Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jul 2016
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Page: A8
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Stephanie Ip

PEER ADVISERS USE STREET-LEVEL EXPERIENCES

Recruits Know First-Hand About Life for Many in the Downtown Eastside

Those who attempt to provide care in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside 
without first understanding the complex issues faced by the area's 
population might as well be speaking an entirely different language.

That's according to Daniel Benson, one of 12 newly hired peer 
advisers who are helping Vancouver Coastal Health roll out its Second 
Generation Strategy (SGS) in the DTES.

"I've seen the pendulum swing both ways as far as the laws and 
people's attitudes go and now it's going in a positive direction with 
all the harm reduction, so that's refreshing to see," said Benson. 
"We hope to - and I hope to - influence their decisions, to make 
service deliveries down here more efficient, more compassionate and 
do a better job all around.

"I'm very happy that they've included peers in this strategy because 
I think it's really important and I'm excited about being involved."

The $59-million SGS, which has been years in the making, will 
reallocate funding in the neighbourhood, aiming to streamline and 
integrate health services to better reach its changing demographic. 
While concerns like HIV and hep-C have diminished, other challenges 
are coming to the forefront, such as chronic diseases, mental illness 
and addictions, and it's those that the SGS hopes to address.

Some changes are already in effect, including expanded hours at 
Insite, the supervised injection site, while other changes are being 
implemented later this year, including a one-stop, low-barrier 
treatment clinic expected to open at 625 Powell St.

Benson and his fellow peer advocates, who undergo orientation this 
month, are individuals with "lived experience." That is, people who 
live in the DTES, who understand first-hand the difficulties faced by 
area residents, and who speak the language of the DTES.

"I've been involved with drugs since I was 12 years old. I'm 58, so 
that's a long time," said the Vancouver-born and bred man, speaking 
candidly about his past addictions to both hard and soft drugs, plus 
his struggles with homelessness and poverty.

Benson became involved with cocaine in his 20s, "shooting a gram or 
two a day for months on end," which later landed him a year in jail 
and a "hard, lonely, dehumanizing" detox experience.

"They'd lock the door and said, 'Good luck with that,' and you just 
laid on the floor of your cell and shook it rough until you got 
better. So I didn't want to face that ever again because that was a 
horrible experience," he said. "I just said, 'That's it for me.' I 
quit cocaine at gunpoint and haven't done it since."

Benson wants others who are dealing with addiction and who are trying 
to access care to know a few simple things: "That you can do it, that 
you can function, that there's varying levels of functioning and that 
you can do it and that's what I hope to impart to people - through 
kindness and compassion and the incredible strength of the human 
spirit, you can do it."

Benson, who now has secure housing at Woodward's and volunteers 
throughout the DTES, said it was the "incredible amount of suffering" 
he witnessed every day in his neighbourhood that motivated him to 
become involved with the SGS.

"It's very hard work, but the rewards are huge. Watching someone be 
so close to death and then come back and make it, or reuniting a 
woman with her child, those types of things - I can't tell you what 
that feels like, even to be a little tiny part of that. That's the 
reward and that's what I get out of it."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom