Reframing the Narrative: Understanding Mothers Who Use Substances Through an Anti-Oppressive Practice Perspective
Reframing the Narrative: Understanding Mothers Who Use Substances Through an Anti-Oppressive Practice Perspective
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Issue Date
2025-07
Authors
Hogan, Brooke
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Abstract
In response to the ongoing toxic drug crisis in Vancouver that has often been portrayed as an issue primarily impacting men, this capstone examines the intersecting gaps and potential barriers that mothers are experiencing with accessing supports. An anti-oppressive lens is applied to observe where mothers who use substances often experience the most marginalization within the harm reduction sphere, child protection agencies and substance use support programs. In particular, mothers with intersecting identities, specifically Indigenous mothers are discussed in relation to colonial forces obstructing Indigenous mothers from accessing supports. Through a literature review of articles examining mothers experiences accessing supports, whether for their substance use or support related to their children, it is clear that the fear of having their substance use reported to child protection agencies and having their children removed is the largest barrier towards accessing supports. This capstone attempts to familiarize readers, especially support workers with a greater understanding of the experiences and fears that mothers might have around accessing supports of any kind. In the final section of this capstone a reflecting teams activity based on a narrative therapy framework is proposed that could help facilitate insight and connectedness for both mothers who use substances and support workers.
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Keywords
harm reduction , anti-oppressive practice , mother , substance use , Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) , colonization
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States , openAccess