People First Radio

Bennet Caffee shares the story behind Orange You Glad To Be in Miami. The one man show premiered this week at the Nanaimo Fringe Festival, and recounts Caffee’s first manic episode, which occurred in his early twenties.

Ali Gaul and her daughter Grace Martin share the family story behind Lucky Casanova, Martin’s one woman show, currently playing at the Nanaimo Fringe Festival.  

Carolyn Whitzman, housing and social policy consultant, joins People First Radio to explore the federal government’s role in Canadian housing policy from the 1940s through to the present day.

Simon Katterl led a team tasked by the government of Victoria, Australia to advise the state’s minister for mental health on how to acknowledge harms caused by the mental health system. Speaking with People First Radio, Katterl said there can be a temptation to frame harms as a result of an underfunded system, or one […]

Simon Fraser University’s Nick Blomley shares findings from research into people’s experiences of dispossession while precariously housed.

Research published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry found that rates of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization have been increasing in British Columbia. Will Small, a professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, and a research scientist with the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use helped author that research. He joined People First […]

Jessica Michalofsky wrapped up a journey of almost 900 Kilometres on Sunday in front of the legislature in Victoria. In late May, she set off running from Nelson in memory of her son Aubrey, who died from toxic drug poisoning. Michalofsky was greeted by a crowd of around 100 people at a rally organized by […]

Cheyenne Johnson, executive director of the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, discusses the Road To Recovery Initiative set to roll out at St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.

This spring, new research into the lived experience of evictions in Canada was released. Commissioned by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, it was the largest study of its kind ever done in the country. People First Radio spoke with lead author David Wachsmuth, Canada Research Chair in Urban Governance, and Associate Professor of Urban […]

Carmen Lavoie had been interested in the end of life process for a while. But the social work professor at Vancouver Island University says it was her own cancer diagnosis that really made things come into focus. Now, Lavoie is getting set to launch a new end of life doula Course this fall. On top […]

Kix Citton, executive director of the Nanaimo Brain Injury Society discusses aspects of brain injury in the community which may fly under the radar.  

The Cultivating Abilities Program from the Nanaimo Foodshare is well underway. It’s a 19 week program for people who self identify as having a disability (diverse ability). Participants are trained in agriculture, the food industry, and employability skills. People First Radio’s Joe Pugh paid a visit to the Five Acres Farm in Harewood to learn […]

In conversation with Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, Canada Research Chair in Person-Centered Care in Addictions and Public Health, and a professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.

Patrick Cools, drug checking technician, and Destiny Herman, operations coordinator, both with the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mid Island Branch, talk drug checking in Nanaimo. The service is offered at the CMHA’s overdose prevention site on 250 Albert St.

Piotr Burek, research assistant and graduate student with Substance Drug Checking in Victoria, discusses what can drug checking tell us, what its limitations are at the moment, and what are we seeing in the drug supply right now.  

In her new memoir Chronic Conditions, University of Windsor professor Karen Engle wanted to explore using language to “capture what it’s like to be in a body that appears to work from the outside, when its internal systems operate through an ad hoc assemblage of garbled messaging, reroutings, and shaky foundations.” Engle has been dealing […]

Victoria has a new community led crisis response team. It started a gradual rollout earlier this year, and is designed to respond to mental health emergencies in the community avoiding police involvement wherever possible. It’s being operated by AVI Health Services. Dreanna Picard, an experiential crisis response worker with the team, and Lacey Mesley, its […]

Kim Mackenzie of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s BC Chapter shares the latest on the Peer Assisted Care Teams (PACT) that the organization is rolling out across BC to help deal with mental health emergencies in communities.

A group of housing providers are saying we need to tweak some of our systems and attitudes around supportive housing. In a column that appeared in the Victoria Times Colonist last month, they called for changes to the Residential Tenancy Act, and identified a tendency towards “firefighting” rather than systematic investments in solutions. The column […]

“Punk rock saved my life” is a phrase you’ll find often in Scream Therapy: A Punk Journey Through Mental Health, a new book from Jason Schreurs. Informed by his lifelong membership in the punk community, it tells the story of Schreurs’ life navigating a bipolar diagnosis in his late forties, and the punks he learns […]

It likely wouldn’t surprise you to hear that people with serious mental health conditions like schizophrenia, experience stigma. Family members and others close to a person with a mental health condition can experience discrimination as well, a concept called stigma by association. A new study from York University found that one in three family members […]

Christopher Andersen is crossing the country for a cause, and he’s doing it on inline skates. The Ladysmith resident has nearly 500 wheels to get him from Whistler to Newfoundland. He set off on Monday, the start of The Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mental Health Week. Anderson lives with bipolar, attention deficit, and hyperactivity disorders. […]

Natalie Frandsen, assistant teaching professor at the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria, discusses how online courses could better support student mental health.The subject was the topic of Frandsen’s doctoral thesis, as well as a recent article in The Conversation.      

Jordan Reems is taking the stage to share a deeply personal story. For more than a year, Jordan has been learning and practicing his little brother Anthony’s songs. Anthony passed away in 2021. He was a talented musician. On Friday April 28th, Jordan will be sharing some of Anthony’s music in The Sound Is Lost, […]

Nearly ten years ago, Natalie Senik says a doctor told her that because of her mental health, she would never work or be in a relationship again. Now Senik has flipped the script. The Victoria resident has been working in peer support following a career change a few years ago. She also writes about her […]

Dr. Joshua Greggain, President of Doctors of British Columbia, discusses the situation around walk-in clinics in Nanaimo and the surrounding region.  

Located in Fanny Bay, Operation Freedom Paws helps people who have experienced challenges like post traumatic stress disorder, and type 1 diabetes train their own service dogs. People First Radio’s Joe Pugh paid a visit to a day of training to learn more about the program.

Brigida Crosbie is the founder and owner of Tydel foods in Chilliwack. The store, named after her two daughters, Tyanna and Delana, operates at a low markup – food is priced only slightly higher than it costs them to get in. They also provide seniors with a heavily discounted food package. Crosbie Says her mission […]

Every day since last September, rain or shine – or snow, Clay Johnson has gone for a swim in the ocean. The grade 11 student is just over halfway through a full year of daily dips. Called Swim to Eat, Johnson’s campaign is designed to raise funds and awareness for those experiencing eating disorders – […]

"That's what life's about. If you don't help other people, you're not doing much" "I can't solve people's problems, but I can help make their life less painful."

Natasha Karod took part in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange program at Vancouver Island University as an outside student. She spoke about her experience with People First Radio’s Joe Pugh at The Vault Cafe in Nanaimo. To hear an interview with former inside student Joey Cramer click here. To hear an interview with criminology professor Joanne […]

Joey Cramer took part in the Inside-Out program offered at Vancouver Island University as an inside student in one of the first classes offered after the program came to Nanaimo in 2016. He visited the CHLY studio to speak about his experience. To hear former outside student Natasha Karod speak about her experience with the […]

The Inside-Out program at Vancouver Island University brings undergraduates together with learners inside the prison system for a semester of shared learning. Criminology professor Joanne Falvai brought Inside-Out to Nanaimo in 2016. She spoke with People First Radio about what she’s been able to see at the program in the years since. You can hear […]

Co-facilitators Josh Drummond and Alex Schiebel discuss the Beyond Blame program offered by the Nanaimo Family Life Association. The free program seeks to help men looking to move beyond abusive behaviors and build healthy relationships. More information about the Beyond Blame program can be found by clicking here.  

Registered Nurse Nicole Klementis speaks to People First Radio about her experience as a student in Vancouver Island University’s Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Program. The program is the first of its kind from an accredited Canadian University and this is the first year it is being offered. You can hear more about a study linked to […]

Dr. Pamela Kryskow is the medical chair of Vancouver Island University’s Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Program. She’s also a founding board member of the Psychedelic Association of Canada, and medical lead for the non-profit psychedelic assisted therapy healthcare practice Roots to Thrive. Dr. Kryskow spoke with People First Radio about a clinical trial exploring the use […]

Dr. Valorie Masuda, palliative care physician and general practitioner in oncology, outlines a clinical trial that will study psilocybin assisted group therapy for patients with a terminal diagnosis. The research is related to the psychedelic assisted therapy program at Vancouver Island University.  

Leif Gregersen on the educational work he does with the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta, and his own experiences with mental illness.

John McCormick, incoming executive director of Nanaimo’s new Systems Planning Organization explains how it aims to coordinate the community’s strategy on housing and homelessness.  

This month nearly one hundred people gathered at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre to discuss solutions to the toxic drug poisoning crisis in Nanaimo. Among the voices included on the episode are Snuneymuxw elder Yetta (Connie Paul), Central Island’s Medical Health Officer Dr. Sandra Allison, Community Action Team co-chair Sarah Lovegrove, Lanae Silva, Sarah Doyle, […]

Historian Chris Elcock discusses George Peters and the LSD Rescue Service. Peters founded the service in Chicago in the 1960s. It helped psychedelic drug users through negative experiences, and Elcock argues, was an early form of harm reduction.

Vancouver Island University History Professor Cheryl Warsh discusses gender, class, alcohol, and drugs in Canada since 1850. An essay by Warsh on the subject appears in the book “Pleasure and Panic”, published by UBC Press, which Warsh also co-edited.

In the first part of a series of conversations on stories from the history of drugs and alcohol, People First Radio speaks with Dan Malleck about pharmacists and liquor laws in Victorian Ontario. Malleck is a historian of medicine at Brock University and Director of the Centre for Canadian Studies at Brock. He wrote about […]

In The King of Jam Sandwiches, author Eric Walters gets personal. The story follows 13 year old Robbie, but it’s heavily informed by Walters’ own childhood. It deals with themes like mental illness, poverty, and foster care, and won the Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature in 2020. Walters, a Member of the […]

If you’re on a low income, and have been living in the same building for years, what happens to you if that building gets torn as part of a new development? It’s a question Brian Doucet has been trying to answer. Doucet is the Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Social Inclusion, and an […]

Because TikTok has so many younger users, alcohol companies aren’t allowed to advertise on it. But as Dr. Jessamy Bagenal recently wrote in British medical journal The Lancet, there are a number of non-traditional ways that liquor could be being promoted to youth on TikTok. She spoke with People First Radio to share what these […]

"We all have a role in calling for accountability from platforms"

Earlier this year a group of tenants got together at Nanaimo’s Mount Benson Legion Branch for a mini town hall event. The goal was to come up with community based solutions, for ways to better support tenants who are vulnerable because of age, income, or disability. The meeting was organised by local media outlet The […]

In conversation with Ary Maharaj of the National Eating Disorder Information Centre(NEDIC). More information about can be found on NEDIC’s website, https://nedic.ca/

MySafe Society is one of several safer supply pilot projects in British Columbia. It provides around 130 people in the province with a prescription supply of Dilaudid – hydromorphone tablets that are taken orally. Dilaudid is an opioid that is sometimes used to treat pain. The prescriptions are intended to allow people who had been […]