Support group for drug users launches in Waterloo region

Sanguen Health Centre has launched a support group for people who use drugs to help them cope with the trauma related to losing friends and loved ones to overdose deaths and dealing with close calls.

Pete McKechnie, one of the group's facilitators, said no one showed up to Monday's meeting, but they will try again next week.

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"New things can be a little tricky," said McKechnie, who works as Sanguen's social support coordinator. 

He said that when the agency launched its community health van, only two or three people sought it out. Now, he said the van serves over 100 people every Thursday.

The community health van is where the idea for the support group began. 

'Little box of trauma'

McKechnie said people come to the van for new naloxone kits, and when they do, they talk to him about overdose deaths and close calls they are seeing. 

"All of a sudden, somebody's opened up this little box of trauma — the kind of thing you or I would go see a counsellor or therapist for," he said.

But instead of processing the trauma, these people have to get on with their lives, figure out where they are going to eat, sleep or take care of a health issue, he said.

"They have to take that [trauma] and box it back up and then put it back on the shelf," McKechnie said. "They can't think about that, because if they do it's just too much."

Unique support group

McKechnie decided to create a space where people who used drugs could come and talk about what they were seeing and experiencing. 

He said it's a unique support group because it does not require participants to abstain from drug use. 

Structure will also be minimal, with group members having to abide by only three rules: no violence, give others a chance to speak and show some respect.

McKechnie admits that with so few rules, the group could come with a certain amount of chaos but says he and his co-facilitator are adept at handling that. 

As for numbers, he said that even if two people show up, the group will be a success, and he's willing to wait for those two.