Substance Use and Addiction Education
Since 2016, a public health emergency has been ongoing in BC due to an increase in drug poisonings from an increasingly toxic unregulated drug supply. Health professionals have a critical role in reducing the risk of drug poisoning due to this supply by supporting people who use substances, people with substance use disorders and those in recovery.
In response to this pressing challenge, UBC Health formed a partnership with the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) to improve substance use and addiction education for health professional students at UBC. This will help ensure that graduates of these programs enter practice with foundational training in substance use and addiction prevention, treatment, care and recovery to accompany the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to support people who use substances.
Initiatives, Education/Training, and Resources
Interprofessional Panel on Substance Use Care
Learn about substance use care and how professions work together. This event will feature an interprofessional panel of clinicians – occupational therapist, physician, social worker, and pharmacist - who will discuss their roles and talk about the diversity of care settings in which they work, and how they collaborate in this complex area.
Students who attend will work through a case study. There will be time for questions, discussion, and opportunities to meet students and health professionals from different disciplines. This panel event is for students participating in health professional programs at UBC.
- When: Monday, May 13, 2024, 6pm – 8pm
- Where: Online
- Register here
UBC Health and BCCSU have created a special interest group newslletter (SIG) to support the development of a community of practice for those interested in substance use and addiction education at UBC. Subscribe to the email list and receive monthly updates, education and training opportunities, event notifications, and resources.
If you have a relevant resource or event to share with the special interest group, please email Amanda Unruh, Interim Substance Use and Addiction Partnership Manager, UBC Health and BCCSU at amanda.unruh@ubc.ca.
Hosted by UBC Health and BCCSU, the Substance Use and Lunch & Learn Webinars provides accessible, evidence-based knowledge about substance use and addiction. This free webinar series is geared towards health program instructors and preceptors from any discipline who supervise students, although anyone can benefit from this learning and all are welcome to attend. Each webinar provides learners with tangible takeaways that can be used to improve the care for and treatment of people who use substances.
Past webinars are available on the UBC Health YouTube channel and include the following topics:
- Substance Use and Addiction 101
- Substance Use and Stigma
- Trauma- and Violence-Informed Care
- Harm Reduction
- Introduction to Opioid Use Disorder and Treatment Options
- Understanding Stimulant Use and Stimulant Use Disorder Care
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Substance Use - Related Stigma
UBC Health is enhancing substance use and addiction education by including voices of people with lived and living experience with substance use in collaboration with the Patient and Community Partnership for Education (PCPE). These are hosted annually and are aimed at students in health professions.
- The Patient and Community Voices student workshop Substance Use Care: Addressing Stigma in the Health System to Improve Patient Outcomes provides students with an opportunity to learn directly from people with lived and living experience with substances.
In June 2021, UBC Health and BCCSU hosted a collaborative health symposium to provide key partners with an opportunity to discuss substance use and addiction curriculum and identify resources and opportunities to enhance existing educational content, both uni-disciplinarily and collaboratively.
- Presentation (video)
- Executive Summary
- BCCSU Resources
- Online Course: Addiction Care and Treatment Online Certificate is a free online certificate course for healthcare professionals interested in learning more about providing care to patients with various substance use disorders, including alcohol, tobacco, stimulants, cannabis, and opioids.
- Online Course: Provincial Opioid Addiction Treatment Support Program is a comprehensive education and training program that provides the tools for prescribing oral opioid agonist treatment and injectable opioid agonist treatment. The online component is free and available to anyone interested in learning about opioid use disorder care.
- Recommended modules
- Other resources
- Online Course: Vancouver Coastal Health Resisting Stigma Course aims to decrease stigma in healthcare, enhance providers’ understanding of the community, and build healthcare providers’ skills and confidence working with clients who use substances. The course enables healthcare providers to better understand the lives of their clients, provide culturally safer practice, increase access to care, and improve quality of care for people who use substances.
- Substance Use Stigma Reduction Trainings in Canada is a list of training courses and programs offered through various organizations that work in the areas of substance use and substance use stigma reduction. They were developed for diverse target audiences, including for those who work in health and social services, post-secondary education, law enforcement, and the general population.
- The Living Library is a collection of videos of patients and caregivers talking about their experiences during their health journeys and includes I'm Just Trying to Keep My Kid Alive, a vignette about Deb, who tells the story of her child’s struggles with addiction and navigating health services.
- PDF: Substance Use: What You Should Know provides a high-level overview of substance use disorder and what all health care providers (future and practicing) should know about working with people who use drugs.
- PDF: Want to Learn More about Substance Use? includes information about BCCSU education and training programs and clinical guidance documents, as well as additional resources and readings that are relevant to substance use care and treatment.
- Podcast: Addiction Practice Pod is a podcast focusing on addiction and substance use care for healthcare providers in British Columbia and Yukon, offering practical tips and guidance to providers seeking to improve their skills in addiction care.
- Guidelines: BCCSU Clinical Care Guidance provides evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and protocols focused on substance use disorders, health system interventions, and key populations.
- Webinars: BCCSU Youtube Channel includes substance use disorder guidelines, What’s New in Addiction Medicine series, and the BC ECHO on Substance Use series.
- Harm Reduction Resources
- BCCSU Drug Checking Project partners with harm reduction organizations across British Columbia to implement and evaluate community-based drug checking services.
- FNHA Indigenous Harm Reduction provides harm reduction services, supports, education, and research for and with First Nations people.
- Supports for UBC Students
- UBC Student Recovery Community is a safe, welcoming, and inclusive space for students who are in recovery or curious to explore their relationship with alcohol, drugs, and/or addictive behaviours, including disordered eating, gaming, and gambling.
- Harm reduction resources for UBC Vancouver students is a resource of harm reduction resources including fentanyl test strips, naloxone, naloxone training and other resources for students.
- UBC Okanagan Harm Reduction Team (HaRT) engages the UBCO campus community in discussions about the opioid epidemic and substance use and builds on existing strategies to strengthen harm reduction services.