The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, along with its community partners, are successful recipients of a 3 year Health Canada Substance Use and Addictions Program grant. This grant provides communities across Canada the opportunity to apply for funding in the following areas;
- Harm Reduction, Community-Led and Front-line Initiatives
- Increasing Access to Pharmaceutical – Grade Medications
- New Approaches to Address Methamphetamine Use
This grant has enabled the Health Unit to hire 2 Harm Reduction Community Support Navigators (CSNs). The primary roles of the CSNs are to provide outreach peer to peer support to people who use substances, distribute harm reduction supplies, facilitate linkages between health care providers/community partners and people who use substances, as well as community partner engagement around harm reduction and substance use.
The secondary role of the CSNs will be to engage with people who use substances as well as service providers from across LGL to identify challenges, barriers and areas for improvement in accessing and retaining people who use substances in LGL services. The overall goal of the project is to decrease community stigma and discrimination towards people who use substances, and improve navigation of local resources and increase access to services by people who use substances as well as their families and friends.
If you would like more information on the Harm Reduction Community Support Navigators or the Health Canada Substance Use and Addictions grant please contact Jennifer Adams RN, Harm Reduction Coordinator, (613) 283-2740 ext 2415 or jennifer.adams@healthunit.org