Human Stories Impacted by Safer Supply Programs - Meet Nancy Henderson

Master's in Nursing Science
Nancy Henderson

With a passion for human stories and the way they contribute to knowledge, Nancy Henderson has been working at full speed on their Master’s of Nursing Science degree at Queen’s University. Nancy’s personal journey with homelessness and drug use has informed their journey in becoming a nurse.

While the decision to become a nurse was unexpected, Nancy soon felt a connection with the work. “I realized [that] I loved it”, they explain. Nancy spent time as a pediatric oncology nurse before moving into nursing roles within the community full-time. They felt a deepened conviction that their work needed to allow for longer term relationship building with their clients and integrate the knowledge gained from working in the hospital system to assist people in the community trying to access quality health care. 

Nancy found a sense of meaning supporting people who are unhoused or use drugs. This passion has led Nancy to their current position as a program manager and researcher at the Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic. Nancy and their team have implemented a Safer Supply Program to provide program participants who use drugs with pharmaceutical grade medications to replace the toxic street supply of drugs. Safer supply is a harm reduction- and relationship-based approach to healthcare. The drug poisoning crisis is an immediate concern for Nancy’s team and clients as individuals purchase drugs from the street supply that are contaminated with fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, benzodiazepines, and other adulterants.

Nancy’s graduate thesis work aims to highlight the devastation of the drug poisoning crisis by adding to the published literature regarding Safer Supply Programs. Nancy is completing a socio-narratological study that highlights the experiences of three individuals within a Safer Supply Program: “When you put it all together…[with] the three stories- the connections that exist… and the distinctions- [it] really show[s] what a program like this can do,” they reflect, emphasizing the importance of allowing underrepresented people to share their experiences with those informing healthcare policies.

Working and researching with individuals who are unhoused or using drugs presents emotional challenges for both Nancy and their team. “We can’t take everyone on- it’s the hardest part,” they explain, emphasizing the limitations of the 50-person pilot Safer Supply Program at the Peterborough Clinic and the need for more resources. Nancy has purposefully implemented a three-week team building program at the Peterborough Clinic to build resilience and relationships as a strategy to address the symptoms of burnout staff may experience in their roles within the Safer Supply Program.

As a result of Nancy’s work both academically and professionally, they received the 2022 Denise Brooks Health Equity Champion Award this June. The award recognizes Nancy’s work with a focus on equity in healthcare and addressing barriers that people experience trying to access care. Considering the discrimination, criminalization and stigma that surround drug use, Nancy’s graduate studies and work at the clinic hope to provide a more humanizing approach to care. “[P]olicy change happens when you hear the stories of people”, Nancy reflects and hopes their graduate work will give both voice and academic weight to alternative options for people who use drugs.