Mental Health and Substance Use Services

Primary health care delivered with understanding and compassion for people who use drugs is the focus of a new Greater Victoria patient-oriented research study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). 

Music festivals can be the highlight of the summer. Since more than music is shared at these events, if you do use drugs, follow a few simple steps to stay safe. We know many drugs are contaminated with fentanyl, increasing the possibility an overdose (i.e. cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, and meth have been found contaminated with fentanyl).

Island Health wants festival goers to roll safe this summer:

Vancouver Island - BoosterBuddy, a mobile app for youth dealing with mental health challenges, has been updated to improve the game experience, through funding from Coast Capital Savings. Users will now be able to check in multiple times per day, schedule repeating to-dos in the calendar, and participate in enhanced quests.

VICTORIA – A new Rapid Access Addiction Clinic (RAAC) is open in Victoria to support people who use opioids such as morphine or heroin and who are ready for treatment and beginning a path to recovery.

PORT ALBERNI—As part of the response on Vancouver Island to the overdose public health emergency, the Port Alberni Shelter Society and Island Health have implemented an overdose prevention site at 3699 3rd Avenue in Port Alberni.

DUNCAN – As part of the Province’s response to the overdose emergency, Island Health will be implementing a temporary Overdose Prevention Services site in Duncan at 715 Canada Avenue. This is Island Health’s 9th overdose prevention site to open since December 2016. Overdose prevention services are available from Victoria to Campbell River.

VICTORIA – Island Health has issued two separate Requests for Proposals (RFPs) inviting community service providers to submit proposals to provide Harm Reduction Workers and Persons With Lived Experience (PWLEs) for the Island’s first Supervised Consumption Service (SCS). The service is expected to open late spring 2018.

Victoria – Island Health and PHS Community Services Society (PHS) have been given approval by Health Canada to open a supervised consumption service (SCS) on Johnson Street in Victoria.

The embedded service is for residents and registered guests at 844 Johnson Street, to help prevent and reverse overdoses and connect clients with treatment services in Victoria. The Johnson Street SCS is the first SCS to open on Vancouver Island. Supervised consumption services will be offered at the Johnson Street Community, effective immediately.

VANCOUVER ISLAND – Fentanyl test strips are now available at Island Health’s supervised consumption and overdose prevention sites, allowing people to test drugs before they are consumed. Sites in Victoria, the city with the third-highest number of overdose deaths in B.C. this year, are the first locations on Vancouver Island to receive the strips.