SSHRC Storytellers Showcase – Sydney Ambury

**RESEARCH ASSISTANT HIGHLIGHT**

We want to congratulate one of our incredible research assistants, Sydney Ambury, on her presentation at the SSHRC Storytellers Showcase! We talked with her to learn more about her work and experiences presenting at the showcase alongside 19 other finalists.

Sydney has been part of Dr. Kelli Stajduhar’s team as a research assistant over the past year and is based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. She recently defended her Master of Social Work thesis at Lakehead University, which focused on how opioid-related care is delivered and adapted in geographically underserved regions in Northwestern Ontario.

At the showcase, Sydney presented More than a method: Hearing the stories of survival and safer supply in the toxic drug crisis, drawn from her work with Dr. Abigale Sprakes. The project created digital stories with people who use drugs on their experiences accessing safer supply in Thunder Bay, quickly becoming a way to share their stories about what it was like to have such a program: survival and staying alive, improved quality-of-life, deeper connections with each other and with staff, and an opportunity to actually live life. Unfortunately, like many other crucial programs over the past few years, government funding has since been cut, and all safe supply sites have now closed.

Sydney recalled what it was like creating these videos with the participants. Everyone was in good spirits, laughing and joking around with the staff as they listened to each other’s stories. Emotions were often heavy, plenty of tears were shed, and lots of breaks were taken. These sessions were about more than just collecting data; they were a way for people to express what they needed to express, to be in each other’s company, and to connect with one another. “At the end of the day, that’s what research is all about: humans connecting.”

She said that the showcase itself was amazing, everyone was so nice and welcoming, and all the other finalists were cheering each other on the whole time. Rather than a competition, she shared, “it felt more like whoever wins, wins. We get to celebrate the fact that we’re all doing really cool research and learning from each other.” While she didn’t make it into the top 5, Sydney was awarded the peer-voted SSHRC Storytellers Engagement Prize.

She invites you all to watch the videos created for the digital storytelling project on the Substance Use Research Hub website and reminds us in doing so to “see people”.

“At the end of the day we are all people. People matter because they’re people and not for any other reason.”

Congratulations again to Sydney Ambury for her incredible contributions to the digital storytelling project and the SSHRC Storytellers Showcase, her recent graduation as a Master of Social Work, and all her wonderful work that is to come!