Latest posts by Maryna Reshetnyak
Ukraine: Finding Comfort and Advice in a Forum
A discussion board of the web-site Motilek.com.ua run by Ukrainian non-profit organization and RV grantee Drop-in Center unites people living with drug addiction where they can share advice about issues held in common.
Ukraine: A Healthy Debate in the Comments Section
A popular Ukrainian internet website published an article that was critical of opioid replacement therapy programs. The online discussion that took place in the comments section shows that there is a healthy debate about the role of this programs in society. Some bloggers also took the discussion over to their sites.
Ukraine: ASTAU Adds Blogging Workshop for Members
The Association of Substitution Treatment Advocates of Ukraine (ASTAU) started to offer blogging workshops to its member in 2011. In an email interview, Olga Beliayeva, the head of the Association, talks about how these workshops have helped its members express themselves and put a personal face to the mission of the ASTAU.
Ukraine: Learning How to Advocate for a Cause
To help further their mission, harm reduction activists in Ukraine understand that they need to deal with government agencies as part of their advocacy work. The leader of Chernivtsi NGO “Happy Future for You” Yulia Palagnyuk wrote a blog post about the tactics and activities of their advocacy project.
Ukraine: Bloggers React to the Detention of Activist
Bloggers from the Ukrainian harm reduction community was very disturbed with the detention of Russian activist Irina Teplinskaya, who was accused of of drug smuggling after returning from treatment in Ukraine. Irina was eventually released from prison with all charges dropped.
Ukraine: The Pluses and Minuses of Harm Reduction
How does substitution therapy change the life of the people living with the drug addiction? Bloggers of the Association of Substitution Treatment Advocates of Ukraine use their blogs to share their personal and firsthand stories.
Ukraine: Substitution Therapy Programs at Home and Abroad
Blogger Pavel Kutsev of the project Drop-In Center compares how substitution therapy is perceived in other countries in comparison to his country of Ukraine. Cartoonists also published drawings about the subject in the Drop-In Center's online newsletter.
Ukraine: Advice for Friends and Families of Addicts
The Rising Voices grantee the Drop-In Center has been providing an online newsletter for clients and their families, and the latest issue provides special words of advice for friends and families on what to do when a loved one becomes addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Ukraine: Tackling the Issue of Hepatitis C
Igor Kuzmenko, an activist with the Association of Substitution Therapy Advocates in Ukraine, recently blogged about a workshop held in Estonia, where he learned about the issue of Hepatitis C in the country, and suggests the steps the people living with drug addiction could undertake to fight the virus.
Ukraine: Harm Reduction Activists Share their International Experience
Activists of the Association of Substitution Therapy Advocates of Ukraine use the web-site of the Association to share the stories about the international conferences they attended and to tell their counterparts about the new experience and new knowledge they acquired on various international meetings.
Ukraine: Harm Reduction Association Defends the Rights of People Living with Drug Addiction
Ukrainian activist of harm reduction programs discuss on the web the issues which are vital for people living with a drug addiction. One of these issues is the necessity for special opiate painkillers when a drug addict is taken to a hospital.
Ukraine: Teaching Blogging to Harm Reduction Groups
In an email interview, Anastasia Bezverkha talks about her experience teaching advocacy skills with harm reduction groups part of the All-Ukrainian Association of Substitution Therapy Advocates (ASTAU), and how teaching the use of citizen media tools can benefit these groups in telling their stories.
Ukraine: Blogging to Find New Self-Identification
The process of returning to normal life from a life of an injection drug user requires not only changes in a lifestyle, but also changes on a psychological level. Blogging could be one of the tools in helping to one to look inward and to discuss the concerns with like-minded people, as bloggers from the Association of the Substitution Treatment Advocates of Ukraine demonstrate.
