‘They are people’: Sask advocates say not enough being done for mental health and addictions

The Carlton High School grad has spent the past few years sharing his story of drug addiction and how he overcame. This week alone, he has been asked to speak in a number of communities including the Little Red River Reserve, Montreal Lake Cree Nation, and Canoe Lake.

He recently returned to Saskatchewan after speaking in Ontario on the subject of mental health and addictions.

“There’s a lot of people that are getting a hold of me to share my story and how I’ve overcome addictions,” he said.

Another local speaker who is also sharing his story for Addictions Awareness Week is entrepreneur Cody Demerais.

He has been asked to speak in different communities about his past with mental health and addictions including a Metis conference in Saskatoon.

Cody Demerais (right) and Joey Genereaux are speaking to multiple communities for National Addiction Awareness Week (Facebook)

Not only will his talks include his personal stories, but he will also ask questions about what lies ahead.

“One of the questions I do believe that might be asked is what are some of the things that can be done on a holistic side of things to help when it comes to youth and addictions.”

That holistic approach is something that Kayla DeMong said is not happening in Saskatchewan, especially when it comes to government support and funding.

DeMong is the Executive Director of Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon.

She said that people often forget that addiction is a symptom, and often a symptom of trauma and until the proper mental health supports are in place, treatment won’t work.

“We’ve seen a lot of different understandings in our medical fields and our social workers, pharmacists, nutritionists, our nurses are really looking at substance use disorder in so much of a different way and curriculums are being changed and all of these things and then we have a government really looking at this forced controlled aspect of substance use disorder and that’s really not the way to approach it. I think we really forget that we’re dealing with human beings and they are people.”

For Demerais and Genereaux, sharing their past and how they overcame addiction is something that helps them continue their recovery.

Demerais said his career as an entrepreneur helped him in his journey toward taking care of his mental health.

“Entrepreneurship has allowed me to be expressive, it’s allowed me to be creative, this allowed me to be authentic,” he said. “When you’re all of those things, addiction no longer has as much control over you, because that becomes your addiction because it becomes something you’re passionate and driven and purposeful with.”

For Genereaux, who admitted he was laid off from his job earlier this month, public speaking has become his new vice, adding it helps him to not look back.

“I know it’s important for me to share my story to these northern communities because they’re getting hit hard by crystal meth and prescription drugs, alcohol. It’s ruining a lot of communities and it’s sad,” he said.

“I don’t want to be known as this person that goes and talks about his drugs and then sees me out drinking six months later. So, these speaking engagements really helped me with my recovery thing.”

When asked if enough is being done to address the issues of addiction and substance use, Genereaux said no because while there are people looking for help themselves or to help others, the resources are not always available.

“I think each community is doing as much as they can,” he said. “Each community is different. Some communities are off of it, some aren’t, some just do it because they get the funding for it. It’s an epidemic and you see that you see them all over the place.”

DeMong also emphatically said no because the root causes of addiction are still not being addressed, especially with First Nations people.

“About 95 per cent of the people we work with are Indigenous…so we’re working with people who went to residential school, who were part of the 60s Scoop, are first-generation impacts of colonialism,” she said. “(They) aren’t able to access their resources to undo that trauma.”

Demerais added that more can always be done to help those struggling with addiction but as for what that specifically entails, he’s not quite sure. All he knows is he’s been given a mission to help those still suffering, knowing he was once in their shoes.

“I know what it was like to try and beg for some strength and power to have the strength and power to kind of get rid of all those addictions,” he said.

“I know a lot of people are struggling with trying to find that strength and that hope but I’m just going to continue doing what I’m doing, continuing giving presentations about mental health and addictions. I’m going to continue working on being a life coach for people so that way I can do at least my part and trying to help people find a better path in life.”

DeMong added the stigma of those battling addictions is still prevalent and changing that narrative is one way to help others overcome their battles.

“It just comes down to this idea that people that use drugs are bad, that we have to make the bad people good. It’s a total ethical response and we forget all the science that we have to go with it.”

In October, the Saskatchewan government announced funding of almost $50 million to create an action plan to address mental health and addictions.

National Addictions Awareness Week runs until Nov. 25.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

by Derek Craddock

‘They are people’: Sask advocates say not enough being done for mental health and addictions

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