A CONVERSATION MOVING TOWARDS HEALTH

Drug Forum

On Tuesday night, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), as a part of
national addictions awareness week, hosted a panel discussion at St.
Mary's Hospital on the role of the community in drug prevention.

Titled Moving Towards Health - a conversation about the role of
community in drug prevention and treatment, the panel consisted of a
number of people whose primary concern and focus in what they do is
helping the community become healthy or stay healthy.

The panelists included Dr. Faith Auton-Cuff, manager of mental health
and addictions; Dr. Jim McFarland, Sunshine Coast methadone
maintenance program; Brent Fitzsimmons, VCH needle exchange program;
Lori Dixon, School District No. 46 trustee; Dr. Craig Emes,
psychiatrist with mental health and addictions; Grant Simpson, youth
justice worker; Eleanor Weston, registered nurse and tobacco reduction
co-ordinator; Don Hensler, mentor-recovering community; and Rev. Terri
Scallon, Gibsons United Church. The 20 or so people in the audience
were primarily people who work or are affiliated with community
services and programs.

"I believe the role of community is to continually be open to engaging
in conversation. We are all community and community lives in all our
lives," Auton-Cuff said. "We all need to be in dialogue about the
issues that engage us, the issues that distress us and the issues that
concern us, but to also notice the moments when change happens. We
cannot be so deficit minded that we don't notice when change happens."

Across the board, the message given by panelists was the importance
community plays in preventing drug and alcohol abuse. Fitzsimmons
talked of what it means for people to access a needle exchange program.

"The program is now an important part of our continuum of care," he
said. "Through the needle exchange program, people are given the
chance to minimize their risk and self-harm by giving them a way to
keep themselves as healthy as possible and the dignity to protect
themselves from blood-borne pathogens and viruses."

"When we say it takes a community to raise a child, it is so true, so
very true," added Dixon. "That's not a negative, just a reality."

Dixon said there are two things to keep in mind when dealing with
young people - giving them the facts and engaging youth directly in
their own solutions.

"You can't baloney a kid; they have radar for that. Give them real
information. If not, they are going to try things out for themselves,"
said Dixon.

Even armed with the truth, she said, they might still try things out
for themselves, but she believes kids armed with the truth are more
likely to go more gently on themselves when they experiment.

Scallon talked about the role of spirituality in communities and in
families. She said her approach to spirituality is more "proactive and
less ethereal."

She said when people call her in a state of hopelessness, she tells
them to connect with something positive within themselves and reach
out with that to the community. That something can be as simple as a
smile and a hello to someone who reciprocates.

At the end of the presentations, the audience had a chance to pose
questions, reflect, muse or share any insights derived from hearing
the speakers. While there weren't a lot of questions, there was a lot
of discussion about the comments panelists made and insights about
gaps in service and what types of upcoming new programs will be in
place to serve the community.