Mental Health and Substance Use Services

People who use unregulated substances in the Port Hardy area now have access to free local drug-checking services to help reduce unregulated drug overdoses and save lives.

Calling all youth in the Island Health region with a passion for harm reduction: have you or someone you know, worked on a project in the past year that focused on reducing harms related to unregulated substances? 

Island Health and the University of Victoria are pleased to announce Dr. Colette Smart is the new Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) Research Scholar in Residence.

People who inhale illicit drugs now have access to a permanent indoor inhalation overdose prevention service in downtown Victoria, as part of ongoing efforts to respond to the toxic drug supply public health emergency and save lives. 

People who experience acute and severe mental health challenges which significantly impact on their day-to-day life, can now receive recovery-oriented, trauma-informed treatment through an intensive Island Health day program based in Victoria.

Island Health is introducing three Care and Connection Kiosks at hospitals in Campbell River, Nanaimo and Victoria offering community members an innovative way to access free, life-saving, harm reduction supplies and information about mental health and substance use services, supports and treatment.

For the second year, Island Health is allocating up to $1 million for resilience and safety grants aimed at helping improve mental health, mitigate the harms associated with illicit substance use and build youth resilience. 

Cameron Webster is living proof that life sometimes has a way of coming full circle. In 2014, Webster became a client of Island Health’s Early Psychosis Intervention Program in Victoria after being diagnosed with psychosis; a year later he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which features symptoms of schizophrenia and mood disorders.

This International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) August 31, Island Health is hosting a digital memory wall to honour those lost to a toxic drug poisoning. IOAD is the world's largest annual campaign to end overdose, and this online memorial encourages everyone to remember, without stigma, those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of family, friends and caregivers left behind. 

Anyone in the Island Health region can now contribute data to help inform potential drug poisoning overdose advisories.