Series One: Introduction to Facing Addiction Artwork

AROBA Podcasts

AROBA Podcasts offer intimate, in-depth discussions about work, life, and society. We aim to inform, entertain, and inspire.

AROBA can refer to several different things:

1. An acronym: A room of Black artists.

2. The @ symbol: In Spanish, "Arroba" is the word for the "@" symbol, which has the same origin as the unit of weight.

3. A unit of weight: In Spanish, Portuguese, and some other languages, "Arroba" is a unit of weight, equivalent to about 25 pounds (11.3 kg) in Spain and 32 pounds (14.5 kg) in Portugal.

4. A carriage: "Araba" (a variant of "Aroba") is a type of carriage, particularly in Turkey and surrounding regions, drawn by horses or oxen.

(əˈrɑːbə ) noun. an Asian carriage, wagon or cart that is drawn by horses or oxen.

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AROBA Podcasts

Series One: Introduction to Facing Addiction

March 04, 2022 • Lana Lovell • Season 1

0:00 | 1:59

Written and hosted by documentary filmmaker Lana Lovell, "Facing Addiction" features six episodes. Framed around the grim realities of drug use, the episodes contemplate community, understanding, and the value of helping those who have become isolated as they struggle with trauma.

Set and produced in Toronto, Canada, each episode builds on the cultures and attitudes that contribute to substance abuse differences in the Black community.

The podcast series features stories from people with lived, worked, and volunteered experience in the arena of harm reduction; among them are muralist Adrian Hayles, filmmaker Louis Taylor, harm reduction specialists Cassandra Smith and Colin Johnson. Harm reduction is an approach that tries to reduce the health and social harm associated with addiction and substance use.

We acknowledge that the content in this podcast may be difficult for some, so we encourage you to care of your mental health and overall well-being. If anything you heard in this podcast is triggering for you, please go to https://workmanarts.com/resources/mental-health-resources/ for a list of mental health resources.

Take care and enjoy our first podcast series.

This podcast series is produced with the support of the Ontario Arts Council and in Association with Workman Arts.

Host: 0:01

I'm Lana Lovell, a documentary filmmaker, and I'm hosting and producing this podcast series facing addiction. It's in acknowledgment of black mental health debt. This year, I'd wanted to look at addictions, behavioral ones, like shopping, of eating, over working, even gambling, and of course, substance use, or is aware of the stigma for the black community attached to issues of drug use. I immediately came across astonishing substance use stories. They were not hard to find. But the stories were more acute than I first anticipated. Because of shaming and blaming. These are stories about people hidden in plain sight. After talking to just a handful of people, it became clear, we walk amongst trauma daily. They include people who use substances in their lives to cope with isolation, pain, and trauma. You walk past them on the streets, we travel at work amongst members of our community, and even within our own families, by talking to artists, people with lived experiences, and specialists. The episodes of this series facing addiction connects the listener to stories of substance use. So you might find some of the views and content expressed here. Controversial. We acknowledge LIS content may be difficult for some. So we also encourage you to care for your own mental health and overall well being. If anything you hear in this podcast is triggering for you. Please go to the website, workman art.com for a list of mental health resources. Welcome to the podcast and take care

Lana Lovell

Host