Penticton, B.C. film company documents a local doctor’s work with alcoholism

A South Okanagan film company has created a documentary showcasing a doctor’s new approach for treating alcoholism.

The documentary, called, Smashed: Breaking the Cycle of Alcohol Use Disorder, is based on the work of the late Dr. Jeff Harries who was a trailblazer in his field.

“Jeff was a maverick in so many different areas of medicine,” said Canadian Alcohol Use Disorder Society’s Lori Motluck.

Dr. Jeff Harries spent a significant amount of time learning and restructuring the way people who suffer from alcohol use disorder are treated.

While Dr. Harries didn’t create these medications himself, he instead revolutionized how to treat a patient — with a focus on compassion and care.

“He had done a lot of study within his patient population around that struggled with alcohol, and he went to the literature, and he actually found medications that help reduce cravings in the brain,” said Motluck.

“One of the things that Jeff believed in is bringing hope. This is now going to be seen as a medical condition, a disease of the brain for which there is hope for treatment.”

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Dr. Harries was diagnosed with ALS in 2018 but battled through the deterioration. He travelled around the country giving speeches but soon lost his voice because of the disease.

A Penticton film company was approached in 2020 and was asked to create educational videos for Dr. Harries and his team, something that would conserve his energy.

“During that process, we realized that we could put together a little short film that he could use to take place of his presentations,” said Mutant Films producer Jennifer Vincent.

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Dr. Harries also created the Canadian Alcohol Use Disorder Society. CAUDS was created to advocate for a “compassionate, evidence-based, medical approach to treating alcohol use disorder.”

Dr. Harries died in November 2021 from complications of ALS. However, his hard work and legacy continues on with the work done through CAUDS in B.C. and across the nation.

“Dr. Harries was an incredibly personable, friendly accepting human being and all that he did from what we saw,” said Jennifer Vincent.

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According to filmmakers, Dr. Harries committed the last years of his life to this cause, even in the face of his terminal ALS diagnosis.

His work helped thousands of patients and inspired massive changes in how his peers viewed the disease, and in developing new provincial guidelines for treatment.

Mutant Films was able to create the documentary with a production grant from TELUS Storyhive. The 33-minute film debuted in September of 2022 and has several awards and acknowledgments.