by: julie kotsis
many of the women helen lathouris helps through her job as an outreach worker look to her as a role model – someone who is succeeding despite earlier challenges with drug addition and trauma.
and lathouris is using that connection to inspire and assist women exposed to hepatitis c navigate through the caring for women in drug treatment program, which is the result of a partnership between ontario specialty nurses of toronto and windsor’s house of sophrosyne.
thanks to a recent $50,000 connect-c grant lathouris, 45, can focus her work on both in-person and virtual connections that reach women across ontario who are receiving drug treatment.
“since i have lived experience, i can relate to a lot of the clients here (at the house of sophrosyne) so they feel more comfortable and trust me,” lathouris said.
and while she doesn’t have hepatitis c, lathouris does have experience with intravenous drug use and trauma and she previously completed the 35-day residential program.
“i let them know … that i’ve been here myself and it’s a great program. and you know, how it changed my life,” she said. “and so then i feel like they feel more comfortable with me.”
the goal of the hepatitis c work is to find out if women have the illness and make it easy for them to be treated.