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African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) populations are overrepresented among new Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infection (STBBI) cases in Canada. Manitoba has the second-highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in Canada. Peers have become increasingly important in the context of the HIV care cascade, serving to connect individuals and communities to HIV prevention, treatment, and related services. They play a crucial role in addressing disparities in HIV testing, prevention, and treatment access for communities by supporting individuals in navigating the healthcare system and overcoming bureaucratic obstacles and access barriers. Many studies have explored the impact of peer navigation in engaging communities in HIV prevention and treatment. However, no research has examined the acceptability of peer navigation among ACB communities in Canada and the power dynamics in the relationship between peer navigators and community members seeking HIV services. This Master of Social Work thesis focuses on peer navigation within the context of HIV among ACB communities in Manitoba. The study explored the discourses surrounding peer navigation and the power dynamics between peer navigators and ACB community members in Manitoba. The study utilized a qualitative community-based participatory research approach and harnessed the insights of ACB community members through the Community Guiding Circle (CGC), consisting of ten ACB community members. The research included a secondary analysis of data from the Ubuntu-Pamoja study, with participants recruited through agencies serving ACB communities, social media, and word-of-mouth. Thirty-three interviews were analyzed to identify key themes and fulfill the established research objectives. Data analysis employed thematic analysis using critical, intersectional-feminist, and Afrocentric theories. The methodology included two member checks to ensure the research process remained relevant to the needs of

Manitoba currently has the second highest rate of HIV in Canada. Among those recently diagnosed, Indigenous people and injection drug users are overrepresented. As the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted service delivery, Indigenous people living with HIV (IPLH) who use substances may have been disproportionality negatively impacted. This Master of Social Work thesis focuses on the stories shared within the Gigii-Bapimiin project by IPLH in Winnipeg, Manitoba who use substances and accessed health and social services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Stories from those with lived experience as well as service providers were gathered using semi-structured interviews to help facilitate conversation. The goal of the research was two-fold, firstly to advance the understanding of the impact COVID-19 had on service delivery. Secondly, to provide recommendations for change and inform post-pandemic service delivery and policies to optimally support IPLH who use substances in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A decolonizing Two-Eyed Seeing approach and Indigenous Storywork were used as overarching frameworks to guide this research. A community guiding circle comprised of eight IPLH, many of whom previously or currently used substances, were involved in the research from design to dissemination. Elder Albert McLeod and Knowledge Holder Gayle Pruden ensured the project remained grounded in Indigenous ethical space and helped incorporate ceremony into the research process. Due to its epistemological alignment with Indigenous knowledges, stories were analyzed using thematic analysis. Through this process, three common themes were identified. Firstly, the deeply engrained colonial practices within health and social services and the barriers individuals experienced pre-pandemic having been exacerbated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, neoliberal narratives and polices were the primary contributors to the harms linked to substance use rather than the personal drug use behaviours o

Substance misuse, or addiction, is one of the most common issues facing individuals who use social work services (Smith et al., 2006), p. 109). The majority of Canadians who identify as being in recovery from harmful substance use report that exercise is one of the “[s]upports and resources” (McQuaid et al., 2017, p. 25) that helps them maintain this state. A growing body of research supports exercise as an adjunct treatment to conventional rehabilitation therapies due to a variety of benefits. This study sought to address the lack of qualitative research exploring how individuals use exercise to help maintain recovery from substance misuse use long-term. Because of my lived experience and privileged knowledge in this area, I used a combination of ethnography and autoethnography to answer the question: How does running fit into your life as a person in recovery? Data gathered through in-depth one-on-one interviews and my own personal history suggests ways in which running can holistically improve the lives of individuals seeking recovery from substance misuse in a number of areas. Foremost among these were: improved mental health coping and relapse prevention skills, surrounding oneself with pro-recovery social supports, and adopting a post-addiction subjectivity. Based on these findings, I suggest social workers include the promotion of running in their toolkits for working with individuals seeking recovery from substance misuse who are mentally and physically healthy enough to do so, except where those service users are also experiencing co-occurring eating disorders.

This practicum proposes that transitional living is an effective housing solution for people dealing with substance abuse to achieve long-term sobriety. A review of current literature on the topic determined that providing a sense of home allows the typology to differ from other recovery homes. It dismisses treatment-involved medical settings and instead promotes recovery by encouraging an everyday living situation and assigning responsibilities to the clients’ lives. A non-destructive, goal-oriented environment with onsite vocational programs is proposed through a larger, unified facility to aid in the site selection process, reduce land capacity, accommodate a larger number of residents, and provide immediate access to the required onsite amenities. The merging concept develops issues with maintaining a balance between the sense of home and institution. Creating a facility centred around a homelike environment provides clients with a safe and stable place to live and demonstrates growth in the personal and social self. Conveying a sense of home helps clients build and maintain positive relationships, community, and increases productivity levels. Secondly, gender is a critical determinant in the accessibility of recovery services offered by transitional homes due to the primarily gender-specific regulations. To make the facility accessible to a broader range of clients, combining genders allows for inclusivity, eliminates isolation, promotes social support, and normalizes the overall experience through adaptability in social settings. Following that, privacy and oversight became a challenge and required strategical planning for mandating a safe environment. Ultimately, the study develops design solutions that capture an appropriate median between residential and commercial contexts. A user-sensitive environment that responds to individual and social needs pertaining to inclusivity, boundaries, and psychological incentives, is achieved through interior design strate

Background Public health research on the topic of Androgenic-Anabolic Steroid (AAS) use has primarily focused on the general male population with an emphasis on risk, pathologies, and the discrete and drug subculture that this practice. The same emphasis exists in AAS research with 2Spirit, Gay, Bisexual and Queer (2SGBQ+) men, however none has explored the “how” and “why” of this practice. Objectives This study addressed the following research question: How is Anabolic/Androgenic Steroid (AAS) use implicated in the production of subjectivities among 2SGBQ+ men in Manitoba, and what are health implications that result? This study addressed the following research objectives: 1) Describe the practice of AAS use in general; 2) Identify the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators that drive AAS use; 3) Explore the effects of dominant social discourses in shaping the sociality surrounding AAS use; 4) Understand the sources of information consulted by AAS users; 5) Identify processes of subjectification that relate to AAS use among 2SGBQ+ men; and 6) Articulate the public health implications for supporting the health of 2SGBQ+ men who choose to use AASs. Methodology A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis methodology was employed to collect, analyze and interpret data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 participants. A three-stage analysis technique was employed that involved open, axial and theoretical coding using MAXQDA. Results This study revealed the discursive regimes that produce subjectivities in 2SGBQ+ men in response to social and cultural forces that dominate and oppress this community. Sources of information about AASs were predominantly user-generated. Intrinsic motivations for using AAS included a desire to achieve a certain physique, increase social and sexual capital, and mitigate the effects of sexuality-related stigma and racialized violence. Extrinsic motivators included discourses produced through social and sexual media. Discussion and Recommendati

Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual (2SLGBTQ+) youth in care not only have to encounter the challenges that come with being a youth in care, but experience oppression due to colonialism, heterosexism, and cissexism. This Master of Social Work in Indigenous Knowledges thesis centres the voices of five individuals who are a part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and have had experiences of being in the care of the child welfare system in Manitoba. In the research process there were individual interviews with the five participants, and three of the participants took part in analyzing the summaries of the individual interviews in a group analysis, done by way of talking circle. Overarching themes included oppression at micro, mezzo, and macro levels, and that for some of the Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQ+ participants, cultural identity and gender and/or sexuality, were tied. The major themes that came to light in this process were that being in care had impacts on their sexual and gender identities, impacts on their cultural identities, and that 2SLGBTQ+ youth in care who had the experience of being adopted, and those who did not, had similar experiences. Arriving to the changes that 2SLGBTQ+ youth in care would like to see to better serve 2SLGBTQ+ youth in the care of the child welfare system, there came the major theme of the need for affirmation at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels.