The health promotion team has been busy this year. We managed to secure a position for Caro Weidner,Community Workshops and Peer Education and NSP, and Brit Chapman into the team in the role of workforce development training, but as all small teams do, we work across all projects and fill in where needed.
Workforce Development
Harm Reduction Victoria developed a Harm Reduction Masterclass that was offered as a part of the VAADA Elevate Training Program.
The masterclass offers a full and varied program comprising seven modules over two half days. The program was delivered on four separate occasions throughout the year and each time it was very well attended.
Awareness Day Events
One of the highlights early in the year was the International Overdose Awareness Day Rally that we held on the steps of Parliament House. The event was a collaboration between Harm Reduction Victoria and the Southern Metro Harm Reduction Coalition and around 150 people attended including ministers and politicians.
There was an installation of empty pairs of shoes, representing the lives lost to overdose. Purple and silver balloons and umbrellas drew the attention of passersby. We held signs with each of our 30 demands that had been posted on social media in the days leading up to the event.
The very clear message behind it all - a demand for drug decriminalisation.
Overdose Prevention Online Training
Overdose is preventable and Harm Reduction Victoria continues to offer overdose education to the sector and community.
With regard to opiate overdose we continue to offer our monthly Online Overdose Response (with naloxone) Training. On completion, participants are eligible to receive a purpose made HRVic naloxone kit in the mail. These sessions became popular during COVID and have increased in popularity over the past 12 months: we delivered 11 monthly sessions throughout the year to 131 participants, 26 of which, live in rural and regional areas.
“IT’S YOUR RIGHT” Hep C Testing & Treatment Campaign:
October saw the launch of the It’s Your Right campaign which aimed to increase hepatitis C testing and treatment in people who inject drugs using a peer led approach. This national project was a joint effort between The Burnet Institute and each of the state based drug user organisations. The campaign objectives included reaching people who are not accessing hepatitis C services, shifting perceptions about treatment, and supporting people to be tested and treated. It’s Your Right included linking people who inject drugs with peer workers and trusted services, combining vibrant, rights-based messages in street advertising, with tailored peer-led engagement strategies. Engagement strategies included client outreach, cash incentives, point-of-care testing, and events. We engaged the help of three new peers and set up in three locations, Melbourne CBD, Western suburbs (St Albans) and Geelong for a period of three months. The number of people we saw in St Albans was overwhelming and the reason behind us gaining some extra funds to be able to continue on working out West. During that time we have had more than 350 conversations about hep C, we have managed to test more than 200 people and from those we have supported more than ten people from start to finish of their hep C treatment.
We were all fortunate enough to be able to attend AIVL’s Stigma Conference at Parliament House in Canberra which was a great opportunity for us to network with likeminded people from all over Australia. We saw a really interesting presentation from the folk at the Drug Users Liberation Front in Vancouver all about their safe supply project. We really do need to start thinking outside the box when it comes to these issues.
Stigma Paticipatory Film Series
Stigma remains a huge problem especially with regard to injecting drug use and is still one of the main reasons given for people not seeking help when they need it.
Conor Ashleigh - photographer, film maker - documentary storyteller with a background in community development and communications.
In his words :
“I facilitate the stories that people want to tell about themselves – stories that educate and empower.”
True to his word, Conor put out a call asking for our community’s experiences in accessing healthcare. He asked what barriers, if any, stood in the way of them going onto hep C treatment? Conor also asked each survey participant if they would be involved in the subsequent creation of the project ie. filming, editing, acting and recording (audio) of the project as a skill-sharing exercise.
He heard a variety of different stories, each one was unique but the common theme with all of them was stigma.
There were some patterns of similar themes and some stand out experiences. Together, the health promotion team and Conor decided on a series of five stories capturing the most common themes and an outlier maybe not as common but still an issue in our community. We drafted scripts for each story and once they were done Conor called the peers who had previously indicated that they would like to be involved and offered them acting roles and production positions, i.e. camera operator, director and sound tech. The filming occurred over ten days throughout Melbourne and rural Victoria. Eight peers participated in the filming alongside HRVic staff and other volunteer actors including a pharmacist and a nurse practitioner. The group came back together and gave feedback to the films and we decided to add a call to action to each one with the purpose of including a direct message to healthcare workers. We now have a series of films that will be released in the very near future and hopefully utilized by healthcare workers or anyone who works with people who use drugs.
HR23 Melbourne
The International Harm Reduction Conference (HR23) came to Melbourne this year and all team members were able to attend.
We trained over 40 Conference Harm Reduction volunteers for Peer Outreach and NSP distribution and peer education/information during the conference.