Kevin Fraser, manager for Sea to Sky Mental Health and Addictions (MHA) Services, is hoping to engage the public in Squamish about challenges that have remained private for too long.
Next week, Nov. 15 to 21, is National Addictions Awareness Week, and locally, Squamish Mental Health and Addictions will be holding events to raise awareness of addictions.
“The theme for this National Addictions Awareness Week is Addiction Matters,” he said. “This is kind of an attempt to engage our community in ways that we haven’t in the past.”
Sea to Sky MHA is joining with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse to draw attention to how substance abuse of alcohol and drugs affects individuals, families and entire communities as well as costing the Canadian economy more than $40 billion a year.
Closer to home, Fraser said that certain issues such as higher than average binge-drinking in the Sea to Sky Corridor have attracted attention, but there are other substance abuse issues of concern – for example, cocaine, alcohol or psychedelic drugs may be prevalent in Whistler, while methamphetamine is more common in Squamish.
“The good news is that it’s treatable, and we have lots of evidence-based approaches,” he said.
One positive development, said Fraser, is that they have been able to reduce wait times for people to make initial visits with addictions clinicians. Referral can typically be handled within 24 hours, Monday to Friday, which Fraser said is important because time is of the essence when someone wants to deal with their addiction.
National Addictions Awareness Week draws attention to progress and highlights how the broader community can get involved. In Squamish on Nov. 17, Aaron Van Gaver, a Vancouver-based naturopath, will speak about addictions at Howe Sound Secondary’s Eagle Eye Theatre from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Van Gaver is naturopathic physician who lives and works in Vancouver’s urban downtown. He completed his undergraduate studies in biomedical toxicology at the University of Guelph before studying naturopathic medicine at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto.
“Naturopathic medicine’s main philosophy is that the body has an inherent ability to heal itself,” he says on his website. “My job is to remove any obstacles to this healing process so that our bodies are better able to heal.”
On Nov. 18, MHA is holding an open house at its office at 38075 Second Ave. from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Finally, on Nov. 19, Andy Fiore’s award-winning film, Room 6, will be shown at Eagle Eye Theatre from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Fiore’s webpage describes the film as a docudrama loosely based on his lengthy battle with mental illness and addiction.
Previously, Fiore had put together documentaries with grants from the Vancouver Foundation, many of which looked at the people of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. In 2013 he received a grant from the B.C. Arts Council and began work on Room 6, his first dramatized film. In April, the 35-minute film won a Royal Reel Award at the Canadian International Film Festival.
