About

Purpose of the Project

The goal of the project is to help decrease stigma in healthcare, enhance providers’ understanding of the community and build healthcare providers’ skills and confidence working with clients who use substances. Ultimately, we aim to reduce the toll of the toxic drug public health emergency.

It provides a virtual tour of some of the community-based services in the DTES, Richmond, and Coastal communities within the Vancouver Coastal Health region, and shares video interviews with community members who have been impacted by stigma. The objective of the course is to allow healthcare providers to better understand the lives of their clients, to provide culturally safe practice, to increase access to care, and improve quality of care for people who use substances.

Origins

The idea for this project came from community members in the downtown eastside who were participants of the VCH Street Degree Program (refer to the link for more information on Street Degree). These community members wanted to share their experiences of stigma and the realities of their community with healthcare providers, with the hope of improving care for people who use subtances.

The SUPP Team

The Substance Use & Priority Populations (SUPP) Team is part of the regional prevention and public health program. SUPP supports harm reduction initiatives and provides education to address the opioid overdose crisis. For more information please visit VCH Overdose Emergency Response Page