Beyond the Numbers: Personal Impact of Substance Use
Substance use is not just about numbers, it’s about people. These illustrations and live journey mapping for Canadian Substance Use Cost and Harms (CSUCH) shows that behind every data point there is a person, a family and a community experiencing its impacts in different ways.
CSUSH research shows how substance use can affect healthcare, criminal justice, workplaces, families and communities. CSUCH worked with people with lived and living experience and their families to understand their experiences, and Drawing Change co-designed illustrations of their journeys and hopes for the future. The illustrations highlight the realities people may face, from emergency room visits and lost employment to impaired driving, housing challenges and the long-term effects of involvement with the justice system.
In this knowledge mobilization project, people with lived and living experience and their families shared how we need less stigma, more empathy, open conversations, culturally relevant supports and better-connected pathways to care. Read more here.
