Substance Abuse in Aboriginals: A Community Psychology Report

This report delves into the critical issue of substance abuse within Aboriginal communities, exploring its multifaceted causes and devastating effects. The assignment examines the Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Worker Program implemented by the Timmins Native Friendship Centre as a case study, analyzing its objectives, interventions, and effectiveness in addressing substance abuse. The report utilizes the lens of community psychology to evaluate the program's strengths and weaknesses, considering factors like cross-cultural sensitivity, cost-effectiveness, and community development. Furthermore, the analysis extends to replicating successful approaches, emphasizing the importance of healthy alternatives, effective treatment plans, and community awareness programs. The report concludes by underscoring the urgency of addressing substance abuse and promoting programs that support better living standards within Aboriginal communities.

Running head: COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY ORGANIZATION
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY ORGANIZATION
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Introduction:
Problems are the part of our life and they continue together with being alive. Community
problems are defined as the problems that are faced by a large community in the circumstances
they live. The community problems may include social or health related problems. The most
common example of community problems include adolescent pregnancy, child abuse, drug
abuse, health disparity, AIDS or HIV, inadequate resources, social violence, poverty and many
others (Spector & Kitsuse, 2017). The cause and effect of the problems vary from group to
group. Such problems affect the life of individual in the community and disrupt the personal and
community life of individual. Such community problems result in deprivation of legal and moral
rights of the people in the community (Sargeant, Wickes & Mazerolle, 2013). Thus, it is
important to counter the problems in the community in an effective manner in order to provide
better life and well-being to the individual including in the community. The chosen community
problem for the assignment is substance abuse in the aboriginals. The following paper will
provide a brief idea about the problems related to substance abuse in aboriginals, community
programme for resolve the issue and action plan in order to implement the positive aspects of the
programme to counter the issue in other communities.
Substance abuse in aboriginals:
Substance abuse disorder is defined as the condition in which the use of one or more
toxic substance such as drugs and alcohol leads to the serious health related impairment or
distress. The most common components of substance abuse disorder are addiction and
dependence that leads to the severe forms of disorder (Kaminer, 2013). The substance abuse

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disorder is one of the most vital community problems in aboriginals. It was found that, 66%
people of the community are dependent on more than one harmful substance (Vowles et al.,
2015). There are many factors that lead to the consequence of substance disorder in the
aboriginal community. One of the major incidents that lead to the abuse of alcohol and drugs in
the aboriginal community is the economic deprivation or poverty. Due to poverty and homeless
condition in the community provokes the stressful environment and cause mental distress and
poor psychological condition. Poverty is the potential cause of substance dependence. People
chose substance like drugs and alcohol in order to get rid of such depression related to poor
family condition (Belanger, Awosoga & Head, 2013). Social deprivation is another leading cause
of substance abuse in aboriginals. The continuous effect of colonization and dispossession affect
the lives of the aboriginals by make them dependent on the substances that causes severe health
issue in the community. Lack of adequate education in the community is another cause of
substance abuse disorder. Social violence like physical abuse or other victimization leads to the
consequence of substance dependence. Family history of alcoholism affects the lives of the
adolescents and it acts as the factor that provokes the adolescents to become dependent on
harmful substances such as alcohol and drugs. Such increasing rate of substance dependence or
addiction leads to serious health and social issues in the community. The life expectancy is lower
in the aboriginal community as compare to the non-aboriginal population. The main cause
behind the incident is the addiction of the aboriginal women towards alcohol during pregnancy
as well. Another leading cause of death is injuries due to accident and substance abuse
contributes an important role in this case. Other health issues like mental and physical disorder
include cardiovascular risk, respiratory disorder and cancer (Stoneham, Goodman & Daube,
2014). The extreme dependence on harmful substances leads to the lack of ability to perform

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regular activities and poor participation in the social activities (Lewis, Dana & Blevins, 2014). .
Another serious problem related to substance abuse is that, it influences a person to attempt
suicide. In aboriginal community, 28% of the suicide case is induced by the alcohol and drug
abuse (Bousoño et al., 2017). Thus, substance abuse become a serious threat for the aboriginal
community and affects both the social and health status of the community. It is the big challenge
for the community to resolve the issue of substance abuse in order to provide better lifestyle to
the people of the community and improve their status in the country.
Community psychology organization:
Community psychology organizations are defined as the service providers that work to
resolve the community problems related to health and other social problems. Such communities
introduce effective interventions in order to promote better living status in the community. One
of such cooperative organizations is Timmins Native Friendship Centre that provides effective
programs in order to counter community problems. A small group of people has come together in
order to provide safe gathering place and effective service to the native people, thus established
the Timmins Native Friendship Centre in the year 1974. The main influence behind the
establishment of the organization was the concern for the aboriginal population regarding their
health status and socio-economic condition. The vision of the organization is to provide a
culturally safe environment that creates sense of belonging for all aboriginal and non-aboriginal
people. Their mission is to provide service in order to induce growth and change by considering
the spiritual, cultural and physical well-being in the community. The organization has provided
many programs in order to counter the community problems of the aboriginals. In order to
counter the issue of substance abuse in the aboriginal community the organization has arranged a

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program known as Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Worker Program (AADWP). The objectives of
the program are as follows –
 To promote positive health practice that is free from alcohol, drug and solvent abuse in
the indigenous population.
 To promote healthy substitutions for alcohol, drug and solvent abuse.
 To promote effective treatment service models in order to cure severe consequences of
substance abuse within the aboriginal community.
 To promote programs related to addiction treatment for the people that depends on one or
more harmful substances considering the cultural beliefs of the aboriginal community.
 To provide cost effective treatment that is affordable to all and increase the effectiveness
of the program within the community.
 To create awareness regarding the harmful effects of substance dependence through the
introduction of proper education for the people of the community.
The program has introduced effective interventions in order to achieve desired outcomes.
It has provided effective alternatives to harmful substances such as alcohol, drugs and others
solvent abuse through community based events that promote positive health practices in order to
provide well-being. The program has provided effective treatment processes that are cost
effective and helped the addicted people to get rid of substance dependence. It has introduced
care support program for the people that return from the treatment centers. The program has
developed an educational plan in order to create awareness regarding the harmful effects of the
substance abuse in order to prevent the increasing condition of substance abuse disorder. The
program has provided information to the schools in the community in order to give a healthy

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start to the life. The workers of the organization have participated in the health fair in order to
promote the community program within the aboriginal population (tnfc.ca, 2012).
Analysis of approaches:
Community psychology refers to the context of individual in the community. It focuses to
understand the standard of living and improve the quality of living through effective research and
activities in the community. The prospective of community psychology include environmental
psychology, economical psychology, cross-cultural psychology, social psychology and
community development (Moritsugu et al., 2015). There are some strength of the Aboriginal
Alcohol and Drug Worker Program considering the community psychology idea within the
aboriginal community. Firstly, the introduction of alternatives to the alcohol, drug and other
solvent abuse was helpful for the people that are suffering from the substance dependence. The
intervention has been introduced by considering the cross-cultural psychology, so that individual
could accept the alternatives (Connors et al., 2013). Secondly, cost effective treatment process
has increased the access of the treatment model for all people within the community. The care
support for the people that return from the treatment centers was helpful in order to start a better
living in the community. Such treatment process has compiled the economic and social
psychology of the community (Segal, Morral & Stevens, 2014). The idea of providing education
to the individual and providing information in the school has helped to create awareness
regarding the harmful effects of the substance dependence. The overall process of the program
has helped in community development (Tarter, Ammerman & Ott, 2013). However, there was a
negative aspect of the community program. The main cause of substance dependence in the
aboriginal community is the poverty due to unemployment that creates stress in the environment

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of the family. Thus, the program needed to introduce some intervention in order to increase
employment in the community. The program has focused on the treatment of substance
dependence but did not provide effective prevention plan excepting the education plan (Moos,
2017). Still, the interventions of the program were helpful to counter the substance dependence
and provide better standard of living to the community.
Action for replicating the approaches:
The substance dependence disorder is the problem of most of the community and it is
important to be countered it in an effective manner in order to improve the standard of living and
provide well-being to the communities. In order to replicate the interventions of the community
program it is important to introduce healthy alternatives to the harmful substance and promote
healthy practice that is free from alcohol, drugs or others substance abuse. Effective treatment
plan need to be provided. Proper education program needs to be arranged in order to create
awareness in the community. In order to disseminate the findings of the community program,
information regarding the utilization of the program needs to be provided to the people in the
community. To support the program a workshop based on education need to be arranged, where
information about the positive aspects of the program should be provided (Connors et al., 2013).
It could help the people of the community to understand the contribution of the program in
reducing substance dependence disorder.
Conclusion:
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that, community problems result in the
deprivation of standard of living and one of the serious community problem is substance abuse.

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It is a serious threat for the aboriginal community and for the other community as well. In order
to resolve the community problem, the Timmins Native Friendship Centre has provided a
community program known as Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Worker Program. The program has
provided effective interventions in order to reduce the substance abuse in the aboriginal
community. In order to counter the issue of substance abuse it is important to replicate the
interventions in the community. Proper education and information regarding the contribution of
the program need to be provided in order to make people understand about the harmful effects of
substance abuse and importance of such program. It could help to create awareness in the
community and might be helpful to prevent substance abuse in the community.

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