Community health promoter details anti-stigma campaign

The Harm Reduction Pillar of the Community Drug Strategy of North Bay & Area has launched a two-month anti-stigma campaign.
It’s called “Let’s work together to: Stop the shame. Stop the blame. Stop the stigma (#stopstigmanorth)”
Community Health Promoter with the Health Unit Katharine O’Connell is a member of the Harm Reduction Pillar. She says there’s a lot of issues with drug-related stigma, including the perception that there’s a specific group of people that may be using substances.
“But really substance use can affect anyone, it can affect your friends, your family members, someone who is a doctor, an artist, a student, an educator, it can really affect individuals from all different walks of life,” she says.
Another misconception is that the individual is to blame.
“That notion really fails to recognize there’s social and structural barriers to accessing services and social structures that contribute to drug use and it’s really putting blame on the individual when there’s a lot of different things that contribute to why someone may be using substances,” O’Connell says.
She says stigma can also create barriers to people accessing services or even discouraging them from calling 911.
“It really does have an impact on our communities and we really all need to be trying to work together to reduce stigma. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, we’re all individuals, we’re all people,” O’Connell adds.
The campaign includes social media posts, advertising, posters along with bus shelter and bus ads.
Numerous community and health groups and organizations are involved.

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