How can someone get help when they might not even recognize they’re in trouble? It’s a question that’s been on the mind of Ottawa Comic artist Von Allan. Earlier this year, Allan learned that his best friend since childhood, Dave Foohey had died. Police had found Dave dead inside his home, and estimated he had […]

Lisa Brinkman, Manager of Community Planning with the City of Nanaimo, discusses the city’s affordable housing strategy.  First broadcast July 2022.

If you’re an organization looking to address homelessness, it makes sense to to take into account the perspectives of people who’ve experienced homelessness. This can be easier said than done. Issues can arise when people with lived experience aren’t being compensated the same as salaried employees when attending meetings and conferences, for example. These experiences […]

One day riding the metro in Montreal, Annie Archambault overheard people complaining that someone on the street wouldn’t take a sandwich they’d offered. As you’ll hear her explain, the experience galvanized the community worker, who has experienced homelessness herself. It led her to speak out on a new TikTok account, surleborddelaligne. Now with tens of […]

Mental illness still dominates most conversations about transgender Canadians. That’s according to the profile of the new Canada Research chair in Transgender Creativity and Mental Health, Lucas Crawford. Crawford is a professor at the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus, and spoke with People First Radio about what he hopes to accomplish during his tenure as […]

The media round-table session from an event facilitated by the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition’s “Getting to Tomorrow” project.  It was held at the Dorchester hotel in Nanaimo on June 16th, and was focused on how the city can respond to the toxic drug poisoning crisis. Those present included Ann Livingston, Amber McGrath, Shane Calder, Sarah […]

Losing your job is stressful, to say the least. It can be accompanied by a sense of grief, uncertainty, and psychological distress. There’s one group of people for whom unpredictable job loss is not only possible, but necessary for a well functioning democratic society. Yet as Zim Nwokora explains, there’s not a ton of sympathy […]

Chances are you know what it means when musicians get together to jam. But do you know what a game jam is? It happens when a group of people get together to design their own video games in a very short space of time, think 72 hours. Sandra Danilovic believes that when people make games […]

Dr. Najmeh Khalili-Mahani spends a lot of time staring at screens, which makes sense, since a big part of her work focuses on digital health. Khalili-Mahani is  a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist. She Works for the engAGE Centre for Research in Aging at Concordia University and for the McGill Centre for Integrative Neuroscience. She speaks […]

Whether it’s a date, a meal, or a ride, you can find just about anything you want through your smartphone these days. Even a therapist. Dr. Lauri Goldkind is an associate professor of social work in the graduate school of social service at Fordham University in New York. She’s been researching new apps that connect […]