It’s not what you say but how you say it for students in the social work program.
Confederation College social service worker program held its fourth annual addiction fair on Wednesday. More than 50 first year students in the program displayed a variety of addictions from gambling to crystal meth.
Megan Cullum, 19, a first year in the program, focused her group’s presentation on hallucinogens. Originally from Ottawa, Cullum said it’s easy to tell other students not to do drugs, it’s just how the message is given.
"It is not that hard," Cullum said. "You have to go the right way about it and just make it fun. Not necessarily don’t do it but here’s what we did, here’s our information and you can do with it as you please. As long as it gets the message out there it’s all a go."
Cullum made the tie-dyed shirts for her group to wear and gave them away for those who entered a draw. The booth covered a variety of hallucinogens from magic mushrooms to ketamine. She said her group wanted to bring more awareness to those specific drugs.
Before coming to the college, Cullum said she heard a lot about drugs from her friends but didn’t know much about the details.
"I want to be able to help people that can’t help themselves," she said. "I want to be a good supporter to help someone over come their issues."
Madeleine Ste. Marie, community outreach worker with Thunder Bay Counselling Centre, said addiction affects everyone regardless of age, sex or race. She said the general public impression is that people suffering from some kind of addiction are living in poverty but that image isn’t true.
"We often think of people suffering from addiction with lower incomes and on the street," Ste. Marie said. "We have men and women from all walks of life. It is across the board."
The counselling centre offers addiction assessments for alcohol and drugs. Ste. Marie said after being assessed, people can go into one-on-one counselling to help with their addictions or go into a specific assistance group.
Ste. Marie said she liked the idea of the fair to raise more awareness towards addiction and looking at it in a different way. She said many people with addictions have a challenge of coming forward for help because they feel shamed.
"Taking away the shame and connecting with other people and saying I have a problem too is really important," she said.
Richard Tatebe, program coordinator for the Social Service Worker Program, said the fair looked at other forms of addiction such as video games and ones common to Thunder Bay. He said a number of people in the city suffer from alcoholism, opiate addiction and gambling addiction.
"Those are the issues that have to be at the fair every year because they have such an impact," Tatebe said.
Tatebe said one of the unique booths displayed showed cough medicine as an addictive substance. Traditionally, people use cough medicine as a sleep aid and relaxant. He said people aren’t aware of the side effects of cough medicine and its addictive properties.
