Death By Overdose
Weathering the Intense Emotions of Grief
Grief often comes with powerful, unpredictable emotional shifts that can be painful to experience. While it’s important to find ways to sit with these feelings, to acknowledge the pain of grief and accept loss, it’s also necessary to find ways to ease and manage the pain. There are several simple activities that you can explore to help.
Kristal – Attending Memorials as a Support Worker
Kristal discusses the importance of finding ways to honour people that have been lost and how they have impacted you. She speaks to how she often chooses not to attend public memorials for those she has lost as a support worker as they are often very overwhelming. Instead, she has her own personal rituals or ways of honouring those she has lost personally including opening a window. She discusses how this practice was used when she worked in palliative care.
Sarah K – Talking about the cause of death
Sarah talks about husbands death to a heroin overdose and stigmatized death.
Kristal – Story of Lived Experience
Kristal discusses experiencing homelessness at multiple stages of her life and how that informs her work as a peer support worker. It gives her an understanding of the nuance that surrounds the community. She uses this experience to support people who are experiencing grief related to death from drug poisoning.
Krista – “Feel the feelings”
Krista discusses why she thinks it’s important to deal with feelings. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.
Joyce -The pandemics impact on drug poisonings
Joyce talks about drug poisonings during the pandemic
Thoughts on International Overdose Awareness Day 2023
We lead multifaceted lives, and the deaths of those we love who have died by drug poisoning contain multitudes. The death of a loved one can bring intense grief, shock, anger, shame, or guilt. People who use drugs, and those who love them that they leave behind, face stigma in North America’s dominant, settler culture.
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.
Krista – “Mental illness and self medicating”
Krista talks about mental health and self medicating. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.
Christian – “Stigma of opioid death”
Christian talks about the social acceptance of an opioid overdose.
Krista – “The way I dealt with shame”
Krista talks about confronting shame head on. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.
A Million Other Things: Grieving a Drug Poisoning Death
Sister, father, son, niece, best friend – some of these words might be how you would describe your loved one who has died of an overdose or drug poisoning. People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) are not defined by their substance use – they are a million other things to those who love and miss them dearly. Drug poisoning and overdose deaths are stigmatized in our society. The focus is on how the person died, not who they are. Society still holds onto old notions and beliefs about drugs which come with a value judgment about people who use drugs, which further contributes to stigma. Not everyone who uses drugs is an addict and not all drug use is inherently problematic. People who use drugs deserve dignity and respect when we are remembering and honouring those who have died by overdose or drug poisoning.