We are extremely aware that ‘addiction’ knows no boundaries – no matter the gender, race, age, religion, socio-economic status, or country. When it presents it does so in any setting: primary care, emergency care, intensive care, community care including care homes, retirement homes, forensic settings such as prison/jail, and schools. Nurses where ever they are practicing by virtue of the known prevalence of drugs and alcohol, will be touched by addiction or problematic drug or alcohol use. Having the opportunity to ‘connect’ with other nurses, with a range of experience and expertise, not only from your local area, but from other countries, and who may be approaching drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery from a different view point, facilitates and stimulates discussion and learning.

IntNSA offers as part of its membership benefits access to its ‘community of practice’. Our community is supported by an open access communication/messaging tool called ‘SLACK’. Billed as ‘team communication for the twenty-first century’, Slack is a platform on which groups can share files, data, news and jokes, and track their areas of interest.

You will be able to join a number of ‘channels’ covering topics such as ‘all about addiction’ and chapter specific discussions. Members who choose to ‘sign up’ will also have the ability to direct message other members, including ‘facetime’. So for example, you are planning to make a visit to a Country/State/Region (formal or whilst on vacation/holiday) and would like to take the opportunity to connect with a nurse who is an IntNSA member – to visit an addiction service. Alternatively, you are very interested to know how a State, Country, or Region is managing a particular concern/challenge (e.g. opiate prescribing) you can post a question to your ‘community of practice’ and sit back and see what your IntNSA colleagues have to say about the issue.

New members joining IntNSA will receive instructions on how to access Slack via a unique link. If you are an existing member and have not received the unique link to Slack, please contact us to request the link.