PHS Community Services Society

Guy Felicella: “When we’re shaming people for their drug use, we’re actually shaming them for the reason why they use drugs… for something that they had no business going through — sexual abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, childhood suffering." Guy talks bravely about his own protracted recovery process, during which harm reduction supports kept him alive. Treatment weaned his body off drugs, but he was still dealing with underlying PTSD and trauma. Drugs had been a coping mechanism, he says, and he needed support to build new ways of approaching this pain. He regards it as a life-long process: https://bit.ly/4ellW2y Commentators have no business blaming supervised consumption sites for unaddressed societal issues like poverty and homelessness; their mandate is to simply save lives. Safe consumption and treatment are not at odds; we provide both. #harmreduction #healthcare #opioidcrisis

Special thanks to The Right Shoe team who called in with a double donation: 355 pairs of shoes and $1,500. Staff at the 1601 West 4th Avenue, Kits store supported the Downtown Eastside community by inviting customers to participate in an annual fundraising run and a shoe drive. Kudos to everyone at The Right Shoe who made this possible. Your support makes a difference by helping PHS care for marginalized people we serve. #Vancouver #charity #community

“It’s not so much that we’re not doing the right things. We’re not doing them at scale" - Dr. Ryan Herriot. "So, we have overdose prevention sites, but nowhere near enough. “It creates this illusion — ‘Hey, we’ve done the thing,’ when we’re not even close to saturation.” Dr. Herriot, who helped arrange an unsanctioned overdose prevention site outside Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital talks about the importance of having harm reduction services throughout the community. “It’s really to facilitate a safe work environment for everyone who works inside the hospital," he said. "Avoiding the use of substances in hospital bathrooms, and so on. And also helping people stay engaged in care,” he said. #harmreduction #healthcare #opioidcrisis

Don't believe the hype: BC's decriminalization experiment didn't change anything. Overlook the pearl-clutching editorials because there's no evidence to suggest that relaxed drug laws meant more people are taking toxic illicit drugs. When you think about it, policing only addresses supply, not demand. It sets the street price. Your concept of the crisis changes when you ask *why* people are taking drugs. As this overview in Canadian Dimension observes, drug use is the end result of widespread political and economic failures. "Addiction as a social crisis is downstream from larger political and economic failures. If we want to end the opioid epidemic, we have to think bigger. "To respond to this crisis we must understand its roots. Societies turn to intoxicants when there is suffering without hope; when living conditions deteriorate and the conviction that things might improve become untenable. Addiction is a symptom. Our economy is the sickness." #harmreduction #opioidcrisis

It would cost the City of Victoria $4.7 million to enforce a prohibition on daytime sheltering in its streets and parks. That's just the cost of moving homeless people along without providing additional sheltering or housing or health support. In other words, breaking up encampments to scatter people in crisis around the city. In fairness, councillors asked for a report about the costs of enforcing its existing bylaws to remove encampments, particularly the 900-block of Pandora Avenue. It was an informational session, not an actual vote, and they heard they would have to double frontline staffing - and it would take a year to put into place. To achieve. . . what? Although it's not reported, it's clear that there's no end game: people experiencing homelessness would be pursued from one location to another. Basically, a multi-million dollar make-work project. Again, councillors are doing their jobs, and working out the costs of various options. But it's clear that this money would be better spent on sheltering/housing and medical supports. As providers of low-barrier sheltering and housing I think our biases are clear, but housing the homeless is always the most fiscally prudent approach. And, obviously, the most humane. #victoria #homelessness #housing

TODAY: Let It Flow Period Product Drive is addressing period poverty in Victoria. (Saturday, Dec. 14.) PHS is one of the community recipients of donated pads, tampons, cups, incontinence products and underwear. Head to Uptown (3440 Saanich Rd., Victoria) to drop of donations alongside Walmart from 11 am -5 pm. Canada ranks as one the lowest countries to talk about periods openly - we need to change that and break down barriers and stigma. #victoria #community #charity

"People as individuals are being blamed for a housing crisis and a toxic drug crisis, when really these are structural, systemic issues that are happening clean across the country" - Beeta Senedjani of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. Presenting a report suggesting solutions to the nation's toxic drugs crisis, the coalition's community policy and network co-ordinator observed that the issue is an aspect of "social wellness." She said the drug and housing crises in Canada are intertwined. (And frankly, you could add a mental health crisis to this.) Criticizing the politicization of the drug crisis, Beeta said the coalition's report offers evidence instead of rhetoric. “Whenever the most marginalized people in our community are being targeted by politicians, we need to ask ourselves why, and really look at that with a critical view." #harmreduction #opioidcrisis #housing

Help change the direction of people's lives this holiday season: https://bit.ly/495fVFy   Guy Felicella, in conversation with CEO Micheal Vonn, tells how connections built through PHS housing, healthcare and harm reduction transformed his life when he was struggling.   “The great thing that’s always been about PHS since the ‘90s is it’s always provided human connection, which can change the direction of people’s lives,” he said. #harmreduction #vancouver #opioidcrisis

“Thank you for caring about me when I couldn’t do it for myself” - WISH participant. WISH Drop-In Centre Society celebrates 40 years of providing practical, immediate non-judgemental support to street-based sex workers in the Downtown Eastside. Because sex work is work, and sex worker rights are human rights. And humanity is caring for all those round us.

The Let it Flow team returns next Saturday with their campaign to address period poverty in Victoria. PHS Victoria is a recipient of gifted items. Please bring donations of pads, tampons, cups & underwear to Uptown (3440 Saanich Rd., Victoria) between 11 am and 5 pm on Saturday, Dec. 14. #victoria #charity #community