The Manitoba Harm Reduction Network (MHRN) is an organization in our community that supports our local community with resources that aim to allow everyone to choose safer options. With National Addictions Awareness Week coming up from Nov. 24 to 30, the Selkirk Record spoke to local MHRN Network Coordinator for Selkirk, Tristan Dreilich about local resources and upcoming events to look out for.
“We call ourselves a network of networks. We’re province-wide, and we host both networks of service providers and community volunteers who are active around harm reduction and mobilize around harm reduction in the communities. And then, we also host advisor councils which leverage peer leadership in the community about harm reduction knowledge and harm reduction tools, tips, and tactics,” said Dreilich.
MHRN has been busy lately as last week they held three days of harm reduction training.
“We had approximately 30 attendees gathered to really deepen not just our (area’s) harm reduction knowledge, but some of our capacity and tools around harm reduction,” said Dreilich.
He explained that the training wasn’t just a how-to but also went deeper into the idea of how we can actively make changes that reduce harm for everyone.
As for upcoming events, Word HIV Day is coming up in December and the MHRN has previously held gatherings around this time of year to acknowledge the event.
“This previous year, we had a very informative (event) and there was a lot of learning about the facts of HIV, which was great. This year, we know that people are learning about the new medicines. We know that people are accessing testing, but there are still gaps,” explained Dreilich.
That is why this year they are planning to have a casual event, with some food, to share and a focus on relationship building.
“We’re just there to promote real casual conversations on health in general, but we’ll have HIV information available if people want it. And really, what we want to showcase is not just the importance of relationships, but how to build those and how important they are in our health care,” said Dreilich.
In general, increasing harm reduction in our area is something that people in our community can all participate in.
“One thing I would really encourage folks to do is, if they’re not already, get trained on Naloxone. We distribute it for free at 237 Manitoba Avenue, as well as, some other locations, but that’s the main one. If you’re interested in getting trained, the training is free, and we really view it as first aid. I don’t know if I’ve said that before, but it’s to us, it’s really a continuation of that,” he explained.
Something else that he feels that more people in our community should be aware of, is that, for a variety of reasons, the composition of substances in our region has been shifting.
“We’re actually seeing a few notable changes as of late. People are tracking drug alerts, (using resources like) safersites.ca. A lot of them are out of Winnipeg, but our supply is closely linked to the Winnipeg supply. We’re seeing some shifts, and one of those shifts has been the increased contamination or even lack of stimulant substances in what’s being sold as stimulants. So, things like the amphetamines, methamphetamine, speed, crack, and even cocaine are now having things cut into them,” said Dreilich.
Overall, there are things that residents can do to keep themselves safe like not using substances alone, carrying naloxone, and starting low and going slow but in the broader context Dreilich explained that safety is also a community project.
“Our dream would be that everyone identifies as a harm reductionist in some way. We all do this work in one way or the other. For us, we want to encourage folks to be more intentional around it and how we increase that, not just awareness, but our ability and our focus around doing actual harm reduction work. So, that could be anything from distributing supplies, but also providing people with a safe place to be, providing people food, providing people shelter. Those are forms of harm reduction too,” said Dreilich.
For people looking for online harm reduction resources, they can check out safersites.ca to keep up to date with area drug contamination alerts. An anonymous way for people to get substances tested by mail to see what’s in them is at getyourdrugstested.com. If people are using alone they can also call the National Overdose Response Service’s line toll-free at 1-888-688-NORS(6677) which is a virtual safer consumption hotline. Dreilich can also be contacted to learn about local resources and naloxone training at tristan@mhrn.ca.
