Calling all youth in the Island Health region with a passion for youth innovation and harm reduction. Have you, or another young person you know, worked on a project this school year that focuses on reducing harms related to substances?
If so, Island Health wants to hear from you! Launched in 2022, the annual Youth Harm Reduction Award recognizes young people who have worked on a harm reduction project related to substance use – and this year that includes substances ranging from alcohol and nicotine to unregulated drugs. Winners will receive $1,000 (total) and a framed certificate for each recipient.
Last year’s YHRA winner was Kalla Shields, a Mill Bay teen who provided more than 50 students and staff at her school with naloxone training, a vital response to opioid poisonings that can save lives. She collaborated on this work with Toward the Heart, school administration and Island Health. Naloxone kits were placed in key school locations and provided to participants in the training sessions. Shields also mentored younger student leaders to continue the project’s legacy.
“It is an honour for Island Health to recognize the voices and work of young people with the Youth Harm Reduction Award,” says Dr. Réka Gustafson, vice president of Population Health and chief medical health officer. “Youth bring creativity, energy and insight, which help make interventions relevant and meaningful to their peers.”
Applicants for the 2026 YHRA award will be accepted from March 1 to April 15, and the winning submission will be announced in June. Applicants must be under 19 and live in any community in the Island Health region, which includes Vancouver Island, the islands in the Salish Sea and the Johnstone Strait, and mainland communities north of Powell River.
Harm reduction refers to practical, compassionate policies and practices to reduce negative health, social and legal consequences of a range of activities, without necessarily requiring stopping the activity. Familiar harm reduction practices include the use of seatbelts and bike helmets, condoms, speed limits and sunscreen. In terms of substances, harm reduction often refers to safer ways to consume substances, safer substance use supplies and the use of naloxone to reduce the effects of drug poisonings from unregulated opioids.
For more information and application forms, please visit Youth Harm Reduction Award.