A new report from the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council makes the case for a local safe drug supply program that advocates say would reduce overdose deaths along with social problems.
#SafeSupply
Michael Parkinson with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council said COVID-19 has made things worse.
He said the calls to stay home and stay apart have led people to overdose alone and support organizations have had a harder time providing services.
“We’re seeing direct service agencies just get crushed by overwhelming demand,” he said. “In the meantime, people are very much losing their lives, sometimes in shelters, sometimes in private residences.”
Parkinson said the pandemic has proven governments can act quickly. He wants to see an “urgent and proportional response to the scale of the crisis,” mentioning safe supply programs in particular, which provide non-contaminated drugs for people who use them.
Read the whole article here: Article
WATERLOO REGION — People can practise how they might intervene when they see domestic violence in an upcoming interactive theatre production.
Unmute: The Impact of a Pandemic on Gender-Based Violence is a virtual forum theatre project that’s part of the local Keep Families Safe campaign, which is raising awareness about the heightened risk of domestic violence due to stress and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic…
[…]The goal of the performance is to teach people how to recognize the signs of domestic violence, reach out, and refer to local resources like the crisis centre. Sabourin hopes participants take away one key message: “Just do something.”
The show is produced in partnership with DART (Domestic Assault Response Team of Waterloo Region), Women’s Crisis Centre of Waterloo Region and Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council.
Performances are on Nov. 23 (sold out) and 25, and Dec. 3 and 5 at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom.
Tickets are free with registration at http://theatreofthebeat.ca/unmute.
Sponsored by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention council and DART, Theatre of the Beat developed an interactive theatre experience to be performed over zoom that portrays a gender based violence story and invited the audience to help change the ending of violence. This is part of the #KeepFamiliesSafe Campaign.
Check out the interview: https://www.570news.com/audio/the-mike-farwell-show/ Go to Nov 17th at 107:16 into the show to listen to it!
Register for Free Tickets Here
Check out what the Waterloo Crime Prevention Council has been up to! Click Here to see our latest bulletin.
Michael Parkinson, a drug strategy specialist with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, said the numbers are “highly disappointing” to him and his colleagues right across Canada.
But he said he is not too surprised by them.
“We’ve had conversations over many years about surges in overdose fatalities that were likely to occur … and of course that’s what we’re seeing, not just in Waterloo region but really right across Canada,” Parkinson told CBC News.
“In Ottawa this weekend, four people died within a 24-hour period due to the drugs consumed from the unregulated market.”
Parkinson said he personally knew some of the people who died recently.
“Waterloo region is still a small community and you get to know people. And for those who come into contact with people who are using substances, all of us have been to far too many funerals over the many years,” he said.
Read full article here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/suspected-opioid-deaths-1.5795630
Michael Parkinson and 2 of his colleagues from the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council were redeployed to the Emergency Shelter during the Covid 19 Lockdown 2020. He wrote this article about this experience.
Click here for the Full Article : There’s No Place Like Home (1)
Michael Parkinson, community engagement co-ordinator at Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, said outreach workers often have substandard salaries and working conditions, despite the best efforts and intentions of their employers in the not-for-profit sector.
“Most of the outreach people I know are thoroughly burnt out from the daily struggle to overcome downstream structural deficiencies,” Parkinson said. “The steady stream of overdose deaths from a toxic drug market has left many workers deeply traumatized without the supports and benefits available in other helping professions.
“And yet outreach workers are among our best options for a better future for a group of people without any trust left in the ‘system,’” he said.
“Outreach workers should have pay equity,” McKechnie said, “especially due to when an outreach worker engages, it can lessen or eliminate the possibility of negative encounters with law enforcement or security. “More importantly it means an intervention of love, empathy and compassion and not necessarily one of rules and restriction. Outreach is rarely a negative experience for community. If done properly it is non-judgmental and empowering.”
How do you respond to harm in community or workplace? In this Porch Chat we will discuss the theory and practice behind being an active bystander. This Porch Chat session will be led by Rod Friesen, Restorative Justice Program Coordinator from the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Participants will also learn more about Training Active Bystanders (TAB) by HUB partner organization, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Carizon Family and Community Services, Community Justice Initiatives, (CJI) Coalition of Muslim Women Kitchener Waterloo, The Ripple Effect Education (TREE), or Unity Kitchener. This Porch Chat is part of a series facilitated in partnership with the Keep Families Safe Coalition striving to prevent family violence in the Region of Waterloo due to the increased stress and isolation due to the pandemic. Porch Chats are hosted by the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council and Friends of Crime Prevention. preventioncrime.ca
