This episode explores intersecting themes of poverty, addiction, drug use, mental health, racism, policing, and physical violence. We hear from Dr. Akwatu Khenti, Assistant Professor at University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, who focuses on mental health, addictions, and anti-Black racism.

This episode explores intersecting themes of poverty, family and sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and harassment. We hear from Lieran Docherty, Director of Programs at women abuse Council of Toronto: A policy and planning body working to eradicate violence against women through system change.

This episode explores intersecting themes of poverty, mental health, and physical disability. We hear from Elsa Mann - Team Leader for the Rural Wellington Community Team with Mount Forest Family Health - who leads a team of outreach workers to support people living with poverty in rural communities.

Welcome to Storied Lives. A podcast that looks at the lived realities of poverty through an intersectional lens. We invited people living with poverty to share their stories with us. During a series of focus groups, participants revealed how multiple, overlapping, and compounding oppressions, shape their experiences in unique ways. Using their testimonies, we created four composite stories: fictional narratives, based on true accounts. Every scenario in these stories happened, or was informed by themes that emerged in the focus groups. Each episode pairs one composite story and one interview with a notable guest who contributes additional perspective grounded in their own work, research, and advocacy.  

This 4-part podcast series is a collaboration of The Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, and the University of Guelph’s Live Work Well Research Centre and Community Engaged Scholarship Institute.  

This podcast was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and received ethics approval from the University of Guelph Research Ethics Board  REB# 18-12-027  

Produced by Zoe Barrett Wood.  Stories by Aidan Lockhart  Cover Art by Katie Carey 

This podcast was created by: 

Dr. Deborah Stienstra  Dr. Leah Levac  Dr. Melissa Tanti  Dominica McPherson  Sarah Steeves 

We’re deeply appreciative of the guests who spoke with us and the people experiencing poverty who shared their stories.