With a little support, transitions are possible
When people walk, cycle, push their wheelchair or jog down the sidewalk in Vancouver, they don’t trip over broken sidewalks. That’s thanks to the work by people like Terrance Sim, who works for the City adding fillets -–asphalt used to level off cracks or heaved cement-- to the sidewalks.
“I look at my job as making the city a smooth transition,” Sim said. In fact, through the Supported Employment Program the City has helped Sim make a transition in his life, away from his experience as somebody who was homeless, drank alcohol to excess and was caught in a cycle of using and selling drugs.
Drug-users’ association celebrates 10 years of activism
As slogans go, Ann Livingston is quick to admit the one her group's members use only half in jest has, well, issues: "We're not afraid of those people, we are those people," is sometimes bandied about as the unofficial motto of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU).
For 10 years now, VANDU members --who are all current or former users of illicit drugs-- have provided user-based peer support and education, advocated for change and increased the capacity of members to live healthy productive lives.
Onsite reaching a new client base
When Liz Moss is asked about a success story among her clients at Onsite, she hesitates - not because there are so few but rather because there are so many to choose from. Moss is the manager of Onsite, which opened on September 24, 2007. Onsite, located upstairs from Insite, Vancouver’s Supervised Injection Site, includes a detox facility and a transitional housing unit. It has been an immediate success story serving a clientele that has not traditionally accessed detox facilities.
Creating a culture of prevention in Vancouver
Is it possible to create a culture of prevention in Vancouver? That’s the question a broad-based, diverse group of organizations will try to answer on March 25 when they hold their initial, day-long event focusing on the prevention of harm from substance use.
Students produce animation for Four Pillars website
At the click of a mouse, visitors to the City of Vancouver Drug Policy Program’s website can view the stories of Alan, who smokes crack, Martin, who injects drugs and Carmen who uses heroin. The fictional characters were created by seven, third-year Emily Carr University of Art + Design animation students in a Collaborative Animation class that combines learning about animation with the experience of working for a real client.
Harm reduction in Toronto: Three stories
Last summer, while visiting Toronto, Four Pillars News editor Jennifer Gray-Grant spoke with three people running harm reduction programs in that city. One was responsible for the distribution of 24,000 crack kits each month through Toronto Public Health, another offered a peer-based overdose-prevention project and another heads up the wet shelter at Seaton House, where residents are given maintenance amounts of alcohol throughout each day.
Drug Policy Program’s recent podcasts
The City’s Drug Policy Program (DPP) started posting podcasts on its site earlier this year. Recently, it has posted a number of new podcasts.
