Building Hope

Daniel:

Well, it’s crazy, in the late ’90s, early 2000s, I didn’t know anyone that overdosed.

And now, I mean, I hear about people overdosing and dying multiple times a week.

When the overdose crisis got declared a public health emergency, or what we’re now calling a toxic drug poisoning crisis, I became pretty acutely aware that I wouldn’t be alive if I was still using opioids.

Trevor:

When I got onto the job site, I found that it was a very comfortable place for me to be.

School, for me, was uncomfortable.

I didn’t feel like I really necessarily fit in among my peers.

But when I found construction, I found a lot of people like myself.

I had a tough story in my life leading up to that, and the construction industry was a place where a lot of people with tough stories found a great place to make a living.

Rob:

Probably by about age 15 to 16, definitely by 15, I realized that I quite enjoyed the feeling of intoxication, of drinking, and it became a big part of my life.

You know, if I could work hard, work extremely hard during the day, and then, you know, put down your tools and then head to the bar or head to the cooler in the back of a pickup truck, inevitably unwinding turned into partying pretty hard.

Kale: 

My substance use came before the oil rigs.

In Saskatchewan and many of the other Prairie regions, it’s pretty easy to get drawn into it at a young age, as there’s really not much else to do.

And joining the oil rigs, it had just kind of advanced it with the acceptance of more money, less time, you know, disconnection from friends and family.

Daniel:

A lot of guys that I’ve worked with are working paycheck to paycheck, so there’s not really space for missing time off work.

You get stuck in maybe a mindset or a way of thinking that’s like, “Well, if I take this substance, I can, I’ll be able to get through the day.”

There’s also a reward element, I believe, in it, you know.

You accomplish a lot.

Guys are proud of their work.

Wrapping it up with some drugs or some drinks is pretty normal.

Trevor:

There’s a celebration of the suffering.

We’re proud that we work in that rainstorm or in the mud.

We’re proud of moving the concrete and lifting the heavy lumber.

Good people go out and have a little fun.

They end up home alone and the intention was never to cut their life short.

They just wanted to feel different or to take a break or blow off some steam.

Rob:

I tried to carry out the con, if you will.

I wanted people to know that I was in control, that I knew what I was doing, but it was like a double life.

The Jekyll and the Hyde would come out, and it would take me to dark places and into situations that were very dangerous.

Trevor:

I began using in my vehicle in my commute home.

I would head into my room and use until very early in the morning, where I would finish with one drug and I would switch to another so that I could get back out of the house again and fake my way through another day of work.

Kale: 

I was driving down the road.

I had been impaired from the night before, and I’d fallen asleep at the wheel.

And I essentially drove the truck and trailer with equipment on it into the ditch.

And it was my driller’s truck, my boss’s truck.

And, you know, it took on a big file and report, and I lost my employment due to it happening.

It was an incident, a recordable incident, and the company was actually penalized for it too.

Rob:

I lost my brother, who I love dearly, to addiction.

He was a carpenter, and he was injured at work and on a permanent pension and had become addicted to medically prescribed opioids.

Had so much pride in the work that he did as a carpenter, but he just could not overcome the pain that he was in, the physical pain from the hard work that he did for his many years of his life until he had broken his back.

Daniel:

What we’re really up against is that people still haven’t admitted to themselves that the risk has changed.

It’s not your dad’s drug supply.

I do believe that we need to be more open to different pathways.

And for the longest time, the only pathway was abstinence.

It was go to treatment, get sober, and then you go on with your life.

There’s much more nuance in there.

We got to support people in the process, opioid agonist therapy, safe supply.

My life’s completely stabilized when I got on Suboxone.

It was a game changer.

Trevor: 

All the times in my career that I struggled, I felt like I had to keep it a secret because I didn’t want to lose the respect of the people around me.

I didn’t feel like there was anybody I could talk to about where I was at.

If you see that somebody is struggling and you don’t know why, it doesn’t make sense, if they’re having too many fights with their family members, if they’re constantly having to move homes, if they’re showing up in less than satisfactory condition from work, check in, ask them some direct questions.

You might save their life.

Rob:

I knew that I had a problem, but I couldn’t find a way to ask for help.

And I’m so grateful that I finally did and that there were people there that would listen and wanted to listen and wanted to help, that I could find out that I wasn’t a bad person.

That I just had an illness and an addiction, and I couldn’t control it on my own.

I needed help.

Kale:

Now that I’m able to be sober and free from my addiction, I help people, essentially, in the oil and gas industry now.

I’ve actually noticed a few people in my rig crew personally that are taking a step away from going to the bar after work like they usually do, and just being able to be safe because they don’t want to be the reason that somebody else loses their life because they make a mistake.

Daniel:

If you’re a person who’s hiding, using your drugs for whatever reason behind closed doors, and don’t want to bring it into the open, then it’s imperative you connect with some kind of resource, some person t hat’s safe for you to talk to them about that, and find a way that you can protect yourself.

Overdose prevention sites, safe consumption sites, get your drugs tested.

You can use an app and be witnessed, or at least have someone check in on you.

Trevor:

I feared I would lose my job.

I feared that people would hate me, my family would abandon me, and none of that has happened.

Not a single one of the things that I feared has come true.

The people around me love me.

The people around you love you, and they just want to see you healthy.