To address the ongoing drug poisoning crisis, Moms Stop the Harm has created a new family navigation program on the central Island.
Created in April, the navigation program available in Nanaimo, Parksville and Duncan provides support from a peer navigator to families who are supporting loved ones who are using substances.
Gretchen Brown, a family peer navigator with the program, said the area was chosen due to large population of people in need.
“As a family member who has lost a loved one and struggled to find supports for him, I really empathize with people who are experiencing this,” Brown said. “If someone is ready to go and get treatment there often isn’t the resources at the moment. They have to wait, they have to jump through a lot of hoops and it’s very difficult to navigate through the system.”
In 2021, Brown's son died of a drug poisoning. Before that, she struggled to find supports, and what she did find she recalled being shame-based rather than helping her in her time of need.
“There is a lot of shame and a lot of the advice you get is, ‘he just has to get it together’ or he ‘just has to grow up,’" she said. "There’s no room for that anymore, the drug supply is so poisoned that it’s very precarious for people.”
As a peer support worker, Brown’s said she’s trained to walk beside families to find resources for loved ones.
“It’s an incredibly scary time to think knowing your loved one could just die at any moment because they’re struggling,” she said. “These are our loved ones dying and it doesn’t just affect them, it affects me, it affects my daughter, it affects his aunties and uncles and extended family – it’s huge.”
The family peer navigator can make calls for families to advocate for access to necessary services, as well as provide a third-party presence at challenging meetings and events such as accompanying families to court and physician appointments. They are also able to share and guide families toward services and resources, initiate connections with service agencies and offer one-on-one compassionate listening.
Other programs Moms Stop the Harm hosts include Healing Hearts, a free bereavement support group which meets once a month, and Holding Hope, a peer led support group which meets twice a month.
To learn more, families can contact Moms Stop the Harm at 778-674-8638 or e-mail bcfamilynavigator@momsstoptheharm.com.
