Recorded Webinar Available, Empathy Lens: Humanizing Images and Education for Reducing Stigma Against People Who Use Drugs

Posted by Emily Hamstra on December 9th, 2025 Posted in: Funding, Training & Education
Tags: consumer health, health information, NNLM Region 5, online education, public health, training

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On December 4, 2025, NNLM Region 5 hosted the webinar “Empathy Lens: Humanizing Images & Education for Reducing Stigma Against People Who Use Drugs.” During the webinar, speakers Meg Brunner and Erinn McGraw from the Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute at the University of Washington introduced Empathy Lens, free photographs related to drug and alcohol use, prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction. The goal of Empathy Lens is to reduce stigma against people who use drugs and the services available to support them by encouraging the use of realistic, humanizing imagery in education, media, and other forms of information dissemination.

The webinar recording is available on YouTube.

The Empathy Lens project was funded by NNLM Region 5 though an Outreach & Engagement Award in 2024-25. The photos included in Empathy Lens were taken at harm reduction and treatment organizations across Washington State. In addition to photos, Empathy Lens provides education on stigma in drug-related health information, and links to other online collections with a similar purpose. Learn more about the creation of the Empathy Lens collection through a short video created while the project was underway.

This webinar was part of the Health Speaker Series with PNC and NNLM Region 5, a partnership between the NNLM Region 5 and the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association.