Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research – New Harm Reduction Infographic
The Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research have collaborated with SURE Community of Practice and Island Health the create the infographic Creating Space for Dialogue about Harm Reduction. This infographic provides a basic introduction to harm reduction in BC and links to further resources.
You can access the infographic here, and see further resources here.
Interventions for People Who Use Drugs are more than just COVID-19 Prevention
The BCCDC Foundation for Public Health has published an article by Heather Burgess and Heather Palis that features the valuable insight of many peers. The article outlines the disparity between the public health response to COVID-19 versus the overdose emergency, and how the disparity is linked to the stigmatization of people who use drugs.
“I see the efforts and money that’s been put into COVID-19, and overdose has squashed COVID-19. It took COVID-19 for us to even get safe supply – it didn’t happen until lives besides drug users’ lives were at risk. It wasn’t enough that people were dying from overdose at alarming rates,” says Jenny McDougall of PEEP, speaking of Risk Mitigation Prescribing.
You can read the article here.
How Child Apprehensions Cause Moms to Relapse, and Overdose
The Tyee has published an article highlighting the ways that forced child apprehension causes a sharp increase in the likelihood of overdose for mothers in BC. Mothers under surveillance lose access to safe consumption sites due to stigma and fear.
“As much as I would have liked to be able to go to a safe place to use my drugs and be monitored to make sure that I was OK, I couldn’t because I was afraid”
Click here to read the article.
How to Promote Equity in Your Nonprofit Communications
TechSoup has published a short and concise article that is a great starting point to explore the way your nonprofit organization’s communications can be used to promote equity. The article also includes links to further readings and resources to explore this topic in further depth.
Language has incredible power, inspiring people to change how they engage with each other and with their communities.