Nova-Lee Dixon and Eric McAfee know what it's like to struggle with substance use, which makes them perfectly suited to their jobs as peer volunteers.

The relatively new Interior Health role of peer volunteer is aimed at people facing homelessness and addiction issues. Dixon and McAfee will spend a four-hour shift providing some basic supplies for those who need them: water, snacks, socks, and basic hygiene items, and a listening ear. 

The two load up with some basic supplies and some information they can share out from Interior Health Public Health and have a brief meeting with Jenny Lindstrom, a registered nurse and the team lead for the substance use program.

Lindstrom said the program has been fully operating for just over a year and the role is meant to provide a bridge to care for people facing substance use issues. Initiating contact with those living on the street can help people feel more comfortable accessing services and care for recovery and treatment.

Speaking with Dixon and McAfee, it isn't hard to understand why the two can relate to those they are helping, as both are recovering from their own struggles with substance use, and both are very open about their experiences.

Dixon said she spent most of 2018 in the intensive care unit (ICU) in Kamloops after having a stroke brought on by misuse of needles. She was living on the street in Kamloops at the time. She was so deep in her addiction she had abscesses and not caring for herself to the point she suffered from sepsis. She weighed about 90 pounds.

The severe stroke nearly killed her, but she survived, though she had to learn to walk again, and incredibly she said she now sees the experience, though admittedly horrible, as a blessing. 

"I'm glad I got a swift exit from that life and I've created a much healthier life for myself," she said, of the stroke's shift in her trajectory. She said many of the people she associated with when she was living on the streets are either dead or in prison.

Her dramatic experience also means she meets the people she now tries to help on the streets of Williams Lake with an open heart and mind.

"I was that person," she said.

McAfee also struggled with addiction, starting from a young age, and credits his girlfriend with helping him recognize something needed to change before it was too late. He said he was a functional addict until he got help, which he was able to access through the Cariboo Chilcotin Foundry's day substance use program. 

He said he started out smoking marijuana very young, and after he graduated from high school, he moved on to using alcohol. 

Anytime McAfee wasn't at work, he said he was in his addiction. With friends, alone, with family, basically anything away from his job, he was under the influence.

"It was terrible," he said.

Thanks to his girlfriend connecting him to the Foundry program, he got the help he needed to get control of his life again.

From there, his substance use counsellor suggested he might be a good fit for the peer volunteer role because he was so honest and open with his story.

Now he said his part time role as a peer volunteer is truly fulfilling work, something he didn't know if he'd ever find.

"I've been loving it ever since," he said.

As McAfee and Dixon begin their four-hour shift, it is easy to see why they find the work rewarding. 

The pair play a simple role, they walk the downtown, hitting the gathering spots, providing basic comfort items as they go.

But this simple thing appears to mean so much to the people they meet, and the people they are helping are not afraid to say so.

At their first stop, they encounter a couple near the Cariboo Regional District Library, standing out of the cold wind on a patch of dry paving stones, out of the dripping trees on the cold, windy spring day, as snow melts off of every surface around them.

"It means a lot. I'm thankful for everything they do," said Thomas, who along with his girlfriend, were given socks, water, snacks, and a recreation centre pass so they could go and shower and warm up.

"It shows that there's compassion and people see some people are struggling," said his partner, Rosette, noting this is even more appreciated when it's cold outside.

Dixon said since starting the job in June of last year, the job has been a great experience for her to be able to try and bring compassion to these people who she can truly empathize with.

"We offer that emotional support they don't usually get," she said.

"They're doing an excellent job," said Des, a man they stop to give snacks, socks and water, at the Salvation Army. 

"I just love that they're out here helping and doing what they can," he said.

Dixon said she hopes the general public can also recognize peer volunteers as those with lived experience trying to provide a helping hand.

"I want them to respond with understanding and compassion towards the people who are struggling and not see us as people that are villains," said Dixon.

She said some peer volunteers have been met with mistrust or suspicion while out trying to help people on the street.

"That stigma doesn't feel good when you're trying to help others," she said.

McAfee said he just wants people to treat others with respect.

"No one chooses to live on the streets, no one chooses substance use. It is always an accumulation of a million other things ... everything and anything can put you in this situation and no one is safe from it either," he said.