On November 21, St. Paul's L'Amoreaux Centre (SPLC) addressed National Addiction Awareness Week by setting up a booth, handing out resources and speaking to residence and staff about what addiction is, how help a loved one and where to find help. Information was available in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil and Greek.
National Addiction Awareness Week stands for bringing hope and awareness to people about a disease called addiction. Many people believe that those who struggle with addiction have no will power or lack the motivation / insight of learning how to stop using a harmful substance(s). However, research has shown that people that suffer with addiction have trouble controlling their use of the substances due to a complex interaction of biological, psychological and social-environmental structures and processes.
On Friday, Samantha Chambers, care manager at SPLC and her team of lovely volunteers, Sally, Kit, Muttiah, and Sriranjani, helped educate people about the stigma people face when they are experiencing an addiction and how it is everyone's job to support and help those who are struggling with addiction, and not to judge them. We spoke to residents, staff and family members sharing their experiences of how addiction has affected someone they know or acknowledging at one point of their life they suffered from an addiction themselves. It was a great day and a great opportunity to educate and provide resources.
If anyone needs help with finding resources for those who are struggling with an addiction please call the Drug & Alcohol Helpline at 1-800-565-8603.
More information here: http://www.ccsa.ca/Eng/newsevents/Pages/National-Addictions-Awareness-Week.aspx
