Kelowna pharmacist Nathan McLean is a cohost of the podcast Recovery Machine.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Nathan McLean

Two health-care professionals are tackling tough issues around safe supply and substance use in the healthcare industry, in a podcast that is reaching listeners around the world.

Kelowna pharmacist Nathan McLean is one of the creators and hosts of Recovery Machine alongside Mission man Cory Williams, a former emergency nurse.

Both men got addicted to narcotics while working in the health field and after overcoming their addictions, were inspired to help support other healthcare workers struggling with the same issues.

“By putting ourselves out there it makes other health care professionals see we went through this and are still here,” McLean said. “It’s about bringing awareness and the more we strengthen our network and find people with different perspectives, the more we keep learning.”

McLean said healthcare professionals continue to fall into addictions at work where narcotics are a safe supply within reach, in response to stressful working environments that are exacerbated by PTSD and ongoing staffing shortages. 

He said stigma, a lack of transparency and an “archaic” and “regimented” treatment program for healthcare workers are just some of the obstacles for recovery that are discussed on the podcast.  

“There are a lot of traps in the treatment process I wish I’d known ahead of time,” he said. “We thought we should put the information out for people in the beginning of the process because the way the system works, you’re encouraged to isolate and keep quiet when you need to get out and be supported.”

McLean’s “slow slide” into addiction started with a Percocet pill he took to relieve the pain of a migraine headache in 2011. At the time he was managing a busy pharmacy handing out “tremendous amounts of opiates.” He was also trying to cope emotionally with a series of personal tragedies.

The drug did much more than alleviate his migraine.

“It took away all the stress and emotional pain I was going through,” he said. “All it took was that one experience, it gave me energy and turned me into a super-pharmacist.”

McLean started taking the drug daily and couldn’t stop using it on his own. He said when an employer or union becomes aware an employee has a problem, there is a system in place where that employee is removed from the job, examined and sent to treatment. It is the protocol McLean calls “the machine,” and the one he went through in 2013.

“I was shocked at how regimented and ‘one size fits all’ it was,” he said. “There weren’t a lot of options. Everyone is expected to go through the same process and get back to work. The support groups available were more about accountability and accusing each other of using drugs and I didn’t find that helpful.”

In 2017, McLean started a business called Obsidian Support Services to help health care workers dealing with substance use issues that is team-focussed as opposed to “pointing out others' errors.” He eventually met his podcast co-host Cory Williamson through the group.

They started the podcast in November 2021 by explaining their personal stories with addiction in the healthcare field and have since covered topics around toxic supply, drug policies, stigma and harm reduction with guests including authors, nurses and moms who have lost their children to toxic drugs.

Narcotics are used in hospitals and McLean said while exact numbers are impossible to know, it’s not uncommon for healthcare workers to reach for the safe supply and use it to cope. He said PTSD is a big driver of the use in the medical community where workers are witnessing tragedies and burning out. 

A commonly used drug is the opiate hydromorphone that is used to treat moderate to severe pain. 

“It’s so accessible (hydromorphone), they are giving so many shots away they become desensitized to the drug itself,” he said. “You’re working them 16 hours a day with a lack of resources. Is it surprising people are turning to drugs? We’re asking a lot of them.”

There are reasons why many healthcare professionals don’t talk about their drug use.

“They are worried about repercussions from employers and legal ramifications, along with negative responses from family members,” he said. 

McLean is a big advocate for safe supply and harm reduction and doesn’t support the idea that addicts have to hit a rock bottom before reaching for help. 

“You’re putting an idea in someone’s mind they’re struggling because they haven’t had it bad enough yet,” he said. “It isn’t like the 70s and 80s, unfortunately in our current drug crisis the ‘rock bottom’ means dead. You can be a recreational drug user and die of opiates right now.”

READ MORE: Moms of overdose victims speaking with South Okanagan teens

He said “people recover when they want to recover.”

“If addictive behaviours responded to punishment we could solve the issue by making penalties high enough. That isn’t the way it works, we’ve tried to police our way out of drug addictions and associated crime and it hasn’t worked. Harm reduction is a way of keeping people alive so they have a chance to make better decisions.”

READ MORE: Swiping narcotics from work nets BC nurse one month suspension

After he completed treatment, McLean went back to work at the pharmacy. He limits the number of days he works to three per week because “there is an element of danger there” for him.

“I’ve found a way to work within the profession where I know my limits,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be in a spot handing out the volume of safe supply drugs I am, it’s quite a bit of opiates going through my hands. My hands used to shake when I’d handle my drug of choice. In my mind, I understand if I go back down that path it’s too hard to get back.”

READ MORE: Another BC nurse in trouble for swiping drugs and using them at work

He’s going back to university in the fall to become a clinical counsellor.

The podcast is in multiple countries with roughly 90 per cent of listeners in Canada, 9 per cent in the states and 1 per cent around the world. McLean said there is a long ways to go before the pair get any big podcast sponsors. 

Go here for more information and to listen to Recovery Machine Podcasts.

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