Collaborative Oral History, Podcasting, and Graphic Illustratration with Peer Harm Reduction Workers

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Aaron Michael Goodman  

This paper highlights an innovative and collaborative study aimed at amplifying the voices and experiences of harm reduction workers, known as peers, who work at the frontlines of the ongoing toxic drug supply crisis in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada. The project draws on community-based participatory research (CBPR), community-centered journalism, oral history, podcasting, and graphic illustration. The project is timely and important because more than 30,000 people across Canada have experienced fatal overdoses since a public health crisis was declared in 2016. Peers play a critical role in helping to save lives and reducing harms in this unfolding situation that has affected virtually every community in Canada. The study engages peers in remote conversations and invites them to share details about work-related stressors, which include precarious employment, financial insecurity, and trauma as a result of continually witnessing fatal overdoses, and more. Their testimonies challenge journalism narratives that stigmatize people who use drugs (PWUD), individuals who experience fatal overdoses, as well as their loved ones. These narratives are disseminated with the public as part of a podcast, and student researchers specializing in Fine Arts are creating graphic illustrations in order to creatively communicate their experiences. Eight student researchers are involved in the project. They are facilitating oral history interviews with peers and making these testimonies available to the public by producing a podcast and creating graphic illustrations.