“You’re putting an idea in someone’s mind they’re struggling because they haven’t had it bad enough yet,” he said. McLean is a big advocate for safe supply and harm reduction and doesn’t support the idea that addicts have to hit a rock bottom before reaching for help. “They are worried about repercussions from employers and legal ramifications, along with negative responses from family members,” he said.
There are reasons why many healthcare professionals don’t talk about their drug use. Is it surprising people are turning to drugs? We’re asking a lot of them.” “You’re working them 16 hours a day with a lack of resources. “It’s so accessible (hydromorphone), they are giving so many shots away they become desensitized to the drug itself,” he said.
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He said PTSD is a big driver of the use in the medical community where workers are witnessing tragedies and burning out.Ī commonly used drug is the opiate hydromorphone that is used to treat moderate to severe pain. Narcotics are used in hospitals and McLean said while exact numbers are impossible to know, it’s not uncommon for healthcare workers to reach for the safe supply and use it to cope. They started the podcast in November 2021 by explaining their personal stories with addiction in the healthcare field and have since covered topics around toxic supply, drug policies, stigma and harm reduction with guests including authors, nurses and moms who have lost their children to toxic drugs. In 2017, McLean started a business called Obsidian Support Services to help health care workers dealing with substance use issues that is team-focussed as opposed to “pointing out others' errors.” He eventually met his podcast co-host Cory Williamson through the group.
The support groups available were more about accountability and accusing each other of using drugs and I didn’t find that helpful.” Everyone is expected to go through the same process and get back to work. “I was shocked at how regimented and ‘one size fits all’ it was,” he said. It is the protocol McLean calls “the machine,” and the one he went through in 2013. He said when an employer or union becomes aware an employee has a problem, there is a system in place where that employee is removed from the job, examined and sent to treatment. McLean started taking the drug daily and couldn’t stop using it on his own. “All it took was that one experience, it gave me energy and turned me into a super-pharmacist.” “It took away all the stress and emotional pain I was going through,” he said. The drug did much more than alleviate his migraine.
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At the time he was managing a busy pharmacy handing out “tremendous amounts of opiates.” He was also trying to cope emotionally with a series of personal tragedies. McLean’s “slow slide” into addiction started with a Percocet pill he took to relieve the pain of a migraine headache in 2011. “We thought we should put the information out for people in the beginning of the process because the way the system works, you’re encouraged to isolate and keep quiet when you need to get out and be supported.” “There are a lot of traps in the treatment process I wish I’d known ahead of time,” he said. He said stigma, a lack of transparency and an “archaic” and “regimented” treatment program for healthcare workers are just some of the obstacles for recovery that are discussed on the podcast. McLean said healthcare professionals continue to fall into addictions at work where narcotics are a safe supply within reach, in response to stressful working environments that are exacerbated by PTSD and ongoing staffing shortages. “It’s about bringing awareness and the more we strengthen our network and find people with different perspectives, the more we keep learning.” “By putting ourselves out there it makes other health care professionals see we went through this and are still here,” McLean said. Kelowna pharmacist Nathan McLean is one of the creators and hosts of Recovery Machine alongside Mission man Cory Williams, a former emergency nurse.īoth men got addicted to narcotics while working in the health field and after overcoming their addictions, were inspired to help support other healthcare workers struggling with the same issues. Two health-care professionals are tackling tough issues around safe supply and substance use in the healthcare industry, in a podcast that is reaching listeners around the world.
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