., Shannon, K. (Accepted). The impacts of intersecting stigmas on health and housing experiences of queer women sex workers in Vancouver, Canada. Journal of Homosexuality
- O. Amram, K. Shannon, M. Braschel, S. Machat, S. Moreheart, T. Lyons, S. M. Goldenberg (2019). Mapping workplace neighbourhood mobility amongst sex workers in an urban Canadian setting: Results of a community-based spatial epidemiological study from 2010-2016. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, accepted
- Krüsi A., Ranville F., Gurney L.,Lyons T., Shoveller J., Shannon K. (2018). Positive sexuality: HIV disclosure, gender, violence and the law—A qualitative study. PLoS ONE 13(8): e0202776.
- Lyons, T., Pierre, L., Krüsi, A., Shannon. K. (2018). Criminal justice versus health and human rights perspectives on trans sex work. Edited by Larry Nuttbrock. Transgender Sex Work and Society. Harrington Park Press, United States.
- Lyons, T., Krüsi, A., Pierre, L., Small, W., Shannon. K. (2017). The impact of construction and gentrification on an outdoor trans sex work environment: Violence, displacement, and policing. Sexualities,20(8): 881-903.
- Lyons, T., Krüsi, A., Pierre, L., Smith, A., Small, W., Shannon, K. (2016). Experiences of trans women and two-spirit persons accessing women-specific health and housing services in a downtown neighborhood of Vancouver, Canada. LGBT Health, 3(5): 373-378.
- Matthen, P., Lyons, T.,Taylor, M., Jennex, J., Anderson, S., Jollimore, J., Shannon, K. (2018). “I walked into the industry for survival and came out of a closet”: How gender and sexual identities shape sex work experiences among men, two spirit, and trans people in Vancouver.” Men and Masculinities,21(4): 479 – 500. Online first September 13, 2016.
- Lyons, Tara, Shannon, Kate, Richardson, Lindsey, Simo, Annick, Wood, Evan and Thomas Kerr (Online First May 27, 2015). Women who use drugs and have sex with women in a Canadian setting: Barriers to treatment enrollment and exposure to violence and homelessness. Archives of Sexual Behavior. DOI 10.1007/s10508-015-0508-2
- Lyons, T., Krüsi, A., Pierre, L., Kerr, T., Small, W., Shannon, K. (2017). Negotiating violence in the context of transphobia and criminalization: The experiences of trans sex workers in Vancouver, Canada. Qualitative Health Research, 27(2): 182-190. Published online before print October 28, 2015.
- Lyons, Tara, Shannon, Kate, Pierre, Leslie, Small, Will, Krüsi, Andrea and Thomas Kerr (2015). A qualitative study of transgender individuals’ experiences in residential addiction treatment settings: Stigma and inclusivity. Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 10:17
- Dell, Colleen A., Lyons, Tara, Grantham-Sylliboy, Sheila, Kilty, Jennifer. M. and Chase, Whisper (2014). “Researching with Respect: The Contributions of Feminist, Aboriginal and Community-Based Research Approaches to the Development of our Study of First Nations Women's Healing from Problematic Drug Use.” In Rachel C. Berman (Ed.) Corridor Talk: Canadian Feminist Scholars Share Stories of Research
- Lyons, Tara, Kerr, Thomas, Duff, Putu, Feng, Cindy & Kate Shannon (2014). Youth, violence and non-injection drug use: Nexus of vulnerabilities among lesbian and bisexual sex workers. AIDS Care, 26(9): 1090-1094. Electronically published ahead of print January 2, 2014.
- Lyons, Tara (2013). Judges as therapists and therapists as judges: The collision of judicial and therapeutic roles in drug treatment courts. Contemporary Justice Review, 16(4): 412-424. Electronically published ahead of print November 18, 2013.
- Lyons, Tara (2014). Simultaneously treatable and punishable: Implications of the production of addicted subjects in a drug treatment court. Addiction, Research & Theory, 22(2): 98-108. Electronically published ahead of print October 3, 2013.
- Allard, Patricia, Lyons, Tara & Richard Elliott (October 2011). Impaired Judgment: Assessing the Appropriateness of Drug Treatment Courts as a Response to Drug Use in Canada. HIV/AIDS Legal Network: Toronto, ON.
- Dell, Colleen, Lyons, Tara & Kathleen Cayer (2010). The Role of ‘Kijigabandan’ and ‘Manadjitowin’ in Understanding Harm Reduction Policies and Programs for Aboriginal Peoples. Native Social Work Journal, volume 7: 109-137.
- Lyons, Tara and Bill Reimer (2009). A Review of Capacity Frameworks: Six Features of Comparison. In Godfrey Baldacchino, Rob Greenwood & Lawrence Felt (eds.) Remote Control: Governance Lessons for and from Small, Insular, and Remote Regions. St. John’s, NF: ISER Books. Pp. 63-76.
- Naytowhow, Violet and the CIHR Research Project (including Colleen Anne Dell, Tara Lyons) Song and video, From Stilettos to Moccasins Mae Star Productions, November 2009.
- Reimer, Bill, Lyons, Tara, Ferguson, Nelson & Geraldina Polanco (2008) Social Capital as Social Relations: The Contribution of Normative Structures. Sociological Review, 56(2): 256-274.
- Dell, Colleen Anne and Tara Lyons (2007). Harm reduction policies and programs for persons of Aboriginal descent. Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. Ottawa: ON.
- Moore, Dawn and Tara Lyons (2007). “Sentenced to Treatment / Sentenced to Harm: Women, Risk and the Drug Treatment Courts.” In Pat O’Malley and Kelly Hannah-Moffat (eds.) Gendered Risks. London: Routledge Cavendish. Pp. 183-203.