Pubs, pipes, pills and place: the experience of change in a semi-rural place

Summary of presentation

This presentation reports the results of a qualitative study exploring how individuals, many of whom are court ordered or otherwise involuntary in their relationships with human service organisations, experience substance use and recovery in a semi-rural context with an emphasis on how people navigate embodied 'place-based' environmental and social relationships that can both help and hinder efforts at pro-social behaviour change.

Abstract

Much substance use research focuses on the initiation and use of psychoactive substances. Less is known about how people recover from problematic use, particularly in a semi-rural context. This research identifies the semi-rural place as a unique location with a "so near and yet so far" relationship to urban areas that masks significant health and socio-economic disadvantage. With few local resources available and geographical and social barriers to accessing resources in nearby urban locations, people living in these regions face significant risks relating to illicit drug use and alcohol consumption. These risks include acute and chronic health issues, high rates of family violence, major road trauma and an increased potential for criminal justice and child protective services involvement. In Victoria, Australia, these areas contain the primary population growth corridors within Melbourne, heightening the necessity for the service system to understand attempts at pro-social behaviour change in an environmental and social context that has the potential to be both helpful and harmful at the same time. Findings highlight how a person's relationship to their physical and social environment impacts upon behaviour change, recognising that there is a reciprocal relationship between place and the people who inhabit it. This knowledge aims to inform policy and practice regarding how to facilitate pro-social behaviour change in a previously unrecognised geographical and social 'place.'