Panel Discussion Examines Homelessness and Addiction

The intersectional complexities of homelessness and addiction were the topic up for debate at Wednesday night’s public panel discussion at City Hall.

Mayor Chris Spearman took to the podium, opening the evening by acknowledging the severity of homelessness and the need for community wide efforts that recognize how cultures of poverty run far deeper than just a lack of money.

Mayor Chris Spearman, who recently told Lethbridge News Now that $80-million in 2016 would be allocated to affordable housing, said that “[he would] be the first to admit that there might be barriers [other than financial inequalities].”

Mark Brave Rock, a member of the Blood Tribe, grimly recalled the nights he spent huddled in public washrooms and the racism that left him feeling worthless as he battled alcoholism.

Brave Rock spoke towards the need for better transitional housing for families that helps build confidence and better integrates recovering addicts into society.

Assistant Professor of Public Health at The University of Lethbridge and expert in combating Indigenous addictions, Dr. Cheryl Currie, stressed the importance of accepting addictions as a country wide societal problem and dismissing outdated attitudes, which hold vulnerable persons as having a moral problem.

Dr. Currie pointed out the difficulties for individuals to heal without the support of the community.

“Addiction is a complex aggressive disease, which troubles the reward system of the brain. The brain itself has a disease and it is difficult to expect the brain to fix the harm when it itself is already damaged,” she said.

According to Dr. Currie, understanding systems of interrelated barriers and forces as root causes, will reduce stereotyping and help professionals create preventative programs for at risk community members with a history of oppression and addiction.

“We aren’t very good at treating mental health. We wait until people have an addiction,” she said.

Dr. Currie said that the province has started looking at the prevalence and consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACES) through a questionnaire.

The higher one’s ACES score the more negative, lasting effects on well-being.

These experiences range from physical, emotional, or sexual abuse to parental divorce or the incarceration of a parent or guardian.

Dr. Currie noted that those with a background rooted in residential school trauma might have a score as high as six out of 10.

http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/index.html

Client Services and Counselling Co-ordinator for ARCHES (formally known as Lethbridge HIV Connection Society), Tannia Los, spoke about current gaps that she has noticed in social aid, which result in at-risk individuals slipping through the cracks.

According to Los, approximately half of the clients helped by the harm reduction agency ARCHES, are already homeless.

Los told the panel that many of her clients have low independence because of trauma and need a lot of support when applying for unemployment/disability insurance, finding a family doctor, ordering card identification, obtaining a T4, finding suitable housing and requesting rent slips.

Los addressed the difficulties experienced by those who attend harm reduction clinics, as they often cannot qualify for assisted living if they are not completely sober or just skim the requirements for a predetermined level of needs.

Global Addictions Outreach Supervisor, Ashlyn Vanbuuren, advocated harm reduction programs for individuals in the city who are not yet sober. These services house individuals first, before asking them to address substance addictions.

Vanbuuren said that while there are some options to affordable housing, there is a great need for scattered community housing.

She said that this type of resettlement encourages client empowerment by providing choice, unlike community housing, which can further oust clients who do not particularly “fit in.”

Vanburren also advised the public on everyday tactics that can help vulnerable persons.

These included making those on the street feel visible by saying a simple hello, instead of refusing to give money when approached on the street, offer to buy the person a meal and eliminate and challenge the use of derogatory terms and stereotypes.

On the other side of the equation, Lethbridge Police Services Sergeant Kevin Mortensen, shared his experiences patrolling for the past 27 years in the city.

Mortensen didn’t shy away from admitting to poor tactics employed by the police in the past and the “revolving door” approach to holding homeless people in custody for being intoxicated in public.

“Sometimes we took clients to jail just to save their lives. The down town became a ‘test case’ on how to deal with the drinking problem,” said Mortensen, who now oversees the down town unit of the police force.

The Sergeant said that the city has transitioned from one officer to eight police personnel on mountain bikes, and reworked past enforcement driven approaches with a new model based on communication.

Inclusion Consultant for Lethbridge, Roy Pogorzelski said the public is invited to stop by City Hall and contribute by writing any myths surrounding addictions that they have heard.

The submissions will be used as an educational document for the community in a grassroots approach, myth busting around people with addictions.

by Charlotte Morritt-Jacobs - (@morrittjacobs on Twitter)

Panel Discussion Examines Homelessness and Addiction

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