‘I Have Developed a Greater Awareness of Local Systematic Issues’.
Allison McBride Health Policy & Law and Mental Health & Substance Use
Breakfast: Eggs with hot sauce and a kale and blueberry smoothie
Hometown: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Extracurriculars: Exercising, writing, yoga, meditation, and drawing
To learn more about how our students are being activists in their communities, we started sending out a short survey in our weekly e-mails to the SPH student body. We sat down with first-year student Allison Mcbride to hear more about the work she is doing at AHOPE.
What are you working on to promote the health of your community?
I’m currently working at the Boston Public Health Commission’s Access, Harm Reduction, Overdose Prevention and Education (AHOPE). As a harm reduction and anonymous needle exchange site, the organization’s motivation is to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and promote safer drug use, while providing supplies, education, STI testing, and referrals to various health and housing services. At the moment, I’m supplying clean syringes and necessary materials for safe injection while counseling clients on how to safely inject. Additionally, I educate our clients on how to administer Narcan to prevent overdose. I’m also starting to gain experience in referring clients to recovery services and helping them find housing. I hope to participate in outreach soon around high-use areas and assist in some upcoming projects.
How has working at AHOPE influenced your time at SPH?
AHOPE has afforded me the opportunity to vicariously experience the downstream effects of current drug policies, such as stigmatization, discrimination, police and community violence, grief from those lost to overdose, and injection-related illnesses and diseases. Additionally, within AHOPE, I have developed a greater awareness of local systematic issues involving detoxification readmissions, inadequate rehabilitation programs, overcrowded shelters, a shortage of affordable housing, and a lack of appropriate access to healthcare.
When it comes to our clients, I could not imagine this move to Boston while maintaining grounding in this graduate program without them. Our clients are some of the kindest and most resilient people who motivate me to expand myself and assist them in improving their overall lives, as well. Moments that allow me to comprehend the impact of this work are when I provide emotional support to a client who is fearful of having to administer Narcan to their significant other with the uncertainty they will come back. Being embraced with gratitude after teaching a client overdose prevention or providing them clothes when they are without is indescribable. It is these connections that allow me to develop a profound understanding and compassion for these brave individuals who are in some of the most challenging positions.
What led you to be interested in this work?
I have not experienced a time in my life without feeling the weight of the adverse consequences of how society has treated substance use. My earliest memories were of ineffective, fear-based drug education programs that maintained zero-tolerance principles. During early adulthood, one of my older cousins and three of my friends overdosed on heroin. These deaths have been painful to process over the years, and I have been persistently filled with regret. I often would tell myself I could have done something to prevent them, but how could I? I was a child when my cousin first came in contact with the harsh repercussions of the societal treatment of substance use, and my friends’ heroin usage was done in isolation.
Soon after, I began reading books exploring the history of the opioid epidemic and the U.S.’s failing drug prohibition system. The knowledge I’ve gained from reading books and countless articles has demonstrated that marginalizing those who use does not improve their health, mitigate overcrowded prison systems, solve homelessness, or tackle our desperate need to effectively address mental health and substance abuse. People who are faced with trauma, harsh financial positions, disability, abuse, and many other pervasive difficulties need resources to live happy, healthy lives and sometimes an organization like AHOPE is their only support.
Do you plan to continue this work in your career after SPH? How?
I absolutely intend to continue my career in the field of substance use and mental health. I would be thrilled to work in drug policy reform to decriminalize substance use while further pushing for the legalization and regulation of marijuana in prohibiting cities and states. I also have interests in refining recovery services that will produce long-lasting results with a more patient-centered approach and an efficient housing placement program included. Another goal of mine is to gain experience within the safe consumption sites in Vancouver and serve as a consultant in assisting U.S. states to establish their own approved safe consumption facilities. Overall, I would like to prevent further consequences resulting from drug prohibition but also mitigate the effects of drug prohibition and societal marginalization of substance users.
Do you have any suggestions for fellow students who want to get involved in this work?
Before taking the leap into harm reduction, it is imperative to understand that every individual has a family, friends, and a reason to be here. Recognizing your ability to assist in supporting these individuals with dignity, respect, and acceptance can and will have a far-reaching impact within our shared community. The simplest way to get involved and prevent overdose is to carry Narcan. Narcan can be purchased from almost any pharmacy and is available for free at various Boston public health organizations. Learning how to identify overdose and administer Narcan can be accessed by in-person and online trainings. In addition to AHOPE’s drop-in site, there is the Mobile Sharps Team who will collect any used syringes in shared public areas when the location is called in. Reporting sight of used syringes can keep the public from getting pricked and possibly contracting infectious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C. Our campus is also surrounded by numerous resources for those experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders. Methadone clinics, shelters, health centers, and AHOPE need volunteers to handle the volume of individuals who require all the medical and social support they can receive.