Today is International Overdose Awareness Day.

It’s an important day here at Windana, and for anyone who has lost people they love to overdose. It’s a chance to take a moment and remember loved ones who have died or suffered permanent injury from a drug overdose.

Stories from GTC residents
To mark the day, residents from the Grampians TC took part in a special writing session around the themes of IOAD. Here are some words from Karen McKnight and Gaby Georges, who facilitated the sessions:

“These amazing stories were generated by Windana residents in a writing session for International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) – as part of the ongoing Writers-in-Residence program. Facilitators Karen and Gaby gave participants a range a writing prompts – including a spoken word clip of recovering hip hop artist Matt Ganem, a collage technique involving the layering of images, the process of creating a memory list, and reflective questions for exploring the topics of loss and impact. The writers each drew on these influences in their own unique way to produce these very powerful and moving pieces that reflect their personal connections to IOAD.”

You can read powerful pieces here.

Other resources

International Overdose Awareness Day
Homepage of IOAD2021, an initiative of the Pennington Institute. Includes a section where people can post tributes for lost love ones, overdose information and campaign resources.

Connect & Learn: Naloxone – Saving Lives
A webinar from Turning Point aimed at AOD workers and other people who work with people who use opioids and/or people who may witness an opioid overdose.

How to administer Naloxone
Australian Government Department of Health page about when Naloxone should be given to a person, who should give it and how it is given.