Sudbury — In Sudbury, the Community Drug Strategy has released a new video called We are Jeff.
It's about the impact of addictions and how people can work together to better understand the issues and work towards prevention.
The video is at your fingertips on Public Health Sudbury and District's website.
"This video showcases the story of Jeff, who has had some experiences at work such that has brought him to using opioids, and has resulted in addiction and unfortunately death. We wanted to showcase that addictions can affect anyone in our community," said Shana Calixte, Public Health Sudbury & Districts.
Calixte says the video shows ways the community can be resilient and how to increase protective factors to stop death from addictions.
"That includes things like early education, good family connections, good community connections, other available treatments, access to Naloxone, safer drug supply," she explained.
The story highlights the realities of people living with addictions and how important it is to talk about it, despite the stigma associated with it.
"Similar to mental health stigma, addictions are sometimes very hard to talk about, we know there is quite a bit of judgment in our community when it comes to mental health and addiction and we are trying to reduce the judgment," she continued.
The video was created by the Community Drug Strategy in Sudbury and has been shared with several public health units across Ontario.
