LITTLE CURRENT—National Addictions Awareness Week (NAAW) runs from November 24 – 30 this year, and Noojmowin Teg Health Centre organized a conference on Wednesday, November 27 at the Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre. This event brought organizations and people together to focus on the issues associated with and the consequences of addiction. Eighteen organizations took part, displaying banners, providing reading material and available to speak of their work and the services they offer to all interested parties.
Allison Dodge, mental health and addictions counsellor at Noojmowin Teg, was the main organizer of the event, though she stressed there were many people involved in putting the program together.
“I think the conference went well and I was happy with the turn out, especially with the bad weather,” she said.
Booths were set up around the perimeter of the conference hall and each organization provided materials to promote their services, but in a room that size, it’s impossible to connect with everyone. “By having someone from each booth stand up one at a time to provide an explanation of their services, I think everyone was able to gain more knowledge and information on what is available and how to enhance our collaborations as agencies,” Ms. Dodge said.
Following lunch, the afternoon program consisted of a panel of four speakers whose topics, though varied, dealt in one way or another with addiction. “Having a person with lived experience was important, as their stories are powerful and inspiring,” Ms. Dodge said of the first speaker, whose story was very powerful and touched everyone in the room.
“We wanted to bring awareness of how homelessness impacts addictions and the efforts being made by the By Name List to end homelessness,” said Ms. Dodge. Dana Crane from Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Board explained, “A By Name List (BNL) is a real-time list of all people experiencing homelessness in your community.” Her statistics covered not only those who consent to be on this list, but also those having trouble keeping up with rent payments, in fear of losing their homes, those living in conditions needing major repairs and a national statistic of 36 percent of the population who have been homeless or know someone who has been. “These stats were put together a couple of years ago,” Ms. Crane said, “I can guess that things have only increased in the last couple of years.” Her news, overall, was grim, but by compiling a BNL, her agency can better direct those on the list to partner agencies for the help they need. “We wanted to bring awareness of how homelessness impacts addictions and the efforts being made by the By Name List to end homelessness,” Ms. Dodge explained.
Matt Maracle was the next panelist. Mr. Maracle is Director of Operations at Gwekwaadziwin Miikan. “When Allison asked me to speak, I thought it would be a great opportunity to share about the work that we do, our land-based healing. Then she mentioned that she wanted it to be about HR… everybody’s favourite topic,” he said. “Job recruitment can be challenging in rural areas and the shortage of workers can have an impact on addiction services and wait times,” Ms. Dodge explained.
Debbie Debassige is Dean of Post Secondary Education and Training with Kenjgewin Teg. She spoke of education pathways available through courses at Kenjgewin Teg, to any of the participants at the conference interested in pursuing a career in which they could make a positive difference.
Elder Josh Eshkawkogan was the final speaker, providing his perspective and teachings. “A lot of people are affected by the lack of love in the household.” Mr. Eshkawkogan explained. “Sometimes, addiction comes from low self-esteem, lack of relationship within themselves, within family, within community.” Mr. Eshkawkogan concluded by saying, “I think what we need to do a little bit more as helpers is engage in more seminars like this—it’s about sharing, it’s about networking… It’s very important that we share, and to be able to acknowledge each other and to better understand how we move forward.”
“Every year NAAW is given a theme by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. This year’s theme is ‘Forging Connections,’ this theme was chosen to focus on the importance of building strong relationships between individuals, families, communities and organizations to address the challenges surrounding addiction,” Ms. Dodge said, “and that is exactly what we did here today.”
by Margery Frisch
