Summary – Webinar Way Forward: Developing Gender-Sensitive Addiction Programmes

On June 16th, together with Dianova, the Way Forward webinar on Developing Gender-Sensitive Addiction Programmes was successfully organised. After the launch of the Infographic on the Way Forward, this follow-up webinar discussed the necessity of developing gender-sensitive addiction treatment. The panellists shared their knowledge and experience with other practitioners, highlighted their challenges, opportunities, and needs to ensure the limitation of barriers for women and the LGTBQ+ communities. The roundtable structure offered interesting and necessary discussions with panellists representing prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Several significant key takeaways were shared during the webinar. Such as:

  • Stigma around women and LGTBQ+ communities need to be reduced and treatment for these communities needs to be made more accessible, affordable, and normalised.
  • Increase gender-specific treatment protocols and separate treatment groups for women -Empower women and educate them on their rights within their socio-cultural setting
  • Decrease the cultural barriers
  • More representation on women using substances and in treatment in data and research.
  • Need to focus on and include trauma-related treatment
  • Educate treatment centres, staff, and clients on women rights and issues
  • Need for more advocacy from grassroots levels on the governmental level
  • Engage youth and communities in prevention measure programmes -Strongly engage the family in treatment
  • Get together as a global community to work collect and share data on evidence-based treatment through experience.
  • Approach the programme from a transversal basis with a strong link with Human Rights
  • It is key to learn from other programmes with a gender perspective

A full summary of the webinar has also been published. The webinar has also been recorded in English and in Spanish.

Dianova has also published an article on the webinar, summarising the event, in Spanish, English, and French. Get access to the articles here!

Find the contact details of the speakers and their organisations in the summary or below:

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