This Fall, the Subject Matter Health Research Lab released the third video in their series on reducing opioid related stigma, Beyond Stigma: Strength in Connections. This video was developed to highlight the stigma that may be experienced from or by the families, friends, and peers of people who use opioids and can be of value to healthcare professionals, public health professionals, peer supporters and other social service providers, and people with lived/living experience of opioid use. Accompanying this video is a discussion guide that can support individual reflection or prompt group discussion using specific questions and activities.
Watch this webinar for a livestream of the third video followed by a discussion with some of its creators to learn about the impacts of stigma for families, friends, and peers of people who use opioids, and ways we can move beyond it.
Panelists:
- Abhimanyu Sud (he/him) is a physician and health services researcher based in Toronto, Ontario. He is an Assistant Professor at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Research Chair, Primary Care & Population Health Systems at Humber River Hospital. His clinical, research, education, and advocacy work focus on the complex intersections of chronic pain, mental illness, and opioid use.
- Sean Patenaude (he/they) is an artist, educator and mental health advocate who has worked at CAMH since 2014 in roles focused on restraint reduction, patient safety, and incident management. He is a graduate Fellow of LET(s) LEAD, Yale University’s Transformational Leadership Academy. Sean has served as faculty on CAMH Education’s Opiate Agonist Treatment training program, is a member of the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM) and has been a guest lecturer at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Mad Studies program at the University of Toronto.
- Angie Hamilton (she/her) is a retired lawyer, the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Families for Addiction Recovery (FAR) and the parent of a child who struggles with addiction. Angie is a member of the Policy Committee of the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine and a Board Member of The Ontario Family Caregivers’ Advisory Network. She was a member of the National Board of MADD Canada from 2014 to 2020 and the Chair of their Public Policy Committee
- Jacqueline Myers (she/her) is a pharmacist in Regina and has practiced in various clinical settings including community pharmacy, long-term care, and within the Saskatchewan Health Authority in the areas of internal medicine and opioid stewardship. Jackie currently provides care for people living with HIV as well as substance use disorders and delivers education to primary care clinicians with RxFiles Academic Detailing Service. Her passion is working with marginalized populations and helping other clinicians provide compassionate care. When Jackie is not with patients or health care providers, she enjoys running, traveling, and spending time outdoors with her two pups.
- Pauline Ingber (she/her) has been a Public Health Nurse at the Regional Municipality of York, since 2001. Her current work includes the development & collaboration on the Opioid Action Plan for York Region and co-chairs the stigma reduction group of the Community Opioid Drug Response Collaborative. This group of community agencies is working together to decrease stigma, harm and marginalization of people using opioids by sharing information and providing education in order to increase awareness and appreciation that, opioid and substance use must be addressed as a health and social issue. Pauline also works with other committees and groups to reduce stigma and harms and provide prevention strategies related to substance use in York Region. When not at work, Pauline enjoys time in nature, hiking, traveling to new places and spending time with family and friends.
- Kirsten Dixon (she/her) graduated from the School of Medicine at Queen’s University in 2006 and completed her residency in Family Medicine through St. Michael’s Hospital at the University of Toronto. Dr. Dixon’s clinical work is focused on the care of people experiencing homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorders. She works with a shelter-based outreach team through CAMH and was the Lead Physician with Inner City Health Associates for Seaton House men’s shelter from 2017 to 2020. Since 2015, Dr. Dixon has worked with the Safer Opioid Prescribing Program at the University of Toronto on course development and facilitation. She is dedicated to enhancing education on opioid use disorder and to improving the quality of care delivered to people who use opioids.