More than an Addict: Experiencing Healing through Story Telling

• In Event: Modeling Engaged and Inclusive Approaches: Decolonized Methods, Reparative Processes, and New Methods for Outreach and Programs

Abstract

The Opioid Crisis. We’ve all heard doctors, politicians, the media, and members of the public speak extensively about it, however, there continues to be a voice missing from the conversation; the drug user. Working as a nurse in addictions treatment has inspired me to collect narratives from individuals who use drugs, in order to illuminate their struggle and experiences within healthcare. My research focuses on the history of public health campaigns aimed at users of various illicit drugs. I am currently conducting oral histories of individuals who use drugs and attend clinics in the small western Canadian town of Lethbridge, Alberta. I aim to grasp how past and current public health policies as well as current healthcare initiatives that directly address addiction frameworks appear in the life stories and oral histories of individuals who use illicit drugs. Oral history allows me to collect a critically valuable perspective in the conversation on drugs, which is the individuals who use drugs themselves. By collecting their stories, I aim to contribute to the narrative of individuals who use drugs within the medical system, in order to provide more wholistic care to this vulnerable population. Combing the life stories of drug use and oral histories of experiences within the healthcare system, addictions treatment, social services, the legal system, and society as a whole will bring to light their struggles, their successes, and their stories.

Author

• Hannah Leigh Forster, University of Lethbridge