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Webinar: People Who Use Drugs Make Excellent Parents
In this webinar, our speakers challenged harmful discrimination, broke down the evidence, and explored the real stories behind the stigma.
Some ideas are backed by evidence, grounded in logic, yet still face pervasive stigma and are widely misunderstood in society. AIVL’s new webinar series, You Can’t Say That, tackles these controversial yet crucial conversations head on. In our first session, we tackled a common misconception about people who use drugs.
People who use drugs make excellent parents. So why does Australia’s cultural narrative insist otherwise? In this webinar, our speakers challenged harmful discrimination, broke down the evidence, and explored the real stories behind the stigma.
Joelle Puccio
Academy of Perinatal Harm Reduction
Director of Education
Joelle became passionate about advocating for people who use drugs after realising that everything they had been taught about drugs from childhood through nursing school was wrong. Joelle Puccio is a registered n...
Joelle Puccio
Academy of Perinatal Harm Reduction
Director of Education
Joelle became passionate about advocating for people who use drugs after realising that everything they had been taught about drugs from childhood through nursing school was wrong.
Joelle Puccio is a registered nurse working in the field of Perinatal and Neonatal Intensive Care since 2004.
They worked for 7 years as the Director of Women’s Services for the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, a peer run syringe access program in Seattle, WA, and served on the Board of Directors until 2021.
They have been invited to speak at conferences convened by the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and more.
They travelled the USA in their RV with their 2 cats as a travel nurse from 2017-2023 in order to learn about the experience of families affected by perinatal substance use and pregnancy criminalisation in varying geographic areas. They are now settled in Phoenix Arizona, pursuing their Master of Public Health, working at a specialized facility for infants experiencing withdrawal, and putting down roots in local harm reduction communities.
Their main interest is the intersection of drug user rights and feminism.
Esha Leyden
AIVL
Board Member
Esha has worked in the drug sector for the 8+ years and has been a member of the drug-using community for over 34 years. Esha has been a participant and presenter at many forums, symposiums and conferences at a s...
Esha Leyden
AIVL
Board Member
Esha has worked in the drug sector for the 8+ years and has been a member of the drug-using community for over 34 years. Esha has been a participant and presenter at many forums, symposiums and conferences at a state and national level, using her lived experience to educate and advocate for the health and human rights of people who inject drugs.
Gaby Bruning
Harm Reduction Victoria
Member
Gaby identifies as Aboriginal and has primarily worked with Aboriginal clients. She advocates on a local and international level for Indigenous rights and recognition. Gaby has a lived experience with drugs, and ...
Gaby Bruning
Harm Reduction Victoria
Member
Gaby identifies as Aboriginal and has primarily worked with Aboriginal clients. She advocates on a local and international level for Indigenous rights and recognition. Gaby has a lived experience with drugs, and is a fiercely strong single mum of 2 kids.
Gaby Bruning started working in AOD a decade ago in residential detox. It was there that she realised how deficit care can be in those settings, but even more so how harm reduction isn’t even considered.
Gaby has worked in community settings, advocacy, Aboriginal orgs, and has been a senior harm reduction practitioner at the Medically Supervised Injecting Room since its opening.
Jess Doumany
AIVL
Research Lead
Jess advocates for people who inject drugs through her lived experience. She spearheads the first national Research Strategy developed by and for this community. Living in regional NSW, Jess enjoys connecting wit...
Jess Doumany
AIVL
Research Lead
Jess advocates for people who inject drugs through her lived experience. She spearheads the first national Research Strategy developed by and for this community.
Living in regional NSW, Jess enjoys connecting with nature, running, yoga, and spending time with her son, Billy. She is passionate about translating community needs into effective supports for people who use and inject drugs.
Nadia Gavin
Harm Reduction Victoria
Programs and Services Manager
Nadia is a proud mother and has a longstanding interest in grassroots activism, drug law reform, human rights, and gender equality and she is also passionate about ending the stigma and discrimination faced by pe...
Nadia Gavin
Harm Reduction Victoria
Programs and Services Manager
Nadia is a proud mother and has a longstanding interest in grassroots activism, drug law reform, human rights, and gender equality and she is also passionate about ending the stigma and discrimination faced by people who inject or use illicit drugs.
Nadia has been a part of the drug-using community for 37 years and has worked in harm reduction for over 25 years. She has worked on a local, state, national, and international level.
