Calling all youth in the Island Health region with a passion for innovative approaches to the toxic drug crisis. Have you, or another young person you know, worked on a project in the past year that focused on reducing harms related to unregulated substances?
If so, Island Health wants to hear from you! Applications for the 2025 Youth Harm Reduction Award are now open. Launched in 2022, the annual award recognizes youth who have worked on a harm reduction project related to substance use. Winners will receive $1,000 (total) and a framed certificate for each recipient.
Last year’s winning team included three Nanaimo youth who developed a display board mounted in their school that contained information about drug checking and toxic drug-poisoning prevention. They were also taught how to administer naloxone, and in turn they trained more than 20 staff and teen students. The trio also visited the drug-checking service offered at the Nanaimo overdose prevention site, and learned about Substance, a drug-checking service in Victoria.
“The unregulated drug emergency affects us all – including young people. Their voice is vital to inform the response,” says Dr. Réka Gustafson, vice president of Population Health and chief medical health officer. “Island Health is honoured once again to recognize the inspiring and important work of our youth.”
Applicants for the 2025 award can submit applications up to March 31, 2025. 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. Applications will be reviewed in April, with the winning submission announced in June.
Harm reduction aims to reduce negative health, social and legal impacts associated with a range of activities. Widely accepted harm reduction practices include the use of seatbelts and bike helmets, condoms, speed limits and sunscreen. In terms of the toxic drug crisis, 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 opioids.
For more information and application forms, please visit Youth Harm Reduction Award.