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“It’s an emotional roller coaster… But sometimes it’s fucking awesome” : Meaning and Motivation of Work for Peers in Overdose Response Environments in British Columbia Pauly, Bernadette; Mamdani, Zahra; Mesley, Lacey; McKenzie, Sophie; Cameron, Fred; Edwards, Denice; Howell, Amy; Knott, Michael; Scott, Tracy; Seguin, Ryan; et al.

Abstract

The province of British Columbia (BC), Canada is amid dual public health emergencies in which the overdose epidemic declared in 2016 has been exacerbated by restrictions imposed by the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Experiential workers, commonly known as ‘peers’ (workers with past or present drug use experience) are at the forefront of overdose response initiatives and are essential in creating safe spaces for people who use drugs (PWUD) in harm reduction. Working in overdose response environments can be stressful, with lasting emotional and mental health effects. There is limited knowledge about the personal meaning that experiential workers derive from their work, which serve as motivators for them to take on these often stressful roles.

Item Metadata

Title
“It’s an emotional roller coaster… But sometimes it’s fucking awesome” : Meaning and Motivation of Work for Peers in Overdose Response Environments in British Columbia
Creator
Pauly, Bernadette; Mamdani, Zahra; Mesley, Lacey; McKenzie, Sophie; Cameron, Fred; Edwards, Denice; Howell, Amy; Knott, Michael; Scott, Tracy; Seguin, Ryan; Greer, Alissa M.; Buxton, Jane A.
Contributor
BC Centre for Disease Control
Publisher
Elsevier
Date Issued
2020-11-09
Description
The province of British Columbia (BC), Canada is amid dual public health emergencies in which the overdose epidemic declared in 2016 has been exacerbated by restrictions imposed by the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Experiential workers, commonly known as ‘peers’ (workers with past or present drug use experience) are at the forefront of overdose response initiatives and are essential in creating safe spaces for people who use drugs (PWUD) in harm reduction. Working in overdose response environments can be stressful, with lasting emotional and mental health effects. There is limited knowledge about the personal meaning that experiential workers derive from their work, which serve as motivators for them to take on these often stressful roles.
Subject
experiential workers; peers; overdose; harm reduction; motivation; meaning; work; COVID-19 (Disease)
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2021-12-21
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0395091
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76609
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Non UBC; Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of
Citation
Pauly, B. B., Mamdani, Z., Mesley, L., McKenzie, S., Cameron, F., Edwards, D., ... & Greer, A. M. “It's an emotional roller coaster… But sometimes it's fucking awesome”: Meaning and motivation of work for peers in overdose response environments in British Columbia. International Journal of Drug Policy, 88, 103015
Publisher DOI
10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.103015
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International