{"id":17050,"date":"2021-06-28T11:42:16","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T15:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/?p=17050"},"modified":"2021-06-28T11:42:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T15:42:16","slug":"mental-health-monday-stigma-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/blogs\/2021\/06\/mental-health-monday-stigma-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health Monday: Stigma Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"423\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17051\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.briwebapp.net\/2021\/06\/a62991fd-break-the-stigma-of-addiction.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stigma matters<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People who use drugs, especially those struggling with addiction face discrimination and barriers to getting help.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stigma can:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lead a person to avoid getting help because they are afraid of judgement or getting in trouble with work, their loved ones or even the law<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> cause a person to hide their drug use or use drugs alone<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> affect a person&#8217;s ability to find housing and jobs, which affects their health and quality of life<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> contribute to people who use drugs receiving a lower quality of care from the healthcare system when they access services<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Addiction is not a choice<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a common misconception that addiction is a choice and that people can stop using drugs when they want to. Addiction is complex. People develop addictions because of many reasons, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> events in life, especially trauma and chronic stress<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> environmental factors<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> mental well-being (emotions, thoughts, feelings, and mental illness)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> genetics and biology<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some people try drugs once or use them occasionally. Others use drugs more often, sometimes to try to cope with trauma or pain. No matter the reason, no one chooses to become addicted. Addiction and physical dependence make it hard to stop using drugs even when it\u2019s hurting you or people in your life. Recovery is possible but it looks different for everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Help end stigma<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take these important steps to help reduce stigma:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> do not define any person by their drug use<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> be respectful, compassionate and caring to those who use drugs<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> educate your friends and family &#8211; pass on facts and challenge stereotypes<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> remember that addiction is a treatable medical condition, not a choice, and is deserving of care just like any other medical condition<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> be aware of your attitudes and behaviours because they may be influenced by stereotypes, negative stories and images about people who use drugs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\nTo learn more, visit:\u00a0https:\/\/local1946.ca\/<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#endthestigma #theotherpandemic #opioidcrisis<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stigma matters People who use drugs, especially those struggling with addiction face discrimination and barriers to getting help. Stigma can: lead a person to avoid getting help because they are afraid of judgement or getting in trouble with work, their loved ones or even the law cause a person to hide their drug use or","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"featured_img_display":"Yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[251,2642],"class_list":["post-17050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","tag-addiction","tag-stigma"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 08:19:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"react_link":"https:\/\/classicrock981.com\/blogs\/2021\/06\/mental-health-monday-stigma-matters\/","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17052,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17050\/revisions\/17052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cklofm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}