I have spent the better part of my adult life working alongside people who live at the margins of our systems. My work has taken me through housing, outreach, overdose prevention services, tertiary care, pharmacy, psychotherapy, and city council, and more. Over time, I have learned that no single role, policy, or intervention ever tells the full story.
I am a nurse by training, but more than that, I am a quiet observer. I pay attention to patterns, to energy, to what is said and what is avoided. I have worked long enough in this field to know that people are rarely “good” or ” bad”. They are shaped by their histories, their environments, their losses, and the options that were available to them at the time.
This blog exists because I have felt a growing pull to write about what I see every day and what often goes unspoken. Not to expose, sensationalize, or simplify, but to bring context and understanding to work that is frequently reduced to soundbites, slogans, or polarized opinions. The realities of addiction, homelessness, mental illness, and harm reduction are complex. When we pretend they’re not, people get hurt.
What I write here is reflective and observational. It is informed by clinical experience, policy work, and years of sitting with people in moments that are messy, uncomfortable, and deeply human. It is not intended to offer medical advice, nor is it meant to speak on behalf of any organization, employer, or system. These are my own reflections and interpretations, shared with care.
Protecting the dignity and confidentiality of the people I work with matters deeply to me. Any stories I share here are composites or intentionally altered. Identifying details are changed or omitted entirely. This space is not about individual clients. It’s about systems, patterns, and the consequences of the choices we make collectively.
I believe in harm reduction, but I also believe in accountability. I believe in compassion, but not in the kind that removes responsibility or avoids difficult conversations. I believe people deserve care that is competent, consistent, and rooted in respect. I also believe that boundaries exist for a reason, even when they are unpopular.
This blog is for those who are willing to sit with nuance. For people who are tired of easy answers to hard problems. For those working in these spaces who feel unseen or unheard. And for anyone genuinely trying to understand what is happening beneath the surface of the crises we talk about every day.
If something here challenges you, that is intentional. Growth rarely happens in comfort.
