Death By Overdose

Kristal – Harm Reduction

Kristal speaks to the importance of harm reduction and how it can save lives. She discusses how accessing harm reduction leads to the creation of connections with community support. It allows community outreach members to connect with community members and get to know them, and to know to look for them if they don’t see them when they usually do.

Kristal – Grieving the Whole Person

Kristal discusses the importance of recognizing and grieving the entire person who was lost – not just who they were before they had been using drugs.

Christian – Denial and grieving

Christian discusses what happens after members of the community die from drug poisoning and how it’s OK for grief to be messy

Nicole – Power of Speaking About Lost Ones

Nicole discusses the importance of sharing memories of those lost to drug poisoning and speaking their names.

Christian – “Stigma of opioid death”

Christian talks about the social acceptance of an opioid overdose.

Christian – My process in grieving

Christian explains his grieving process and how it’s important to let people in, the power of community, and having a team that makes him feel loved and cared for

Sarah K – Therapy helps

Sarah talks about how grief and trauma therapy has helped her in grief for her husbands death and how much trauma she was experiencing from his substance use disorders and entail health challenges

Kristal – Drug Poisoning During Pandemic Stigma

Kristal discusses how the pandemic has created additional stigma surrounding those who use drugs. She dissuses how it seems like some losses are treated as more deserving of being mourned than others. Many people have had to grieve privately instead of publically within a community. She touches on the state of the public health system during the pandemic.

Christian – Grieving spaces

Christian talks grieving spaces and people coming together when grieving

Kristal – Activism To Ease Anger and Grief

Kristal discusses using activism to help ease or channel her anger from the loss of those in her community to drug poisoning. She talks about her grief being very quiet and inward before, but that taking action helps her to move through it. She discusses how there may not be peace from these losses, but the goal should rather be feeling safe in the emotions.

Sarah K – Talking to my kids

Sarah discusses the challenges of discussing her kids about their Dad;s death to heroin and helping them on their journey through grief

Kate – My story

Kate tells her story of being away when her brother died of an opioid overdose