Trey Helten, advocate for drug users in Vancouver, dead at 42
Friends remember Helten as approachable, empathetic, inspiring
Trey Helten, a prominent advocate for drug users and those experiencing homelessness in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, has died at the age of 42, according to friends and colleagues.
Sarah Blyth, a friend of Helten's and the executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society (OPS), where he worked, said his life mission was to help people.
"There was really no one like him and I don't think there will ever be another person like him," Blyth said Thursday morning on CBC's The Early Edition.
She said Helten started working with the OPS in 2017 as a volunteer and worked his way up the organization, eventually becoming the general manager of the overdose prevention site.
"He came in and just said, 'I want to be part of the solution, I want to help people,'" said Blyth.
Helten went above and beyond to help those struggling around him, said Blyth, driving people places, visiting people at the hospital, and even housing and feeding people in his own home.
"Coming from the perspective of a person with lived experience, who had at one point been homeless and had at one point been a drug user, he came with a lot of empathy and understanding," she said.
Helten would host Narcotics Anonymous meetings often, according to Blyth, who said the gatherings grew in attendance.
She said she hopes he will be an inspiration to people, especially those who are struggling with addiction:
"I think he would just say, 'Keep trying.'"
Advocacy work
Deb Bailey, member of Moms Stop the Harm, said Helten fought for causes he believed in, often speaking on proposals at city hall and advocating to officials on behalf of those struggling with addiction.
"His resolve and strength was really quite amazing," said Bailey.
She said Helten was approachable and always willing to help, often working with members of Moms Stop the Harm when it was needed.
He would also do NARCAN demonstrations at Adler University, where she was a professor.
"I feel really devastated by his loss and it's kind of hard to believe it," Bailey said.
"He was an inspiration to a lot of people."