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

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

Nicole – Grieving as a community

Nicole discusses the power of grieving together as a community. Finding connection and trust.

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

Nicole – Pandemic’s Effect on Safe Spaces and Mental Health Access

Nicole discusses how the pandemic affected access to safe spaces and shelters for those living rough and living with addiction.

Christian – Grieving the whole person

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

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 – Professional Experience and Work

Kristal discusses being a peer support woker, working on a one on one level with community members to help them with their goals related to substance abuse. She supports those in the community dealing with loss and grief. She speaks to everyone’s experience with loss and grief being very individual.

Laura- Loss to Covid & Disconnection

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.