Grant: Project Grant

When the harms of substance use become unmanageable, young people who use drugs (YPWUD) may decide to access recovery programs, which in Metro Vancouver range from recovery houses, to medication-assisted treatments (e.g., buprenorphine-naloxone), to Narcotics Anonymous programs. Caregivers (e.g., biological, adoptive, and chosen family members, romantic partners, Elders) often play a central role in helping young people to navigate the recovery process, which frequently includes periods of reductions in substance use, substance use cessation, and renewed use. Growing recognition of substance use disorders as "chronic and relapsing" can be helpful and de-stigmatizing for some YPWUD, because it can shift blame away from the individual when relapse occurs. However, research has demonstrated how this view can also lead to a sense that desired futures "free" from substance use are permanently closed off. Both abstinence- and chronicity-oriented approaches to recovery may be harmful for YPWUD. However, we do not yet know what alternative recovery supports might look like. The proposed qualitative research study will employ longitudinal interviews and ethnographic fieldwork with young people (ages 14 to 24), caregivers, and providers, and community-based participatory research methods. We will work collaboratively with study participants to begin re-imagining recovery and youth-focused recovery supports, developing recommendations for best practices. A longitudinal approach to interviewing and fieldwork will permit us to examine evolving recovery "trajectories," as well as the changing recovery landscape in Metro Vancouver. Working in partnership with our team's Youth Health Advisory Council (YHAC; a group of 8 youth researchers), we will generate and share study findings via creative approaches (podcast and video episodes) that center the voices and imaginations of study participants.