Alumni of Distinction’s Surviving Addiction docuseries returns with help from Social Impact Hub, DC community

For Durham College (DC) Alumni of Distinction Chris Cull, the second season of his Surviving Addiction docuseries has been a true team effort.

With funding from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Foundation and Mitacs and invaluable support from DC’s Social Impact Hub, the new season launched on YouTube on July 18. It consists of six episodes, with a new one premiering every Friday at noon.

Like the first season, the new episodes explore the different perspectives of those touched by addiction, from those in recovery to the family and friends who support them and the doctors who treat them.

“There are so many different dynamics to how substance use and addiction can affect somebody. Everybody’s journey is very different,” said Cull, who shared his own story of overcoming opioid addiction in the series’ first instalment. This season, subjects include a young man who overcame addiction as a teenager, a woman who held her family together in the face of her partner’s struggles, medical professionals at CAMH and Lakeridge Health, and more.

“The essence of the series is education through storytelling, and to try to help the broader public have a better understanding of substance use and addiction and see a little bit of themselves in the stories that they’re watching.”

To tell those stories, Cull had the support of Social Impact Hub Project Coordinator Sara-Ruth Allen and Faculty Project Lead K. Jennifer Bedford, as well as two DC students; May Friedman (Photography) and Hrithik Udani (Video Production). Over two long days of filming and weeks of post-production work, the DC contingent brought their experience and expertise to the process of delivering six impactful and educational episodes. Their tasks included conducting and filming interviews, shooting B-roll, editing the footage and more.

“Surviving Addiction is more than a docuseries—it’s a model for work-integrated learning in action. It gives solid footing for our students to go out into industry and succeed. It allows them to see how a real production works, not just in a classroom, but in real life,” explained Bedford, who teaches in the Faculty of Media, Art and Design. “A project like this has social impact, and I’m extremely pleased that we can offer students an opportunity to learn how they can make a difference within the world through their storytelling.”

Working on the series as a Social Impact Hub project lead was a valuable opportunity for Bedford as well, giving her the chance to exercise and hone the production skills she teaches in the classroom.

“It keeps me fresh; it keeps me relevant. I think that’s incredibly important to demonstrate to students who are coming to Durham College – that our faculty are the best, and this is one of the reasons why.”

As the season unfolds, the hard work of Cull, Bedford, the students and everyone else who had a hand in the project will shine a spotlight on emotional and inspiring stories that will make a difference.

“People connect emotionally with stories,” said Cull. “You can throw data on if you’re looking at overdose deaths and how many happened in the last month, and that’s a number on a screen. But if you take one of those numbers and tell the context and story behind it, then people get interested.”