Substance Use Strategy
All Niagara Region projects

About the project

People have used substances for thousands of years for medicine, fun, socializing and spiritual or religious reasons. Substance use is complex and can change over time. It doesn't always follow a straight path.

Substance use and mental health are closely connected. Addiction, also called substance use disorder, is a real health condition. It can be diagnosed and treated with support from many different professionals.

Niagara's Substance Use Strategy responds to the unique needs of our community. It supports current work led by Niagara Region Public Health and Emergency Services and builds on the efforts of the Overdose Prevention and Education Network of Niagara. It also supports the mental health and addictions priority in Niagara's Community Safety and Well-Being Plan.

Our approach

Niagara's Substance Use Strategy uses a four-pillar approach to guide action. Each pillar focuses on a different way to reduce the harms of substance use:

• Prevention: Help people avoid using substances or delay when they start. Also prevents use from getting worse.
• Harm reduction: Reduce the health and social risks and harms of substance use. Focus on safety and support, even for those who don't want to stop using.
• Treatment: Provide support for people who want to manage, reduce or stop using substances
• Community safety: Make communities safer by reducing harm and crime linked to substance use

• What we heard

  To develop this strategy, we worked with over 29 partner agencies from across the four pillar areas. We also heard from people with lived and living experience, community members and service providers.

• Who we engaged
  • 89 community partners
  • 186 people with lived or living experience
  • 1,160 community members

  Through surveys and focus groups.

• Substances most often seen in the community
  • Alcohol
  • Cannabis
  • Opioids
  • Stimulants
• Community priorities
  • More education and awareness
  • Better housing and financial support
  • Available and affordable, comprehensive treatment options
  • Stronger community support
  • Less stigma and more compassion

Recommendations and actions

• Build resilience in children, youth and families

  Goal: Focus on prevention and early support to reduce risks and build protective factors.

  We're monitoring:

  • Age when alcohol and cannabis use begins
  • Social and emotional development of children in Niagara

  Actions:

  • Continue offering programs that teach higher-risk youth to avoid or delay substance use
  • Use local data to shape programs and services
  • Seek funding to expand prevention work
  • Support agencies helping children and families facing adverse childhood experiences
• Promote harm reduction and reduce stigma

  Goal: Help people stay safer and reduce harm while using substances. Recognize how social determinants of health such as poverty, housing and discrimination affect substance use. Use this understanding in our policies and funding decisions.

  We're monitoring:

  • How often people feel judged or treated unfairly (stigma)
  • Number of new organizations using harm reduction principles

  Actions:

  • Create a harm reduction and anti-stigma toolkit for local organizations
  • Work with partners to build stronger local policies that reduce harm
• Strengthen partnerships across sectors

  Goal: Work together with health, education, justice and community services to prevent and reduce harms related to substance use.

  We're monitoring:

  • New and stronger partnerships among services that support people who use substances
  • Number of people with lived / living experience involved in the strategy

  Actions:

  • Set up an Action Table to lead and track the strategy
  • Create a network to focus on prevention and early intervention services with children, youth and families
  • Develop a regional policy that values the voices of people with lived and living experience in community engagement
• Improve access to services

  Goal: Work together to make sure people, especially those who face barriers, can get help when they need it.

  We're monitoring:

  • Number of individuals waiting for publicly funded services
  • Number of people receiving services through the new HART Hub

  Actions:

  • Support new services like the HART Hub
  • Align with the Niagara-Ontario Health Team's Mental Health and Addictions Working Group
• Support safer communities

  Goal: Make communities healthier and safer for everyone.

  We're monitoring:

  • People's feelings of safety
  • People's sense of belonging in their community

  Actions:

  • Expand street outreach to connect people to services and foster belonging
  • Create a working group in downtown St. Catharines to align service rules and policies
  • Support programs that help people leaving jail reintegrate into the community

Project timeline