We are the people we've been waiting for

Community Organizing around Harm Reduction in Rural Ontario

Sean Lee Popham

slp@tao.ca

Workshop OverviewIntroduce North Hastings and the Harm Reduction

work that we have been involved with there

Share lessons learned/challenges

Benefits of Rural Harm Reduction Organizing

Start conversation around Rural issues and Harm Reduction

Community organizing

Power is often invisible. Create visible power. Make private conversations public.

Why HR/Substance Use

Addiction have been used to control populations for a long time.

– Alcohol and Colonialism

– CIA and crack cocaine into black communities in the 70's

Substance use as a way to alter one's consciousness We live in a culture of addiction

Harm Reduction work in North Hastings

Starting in 2009 we built from a meeting of 3 nurses to an organization of 13 different stakeholder organizations

Town was “dry” until the 1970's Religious social environment and frontier town Visible drug culture

North Hastings Harm Reduction Network

Established in January 2009

First project surveys of people using drugs in the area

Developed questionnaire and process in spring 2009

June-December 2009 conducted 10 surveys

NHHRN

Presence created work

Drug stores changed hand, risk of losing NE site (Aug/2009)

Establishing new NE site when new mental health drop-in opened (Feb/2010)

Attempts to create user-led groups

April to November 2010

Identified in research as an interest

Drug use groups, help us with research, Hep C

Learned alot about barriers and issues

Lessons from attempts at engaging drug users

Lack of space for low-income people to gather

Barriers to confidentiality

Our own fear about publicly discussing issue

Increasing Support

Fall 2010- cluster of 5 suicides of men 18-55 with some connection to drug use

Sense of possibility of “backlash” against people using drugs in community

December 2010 meeting with wider stakeholders

Substance Use Strategy Network

Winter 2011

-Created mission statement and statement of beliefs

-Organizations endorsed statement of beliefs

-Internal education

Principles

Substance use, including caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and other substances, is part of the range of human experience and has been since the beginning of human existence

Problematic substance use, which interferes with the ability to enjoy life or function to one’s full potential, or which creates significant health problems, must be addressed comprehensively and with compassion, using evidence based public health interventions and services that are client-led

Problematic substance use can arise from unacknowledged or un-addressed physical and mental health issues or other life stressors; substance use may be a means of coping with those issues

Moralizing and punitive responses to substance use are unhelpful and tend to further stigmatize and demoralize individuals who use substances

Harm reduction approaches provide the opportunity to respond in a way that reduces some of the risks of substance use while engaging with substance using individuals with dignity and respect

Effective approaches to problematic substance use encompass a full spectrum of strategies from prevention to harm reduction to abstinence

No one should be denied services merely because they are using substances

Objectives

To reduce individual and community harms related to substance use through education and advocacy

To work to reduce the stigmatization of people who use substances

To actively engage people who use substances in our work and in creating peer driven services

To particularly address the needs of people less well-served by traditional services, including women and youth

To develop and advocate for the implementation of needed services, including a range of flexible addictions, health, mental health, crisis, prevention and harm reduction services in North Hastings

To work together with other individuals and organizations who share similar objectives and approaches

Substance Use Strategy Network

Celebrate Youth Movement

The Switchyard

Bancroft Medical Clinic

Hastings Prince Edward County Health Unit

North Hastings-Quinte Healthcare Corporation

Mental Health Services

North Hastings Family Health Team

Maggie’s Resource Centre for Women

North Hastings High School Parent Council

Ontario Works, Hastings County

Bancroft Family Health Team

Assertive Community Treatment Team

Bancroft Family Health Team Community Advisory Committee

Member Organizations

Below the Radar Conference

June 2011

70 plus participants

Half day of education on issues in the community, Methadone maintenance and stigma around drug use

Half day of discussion's around what was needed in the community

Needs Identified at conference

A locally based methadone clinic

Increasing the support and engagement of young people

Challenging institutional stigma within agencies

Supporting families living with substance use

Further education

Letters to the editor

April 2012 “everyone a first responder”

-1/2 day education event aimed at making everyone in town able to respond to substance use crisis

Methadone Clinic

Spring 2012 OATC clinic opens in town

Concerned letters to editor

By-Law banning new clinics

SUSN hosts education forum

Letters to both OATC and Town Council

Lessons learned

Start a group

We repeatedly prepared ourselves for backlashes that never materialized

Harm Reduction makes sense– “if my son was using needles I'd want

someone to give him a clean one”• Pharmacy Tech at NEP

The length of time it takes to create connections with people who are using substances

Challenges

Distance and travel

Lack of anonymity/knowledge of personal history

Lack of space for low income people

Benefits of Rural Harm Reduction Organizing

Much less red tape bureaucracy

People have decreased reliance on the state

A pragmatic view of life

Ability to work with different agencies

Below the radar…….

Questions?