Faculty-Student-Service User Collaboration: Community-based Action Research Regarding Service User Involvement in Mental Health and Addiction Policy

Authors

  • Rebecca French Memorial University of Newfoundland
  • Laura B. Moores Memorial University of Newfoundland
  • Sydney Sheppard Memorial University of Newfoundland
  • Christopher B. R. Smith Memorial University of Newfoundland

Keywords:

Praxis, Community-based research (CBR), Community service learning (CSL), Experiential learning, Harm reduction, Marginalized communities, Faculty-student-service user collaboration, Addiction and mental health policy, service user engagement

Abstract

Growing out of a 2015 Social Work course at Memorial University (Newfoundland), this panel explores the issue of Faculty–Student–Service User Collaboration in Community-based scholarship regarding population groups typically excluded from research and policy development. This course produced two successful forms of collaboration between the professor, his students, and several community groups. First, in order to facilitate direct drug/service user engagement in research and policy-making, Dr. Smith—whose research emphasizes engaging people with lived experience in all aspects of mental health and addiction policy and practice—founded a local organization for people who use drugs. Detailing the establishment of the Drug User Group, the panel interrogates both the role that Dr. Smith‘s students played in promoting the group, and how this project effectively served to inspire several students‘ final projects. Encouraging his students to create activist-oriented ‘zines‘/booklets as opposed to traditional essays, in the second case, several of Dr. Smith‘s students actively collaborated with local grassroots organizations, producing several exceptional ‘zines,‘ encompassing the issues of (1) psychiatric survivor rights, (2) the importance of directly engaging mental health and addiction service users, and (3) the legal rights of sex workers. Consisting of a reflection on the impact of politically engaged action research regarding ‘user involvement‘, this panel consists of an introduction by Dr. Smith detailing the collaborative establishment of the St. John‘s Drug User Group, followed by related commentary from four of his students detailing their respective policy ‘zines,‘ each of which was composed in direct consultation with service users.

Author Biographies

Rebecca French, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Rebecca French is part of the Class of 2017 in the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program at Memorial University. Rebecca has composed a collaborative, community-based policy position zine entitled About Nothing Without Us‘: Engaging People With Lived Experience of Substance Use in Harm Reduction Policy and Programs.

Laura B. Moores, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Laura B. Moores is a social work student at Memorial University, with an interest in sex work, sexual violence prevention and harm reduction practices. She is the Community Representative for the class of 2017, and a long-time volunteer with the Newfoundland and Labrador Sexual Assault Crisis and Prevention Centre.

Sydney Sheppard, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Sydney Sheppard is a social work student at Memorial University, interested in the advancement of mental health/addiction policy and research. A member of the Addiction Treatment Services Association, and 2015 recipient of the Alcohol and Drug Dependency Commission Commemorative Award, Sydney is also the Undergraduate Studies representative for her class.

Christopher B. R. Smith, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Christopher B. R. Smith is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research concerning harm reduction and critical drug studies has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals. Christopher‘s first sole-authored book manuscript—Addiction, Modernity, and the City: A Users‘ Guide to Urban Space—was published by Routledge in January 2016.

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Vol. 19 (2015)

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