Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jul 2016 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Page: A8 Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Stephanie Ip PEER ADVISERS USE STREET-LEVEL EXPERIENCES Recruits Know First-Hand About Life for Many in the Downtown Eastside Those who attempt to provide care in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside without first understanding the complex issues faced by the area's population might as well be speaking an entirely different language. That's according to Daniel Benson, one of 12 newly hired peer advisers who are helping Vancouver Coastal Health roll out its Second Generation Strategy (SGS) in the DTES. "I've seen the pendulum swing both ways as far as the laws and people's attitudes go and now it's going in a positive direction with all the harm reduction, so that's refreshing to see," said Benson. "We hope to - and I hope to - influence their decisions, to make service deliveries down here more efficient, more compassionate and do a better job all around. "I'm very happy that they've included peers in this strategy because I think it's really important and I'm excited about being involved." The $59-million SGS, which has been years in the making, will reallocate funding in the neighbourhood, aiming to streamline and integrate health services to better reach its changing demographic. While concerns like HIV and hep-C have diminished, other challenges are coming to the forefront, such as chronic diseases, mental illness and addictions, and it's those that the SGS hopes to address. Some changes are already in effect, including expanded hours at Insite, the supervised injection site, while other changes are being implemented later this year, including a one-stop, low-barrier treatment clinic expected to open at 625 Powell St. Benson and his fellow peer advocates, who undergo orientation this month, are individuals with "lived experience." That is, people who live in the DTES, who understand first-hand the difficulties faced by area residents, and who speak the language of the DTES. "I've been involved with drugs since I was 12 years old. I'm 58, so that's a long time," said the Vancouver-born and bred man, speaking candidly about his past addictions to both hard and soft drugs, plus his struggles with homelessness and poverty. Benson became involved with cocaine in his 20s, "shooting a gram or two a day for months on end," which later landed him a year in jail and a "hard, lonely, dehumanizing" detox experience. "They'd lock the door and said, 'Good luck with that,' and you just laid on the floor of your cell and shook it rough until you got better. So I didn't want to face that ever again because that was a horrible experience," he said. "I just said, 'That's it for me.' I quit cocaine at gunpoint and haven't done it since." Benson wants others who are dealing with addiction and who are trying to access care to know a few simple things: "That you can do it, that you can function, that there's varying levels of functioning and that you can do it and that's what I hope to impart to people - through kindness and compassion and the incredible strength of the human spirit, you can do it." Benson, who now has secure housing at Woodward's and volunteers throughout the DTES, said it was the "incredible amount of suffering" he witnessed every day in his neighbourhood that motivated him to become involved with the SGS. "It's very hard work, but the rewards are huge. Watching someone be so close to death and then come back and make it, or reuniting a woman with her child, those types of things - I can't tell you what that feels like, even to be a little tiny part of that. That's the reward and that's what I get out of it." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom