People First Radio – December 28, 2023People First Radio – December 28, 2023
People First Radio
A year-end People First Radio programme features a sparkling mental health fundraiser, critiques of Canada’s criminal justice system, a candid bipolar recovery story, and poetry shaped from stigma about people who use drugs. The conversations focus on acceptance, humanity and how society responds to trauma, addiction and homelessness.
0:00•28 Dec 2023
Sequins, Cells and Stigma: Stories of Justice, Mental Health and Recovery
Episode Overview
- Dressing in clothes that make you feel good can lift mood and open up conversations about mental health.
- Charity projects like the Blingathon can both raise funds and reduce stigma around mental illness by making it more visible in everyday life.
- Prison often worsens trauma, poverty and reoffending, particularly for Indigenous people, rather than offering real rehabilitation.
- Acceptance of a diagnosis, supported by professionals who genuinely listen, can be a crucial turning point in recovery from bipolar disorder and psychosis.
- Turning hostile public comments into poetry can reclaim the stories of people who use drugs and challenge harmful stereotypes.
“Acceptance was really the greatest liberator and denial was the greatest barrier, really.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction, mental illness, and stigma first-hand? This episode of People First Radio gathers four very different voices to close out 2023 with plenty of sparkle and some hard truths. Fashion-loving fundraiser Pamela Steen kicks things off, sharing how her December "blingathon" grew from a personal pick‑me‑up into a fundraiser for the Canadian Mental Health Association.
By wearing sequins and shiny outfits every day, she’s raising money, sparking conversations with strangers, and gently chipping away at shame around mental health. As she puts it, "acceptance was really the greatest liberator and denial was the greatest barrier." The tone shifts as UBC law professor and author Ben Perrin talks about his book *Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial*.
Through stories of people who’ve been incarcerated and victims of crime, he argues that prisons often make people "much worse than when they enter," fuelling cycles of poverty, trauma, and reoffending. His comments on Indigenous over‑incarceration and lifelong consequences of a criminal record will hit home for anyone interested in how justice systems intersect with homelessness, substance use, and mental health.
Mental health advocate and performer Victoria Maxwell then shares her experience of bipolar disorder and psychosis, stressing how real change only started when a nurse and psychiatrist truly listened to her. She talks about learning early warning signs, balancing medication with lifestyle changes, and why "being compassionately curious" can make conversations about mental health less awkward and more honest.
Finally, poet Spencer Smith explains how he turned hateful online comments about people who use drugs into his collection *A Brief Relief from Hunger*. By writing about "the humanity of drug users" and the hunger—emotional, physical, societal—that shapes people’s lives, he pushes back against stigma and reminds you that overdose, poverty, and homelessness are collective issues, not individual failings.
If you’re interested in recovery, justice, or just being a better ally, this mix of fashion, law, storytelling, and poetry might get you thinking about whose stories you pay attention to—and why.
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