Drug Poisoning and the Pandemic

Kate – Things I do that help

Kate talks about how art, hiking and visiting the cemetery can be very therapeutic

Christian – Grieving the whole person

Christian talks about how we choose remember people when there has been a loss to drug poisoning

Kate – Stigma

Kate discusses how difficult the stigma is to deal with

Kate – Getting support

Kate talks about how difficult it is to ask for support

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 – 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.

Joyce -The pandemics impact on drug poisonings

Joyce talks about drug poisonings during the pandemic

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

Laura- Loss to Covid & Disconnection

Kristal – Poetry, Comedy, & Art for Grieving

Kristal discusses using poetry and other forms of creative expression as a distraction from her grief and to disassociate in a safe and productive way. She discusses grief being love with nowhere to go, so she puts it into art.

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

Kate – Trust and listening

Kate – explains how having someone you trust is super important so that you can have a space space to go to