Chelsea Dalton Pederson

Name, age, occupation:

Chelsea Dalton Pederson, LMSW. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapist

Social Media:

Instagram: @@thedrugusetherapist

Why did you select your social justice icon?

On top of being a prison abolitionist and scholar, Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore is the vein of many grassroots organizations. I chose Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore as my social justice icon because she challenges the very existence of systems social work professionals seem to be embedded into. To me, she is the primary example of how to maneuver through difficult conversations around accountability and transparency in this profession and utilize intellect to create structural changes necessary to envision and create greater communities that support every resident.

Do you have a favorite quote from your social justice icon?

"Prisons are catchall solutions to social problems - it is about building life-affirming institutions. Where life is precious, life is precious."

If you were stranded on a desert island with your social justice icon, what is the one question you would ask them?

How do you maintain motivation when the change sought begins to occur incrementally (how do you remain patient, essentially)?

Are there any books, documentaries, films, articles, etc that you would recommend for others to learn more about the work of your social justice icon?

I promise you will only benefit from a Google Scholar alert for 'R.W. Gilmore' publications; The End of Policing by A.S. Vitale will set the mood to read, Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California; Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition; Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation.

What social, racial, economic, or political justice issue does your work address?

The work I have embarked on with my fellow harm reductionist sits at the intersection of each of these social justice issues - for black liberation to include substance use, even substances currently deemed illegal.

When did you first become aware of/interested in working on your social justice issue?

I am the daughter of a man who has a life-threatening relationship with alcohol, a woman who cannot acquire a license because I openly use substances deemed illegal, and family to countless individuals who have lost their will and self-determination to incarceration or involuntary commitment. In general, substance use is what drove me to start a Bachelor of Social Work degree in 2016.

Given that many undergraduate social work programs are clinically focused (packed full of future clinicians with drug counselor titles), experiences within the classroom are what forced me to become outspoken throughout my graduate academic courses.

At the GCSW, I have learned how to "reframe the blame" that has created substantial losses throughout my life to the true cause - prohibition. The activist spirit present throughout the GCSW has helped create community and fuel the political change necessary to truly meet every individual where they are currently at within their substance use. After five months in the legislature with Dr. Pritzker, this graduate experience has helped evolve my ability to articulate complex positionalities around substance use through the written word and highlighted the need for discussions around accountability and transparency in social work academia to include when, when not to, and how to treat individuals that use substances.

 

 

If you could have everyone in the world do one tangible thing to help advance the cause of the issue you work on,  what would it be?

For every discipline (pharmacists, doctors, and social work itself) that engages with individuals that use substances to operate in a manner that treats every patient or client as a human first (even in times where mental health seems to be of concern) and to live harm reductionist principles in everyday life and within practice. 

Can you describe the biggest accomplishment/most gratifying moment you've had working on your issue to date?

Every moment that a peer or colleague reaches out for insight or for safer use supplies continues to be the most gratifying.

Aside from the sporadic moments where the work translates into actual prevention of overdose death, for me, 2020 as a whole was a huge turning point. I was invited to Harvard Medical School's "Treating the Addictions" conference and while I was sitting in a room in awe (in regards to how needed social workers are in this movement) I won the Andrew Marks Student Advocacy Award from NASW Texas and the Texas Field Education Consortium. A month later, while I was sitting at a funeral, I was notified that I would be a mentee of Dr. Rick Doblin for 11-months.

Who or what else inspires your work?

Every individual who has lost time and money in the carceral system, specifically for substance use-related offenses.

What advice do you have for those who care about social justice but don't know how or where to begin? This could be related to the issue you work on or even in general?

First, you have to figure out what makes this work personal? Second, you have to set up boundaries and determine how you can cope or maintain the strength necessary to do work that is this personal? The remainder revolves around researching (1) who is already doing this work near you; and (2) how can you help build up your impacted population? Imposter syndrome and ego-related fears of not being worthy errode once the realization that action is all that is required to begin.

 

FUN FACTS

What are some of your hobbies? What do you do for fun?

Impromptu and planned road trips with my significant other and our dogs. Plus jewelry making and photography!

What are some of your favorite social justice-related things?

Podcasts: Narcotica [Narco Pod], Hood Politics with Prop; Point of Order; The Knowledge Project; Over the Ledge; Doin’ the Work

Books: Drug Use for Grown Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear by Dr.Carl L. Hart, Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction by Maia Szalavitz; Dissertation by Rick Doblin, and anything Pat Watson writes.

Education: The International Network of People Who Use Drugs, Drug Policy Alliance, and the National Harm Reduction Coalition, and your local drug user union.