Fort St. John Community Action Team

Finding and amplifying strong peer voice

CAT AT-A-GLANCE
Formed in:  2017
Number of members:  53
Unique features:

Strong peer-focused model

A Q&A with Heather Paddison and Troy Romanow of the Fort St. John CAT.

“I feel like I am someone that is helping my community. That’s the biggest thing that has happened to me. I went from a community-taker to a community-giver,” – Troy Romanow, Steering Committee Member

Members of Community Action Initiative sat down with Heather Paddison, Community Health Educator and Troy Romanow, CAT Steering Committee Member to discuss the evolutions, learnings and collaboration within the Fort St. John CAT. Here's what they had to say.

CAI: How did you first become involved in the CAT?
Heather Paddison : In the early days, there were no peers involved at the CAT level, it was just service providers. At one of the earliest meetings, there was a call for people to be involved in the steering committee. They were looking for those who had the capacity and interest in directing where the funding was going, leading the working groups – that sort of thing. I put my hand up, and I’ve been involved ever since. At our first steering committee meeting, we identified the need for peer involvement. It seemed kind of ridiculous that we were planning anything without a strong peer voice at the table. 
Troy Romanow (TR):
    After I got out of addiction treatment, I started joining meetings with Northern Sun Helpersa peer group that is a member of the Fort St. John CAT, and I’ve been at basically every CAT meeting since. The biggest thing I bring to the CAT is the voice of reality – what it is like to be a person with lived experience in a group of people that is made up of 95% non-lived experience, which is extremely intimidating. Now I’m one of the guys who’s lucky enough to facilitate a community lunch program that’s supported by the CAT, and it’s been going for 40 straight weeks. This work has changed my life completely. 
CAI: How are peers or people with lived and living experience with substance use involved in the CAT?
TR: We have between six and nine peers attending our CAT meetings. In Fort St. John, we have two peer groups: SNOW (Society for Narcotic and Opioid Wellness) and Northern Sun Helpers. Each of these contributes three peers, in addition to one youth peer for the CAT meetings. Peers are expected to work to with the chair and co-chair for three months, and hopefully in the third month, they are able to run the CAT meetings too. It’s to get confidence and experience, especially if peer work is something they want to do, because there are lots of peers in our community.
    Peers get to choose which working group they want to join and are really involved in working groups. At one of the working groups I was involved with, we created a short documentary called It’s Here, about the opioid crisis and how it has affected Fort St. John. We had people from the school district, doctors, the mayor, and other folks involved in this documentary, and it came across as a very powerful message. You may think because we’re 1300 km away from Victoria, the only kind of drug up here is marijuana, but the reality is very different. There is a lot of fentanyl in Fort St. John. Per population, we have one of the highest rates of overdose in the province.
    Our peer outreach team, through our overdose prevention site (OPS), has peers going out to the community two times a day for two hours at a time, and this is all peers – peers going out into the street helping other peers. 
CAI: What is a moment you’ve been proud to be a part of the CAT?
TR: When I first started with the CAT, I didn’t think I even had a voice, never mind that anyone would ever hear it. Now, not only do I know that I have a voice, I have a voice that is heard, and I can actually say something in a group of people who have the same end goal as myself: to make a difference in the local community. I feel like I am someone that is helping my community. That’s the biggest thing that has happened to me. I went from a community-taker to a community-giver. That’s who I am today – someone who is giving back to my community. I feel like a valued human.

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