EKNPUD Meeting in Cranbrook!

Meeting will be held outside now that the weather is nicer

Meeting details…

Location: ANKORS in the garden (209A 16 Ave N, Cranbrook)

 Time: 2.00 PM MST

We are living in the Covidian Era, please ensure you are practicing physical distancing and masks are mandatory!

got questions? contact us at:
Contact (harmreductionsaveslives.org)
250-427-8008

• East Kootenay Network of People Who Use Drugs (officially established September 2020)
• Part of the Provincial Peer Network
• We are funded by the BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors
  • In 2019, The BCCDC and the Overdose Emergency Response Center (OERC) funded the Provincial Peer Network Project to increase BC’s deep engagement with people who use drugs and increase the capacity of people who use drugs (PWUD) and drug user groups (DUG) to respond to the overdose emergency
  • The BCYADWS was selected as the lead organization and received funding to establish the network
  • With the emergence of COVID-19, dramatic increases in overdose deaths (due to an increasingly toxic drug supply, reduced access to services, and isolation) heightened the importance of the Provincial Peer Network Project and the central role of PWUD in overdose responses.
  • DUG form part of a social movement with broader goals of liberation and autonomy, meant to improve peoples’ lives and well-being by offering membership and belonging which improves their lives in a multitude of ways
  • There is evidence that DUGs (and networks of DUGs) are effective in contributing to enhanced capacity and social support, reductions in HIV, HCV, and overdose deaths. Importantly, PWUD have initiated services in aid of their community, such as distribution of safer supplies for drug use, supervised injection, peer witnessing, injection support teams, cannabis substitution, overdose prevention sites and safer consumption sites.
• Our membership is made up & is open to people who use drugs, people who used to use drugs, family & friends of people who use drugs, and anyone who has been impacted by the drug war

• drug user advocacy (attend doctors appointments, referrals, support)
• Work with people who are on OAT & Safe Supply
  • Helping people get to doctors appointments
  • Taking people to the pharmacy
  • Attend doctors appointments & advocacy
  • System navigation
  • Support while people wait for appointments to get on OAT or Safer Supply
  • Referrals
  • Peer Support
• Work with people living rough in the community
  • Advocacy
  • Outreach (ensure people have adequate harm reduction supplies, and food & water)
  • Help people find camping spots, and help the move when bylaw catches up to them
• Host weekly Peer Network Meeting (safe place where people who use drugs can come and find support)
• Peer Engagement
  • Work closely with organizations (such as the BCCDC & Interior Health) to involve people with lived and living expedience for various peer engagement opportunities
  • Please check www.eknpud.org or the East Kootenay Network of People who Use Drugs Facebook group to keep up to date on the different peer engagements available throughout the province
  • Peer engagements are also advertised on @harm.reduction.saves.lives (instagram)
• Same day peer work opportunities
  • Occasionally we have same day pay work opportunities for people who use drugs in the community.
  • Please check www.eknpud.org or the East Kootenay Network of People who Use Drugs Facebook group to keep up to date on the different Same-day-pay opportunities

• mainly in Kimberley & Cranbrook
• The majority of the work we do is out of the ANKORS Office in Cranbrook.
• Outreach
• we will travel to the surrounding communities in the East Kootenay’s
• Peer Network Meetings, Fridays at 2:00pm, at ANKORS
• looking for office space in Cranbrook

• Weekly Peer Network Meetings
  • Fridays at 2:00pm
  • Currently being held at ANKORS & on Zoom.
    • Zoom is only available if meeting are being held indoors due to network connection
    • Indoor meetings are on hold until May 25, as per Dr. Bonnie Henry
  • We have limited seats available due to COVID
  • Meetings are currently being held outside (weather permitted)
  • Meeting times and location are posted weekly on www.eknpud.org, as well as The East Kootenay Network of People who Use Drugs Facebook group.
  • The Peer Network Meetings are open to anyone who has been impacted by the drug war, however first and foremost they are a safe place where PWUD in the community can find support
  • There is no pressure on the people to attend to be seeking abstinence or recovery. We are there to authentically meet people where they are at and love them for who they are in that moment.
  • We provide food, beverages and a stipend for those who participate.
• Outreach services, we try and keep it to day time hours, however we will work outside of Mon-Fri 9-5. If someone requires help, and depending on the severity of the request we will do outreach on evenings and weekends
  • Outreach includes, delivering harm reduction supplies, supporting people living rough, & peer support
• Our phones are on 24/7, ** we prefer text **

 

• By offering membership to marginalized communities we aim to improve peoples well being in a multitude of ways
  • Our members have expressed the Peer Network Meeting have been extremely beneficial in making them feel included, empowered, and apart of a community that cares about them. They have seen positive impacts in their lives by attending our weekly meeting and getting involved in different peer engagement opportunities
• We want to give people who use drugs, and those effected by the drug war, belonging and community.
• Drug Users Groups are being proven to be an effective tool in responding to the overdose crisis.
• Because our friends and family members are dying at an alarming rate due to failed drug policies and stigma. Over 7000 people have died in the past 5 years, and things are not getting better, 2020 was the most devastating year yet
  • meant to improve peoples’ lives and well-being by offering membership and belonging which improves their lives in a multitude of ways
• Apart of the aim of the work we do is to address the stigma around substance use and people who use drugs. Stigma is a contributing factor to the death tool. We need to fundamentally change the way society views people who use drugs & addiction. We hope that through the work we do in the community, people will become more compassionate and come to realize PWUD are people (before the problem).

• people who use drugs, who are not seeking “recovery”, or wanting to change their relationship with substances are often left behind from society, and are the most vulnerable, as people with lived and living experience of substance use and the drug war, we understand, first hand, the hardships people who use drugs face.