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February 3, 2025 The Brantford-Brant Community Drug Strategy (BBCDS) has released its 2025 Action Plan, building on progress to address substance use and addiction in the community. Focused on prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and community safety, the plan includes 12 recommendations developed with local stakeholders. These initiatives aim to expand education, reduce stigma, enhance support, and improve community well-being. Through partnerships and resources, BBCDS is committed to creating a safer, healthier Brantford-Brant. The release of the 2025 Action Plan comes as Grand Erie Public Health (GEPH) continues its transition following a recent merger aimed at enhancing public health capacity and service delivery. The plan underscores GEPH’s commitment to maintaining uninterrupted programs while addressing the unique needs of diverse communities. The BBCDS also acknowledges the “Lighthouse Community Strategy,” a similar coalition addressing substance use and mental health with community members from Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Haldimand County, and Norfolk County. While the two strategies currently remain separate, both adopt a shared four-pillar approach and a commitment to building safer, healthier communities. The 2025 Action Plan introduces 12 targeted recommendations developed in collaboration with local and regional stakeholders, focusing on:

• Youth Caregiver Engagement: Expanding outreach to support caregivers to prevent, delay and respond to drug use among youth through tailored education efforts.

• Stigma Reduction: Expanding access to anti-stigma education for service providers, with the goal of ensuring that people who use substances are treated with respect and dignity.

• Improving Treatment Access:Collaborating with the Brantford Brant Norfolk Ontario Health Team’s Mental Health and Addictions Steering Committee to implement a pilot of cross-sector screening for substance use disorders, identify and fill gaps in the current treatment continuum of care, and explore barriers to primary care providers integrating people with substance use disorders into their practices.

• Innovative Harm Reduction: Increasing access to harm reduction supplies in rural areas and piloting an overdose prevention initiative in a rental building.

• Justice Diversion Models: Exploring alternatives to traditional criminal justice approaches for individuals with substance use disorders.

• Enhanced Collaboration: Strengthening partnerships among mobile and outreach service providers.

• Improving Surveillance: Improving unregulated drug market monitoring and reducing overdose risk through expanded implementation of drug checking.

The BBCDS Action Plan focuses on creating a proactive, community-wide response to drug use. The BBCDS Action Plan is the product of extensive collaboration among the members of the BBCDS Coordinating Committee, particularly Core Members:

• SOAR Community Services (formerly St. Leonard’s Community Services)
• Grand River Community Health Centre (GRCHC)
• Positive Health Network (PHN) (formerly the AIDS Network)
• Child and Family Services of the Grand Erie
• The Brantford Police Service (BPS)
• Grand Erie Public Health (formerly the Brant County Health Unit)
• Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS)
• Woodview Mental Health and Autism Services
• The County of Brant
• The City of Brantford

Quote: “The 2025 Action Plan reflects our community’s ongoing commitment to addressing substance use challenges through collaboration, education, and innovative approaches. We remain focused on reducing harm, improving access to treatment, and supporting all individuals impacted by substance use.” Alyssa Stryker, Drugs Strategy Coordinator, Grand Erie Public Health “The recent merger into Grand Erie Public Health allows us to strengthen our collective response to the challenges faced by our communities. Through the aligned efforts of the Brantford Brant Community Drug Strategy and the Lighthouse Community Strategy, we will address substance use, promote health equity, and build safer, healthier communities.” Josh Veilleux, Health Promoter, Lighthouse Community Strategy Coordinator, Grand Erie Public Health The Brantford-Brant Community Drugs Strategy was launched in 2016 to develop a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder approach to addressing substance use in the region. Guided by its founding principles, the BBCDS continues to adapt to emerging challenges to build a safer, healthier community. –30–