RHONA BOWE
RHONA BOWE HAS KNOWN many people, including immediate and extended family members, who have died after struggling with drug use. So many, she says, that it can be overwhelming to think about. But she also knows that her people, the Secwépemc, have survived for thousands of years, so she’s working to bring traditional ways of healing from trauma—and from the addiction that can grow from it—back to her community.
“The treatment centres are not working,” says Bowe, who is developing a form of culturally relevant recovery that focuses on existing cultural and spiritual knowledge and helps participants reintegrate into their communities. “Throughout the years, our people had suffered war... How did they get from A to B and still be intact? They had ceremonies, they had medicine and they had the water.”
Bowe’s ideas on recovery involve centres that focus on withdrawal, both in the clinical sense and withdrawal from lifestyle; physical, mental and spiritual wellness education; reconnection with loved ones; and learning to reintegrate with community and address the stigma that often comes with drug use. “The community has to embrace the ones who fought hard to get home,” says Bowe, who has met with B.C.’s Interior Health unit to share her ideas, but is also working on realizing her vision independently. “They embraced residential school survivors; they can embrace the survivors of the streets. After all, it’s all connected.”
Bowe, a traditional ethnobotanist, has helped create materials on the opioid crisis for B.C.’s First Nations Health Authority. She also regularly speaks with community groups inside and beyond her nation, as well as members of the healthcare and policing communities, about working toward reducing the stigma often faced by people who use drugs.
She says some people called her an enabler for supporting her daughter Juanita, who died at 37, in her darkest moments. To her, the real harm comes from turning away people seeking help. She believes shame is among the main factors preventing people from healing from their addictions. “Some people look at drug users like, if they’re addicted, they’re less than human,” Bowe says. “You’re one pill away from becoming an addict. You’re one trauma away from becoming an addict,” she adds. “Addiction is not prejudiced—it loves everybody.”