CRISM Prairies: Understanding addiction pathways, strengthening support systems, and shaping evidence-based policies for a healthier future
It was a path Dr. David Hodgins never planned to take, but one he’s thankful he’s on. It all started with an arbitrary assignment in the first year of his master’s program.
“I was randomly assigned to work with an addiction agency as my first clinical placement, and I never looked back,” says Dr. Hodgins, clinical psychologist, professor at the University of Calgary’s department of psychology and research coordinator with the Alberta Gambling Research Institute.
“In that early placement, I was quickly amazed when I met people with lived experience how well they could do in overcoming addictions. I was impressed with people. It coincided with my own personal family experiences where I observed my loved ones doing well in recovery despite the stereotype of people never overcoming addictions.”
Now, more than 30 years later, Dr. Hodgins is a world-renowned expert in substance use and addiction research.
Strength in Numbers: Uniting the Prairie Provinces
Dr. Hodgins is the Nominated Principal Investigator (NPI) of the Prairie Node of the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Matters (CRISM), a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded research network organized into five regional nodes. At the national and regional levels, each node works alongside people with lived and living experience, scientists, healthcare professionals, Indigenous partners and policymakers to develop research helping to better understand substance use and addiction in Canada.
“In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba we have some very strong addictions researchers but because of pre-existing infrastructures we had been working independently,” says Dr. Hodgins. “There is strength in numbers and what CRISM has allowed us to do is combine forces and work collaboratively to achieve system changes.”
Navigating Recovery: Exploring Diverse Pathways to Overcoming Addiction
Dr. Hodgins says drug issues traditionally travel west to east, which puts the prairie provinces second in line after British Columbia when dealing with the impact of the toxic drug crisis in Canada. Statistics show prairie provinces also experience higher rates of alcohol use and problematic gambling.
CRISM’s Prairie Node has identified three research focus areas: Understanding support services in rural populations, the therapeutic impact of engagement with animals in substance use disorder recovery, and Dr. Hodgins' area of expertise, studying the different journeys people take on their road to recovery.
“We know in addictions there are lots of different pathways people can take in becoming successful in overcoming addictions,” Dr. Hodgins explains. “We want to know where people start when they are first looking for help.”
“As an example, one thing we have discovered in our problem gambling research is that a surprising number of people go to their clergy to talk about an issue. That tells us we really need to make sure that our clergy are armed with the right information so that they can provide the best support. We’re mapping the different pathways people take to access treatments and determining what is common and what is helpful, and then we can come up with solutions to bolster those resources,” adds Dr. Hodgins.
Strengthening Foundations: CRISM's Capacity Building Initiatives
Along with leading direct research projects, one of the other mandates of the Prairie Node is capacity building. Since CRISM launched in 2015, the Prairie Node has funded more than 40 development projects across the prairie provinces. The goal is to provide researchers with the necessary tools to develop ideas and create a willingness to conduct research, collect data and ultimately expand substance use and addiction expertise across the network. Dr. Hodgins says the more capacity CRISM has to conduct valuable research across the country and work collaboratively with international partners, the more opportunity scientists have to shape policy around all areas of substance use including the urgent toxic drug crisis.
“It’s time to take stock of our toxic drug and addiction crisis and really look at what we’re doing,” says Dr. Hodgins. “We know there are lots of different factors in developing addiction, and that means there are lots of different factors in overcoming addiction. Through a solid and broad evidence database perspective, we’re going to be able to make good policy and system decisions.”
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