Giving people perspective from a lived experience that no matter what the odds are against an individual struggling in addiction, people do get better. People do get their lives and families back and do become productive members of society. When we remove the stigma of addiction and harm reduction and look at the individual with compassion, amazing things can happen!
Guy Felicella grew up in a middle-class home in Richmond but fell into addiction at a young age. Guy spent thirty years in the repeated cycle of gang, addiction, treatment and jail. He spent nearly twenty years residing in the two-block radius in the Downtown Eastside and using many resources, including harm reduction, to keep himself alive. Today, Guy has escaped the grips of the turmoil that kept him suffering and resides in Surrey with his wife and two young children with multiple years of recovering and sobriety under his belt, working for Vancouver Coastal Health. Guy spent nearly his entire life suffering from the disease of addiction and now he is using his experience to change the hearts and minds of people and remove the stigma of harm reduction and drug addiction. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
17 июл 2018
