People First Radio – January 2, 2025People First Radio – January 2, 2025
People First Radio
Chess-based sentencing in Alberta is paired with a look at AI tools for reducing stigmatising language about substance use online. Conversations focus on how structured games and kinder words might support better outcomes for youth and people in recovery.
0:00•3 Jan 2025
Chess, Second Chances and Stigma-Check: Rethinking Justice and Language
Episode Overview
- Chess For Life offers court-involved youth in Alberta a 25-hour chess-based programme aimed at strengthening inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility.
- Sessions link chess principles like space, time and harmony to everyday issues such as messy rooms, time management and meeting new people.
- The programme emphasises a safe, welcoming environment with mentors and peer leadership roles, highlighting youth as capable learners rather than "the sum of their actions".
- Drexel researchers are building a tool that flags stigmatising language about substance use on social media, explains why it is harmful, and suggests more empathetic alternatives.
- Stigma in language is described as a key barrier to people seeking treatment for substance use disorders, making careful, kinder wording a practical part of supporting recovery.
“If we can provide youth an option that treats them like a human, that has every ability to learn, that can make a real difference.”
What drives someone to seek a life without punishment and shame and instead lean into growth and second chances? This episode of People First Radio shines a light on two very different but connected ideas: teaching chess to court-involved youth, and building an "AI-powered stigma-check" for social media. First up, you'll hear about Chess For Life, a restorative justice programme at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta.
Youth sent by the courts spend 25 hours learning chess and linking its strategies to everyday choices. As Jade Oldfield explains, the game trains executive functions like inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility – the very skills that shape real-life decisions. Sessions mix lessons on controlling the centre of the board with chats about messy bedrooms, time management and how to handle uncomfortable situations.
One powerful line captures the heart of it: "If we can provide youth an option that treats them like a human, that has every ability to learn, that can make a real difference." The second half shifts to language and stigma around substance use. Information sciences professor Shadi Rezapour outlines a Drexel University project building a tool a bit like spellcheck, but for harmful wording.
It flags terms like "crackheads", shows what kind of stigma they carry, and suggests more empathetic alternatives. Shadi stresses that language can block people from seeking help, and that only a tiny fraction of people with substance use disorders receive treatment – with stigma as a major barrier. The episode keeps a calm, curious tone, ideal for anyone interested in justice, mental health, recovery or how everyday words can either harm or help.
It gently nudges you to ask: how could your own choices – on a chessboard or in a comment box – open doors instead of closing them?
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