Youth Substance Use Supports

Clinical Counselling is available through our Wellness Aligned Youth Services (W.A.Y.S.) Program. This is a free, confidential counselling service for youth aged 12-24 who would like to address concerns about mental health and substance use (their own or a friend/family member’s substance use).

The W.A.Y.S. Program provides a wide range of services including individual counselling; parent/caregiver support; referrals for other services such as detox and live-in treatment; and substance use information and education.

We believe that the most effective support occurs when a youth is ready to begin exploring their substance use and mental health concerns voluntarily. Our counselling team provides a collaborative, supportive and judgement-free approach to connecting with our services and exploring substance use and mental health issues.

This program is funded by the Fraser Health Authority and is free for youth who live in the Tri-Cities, Anmore, or Belcarra.

Drop-In Support Services

Drop-in support appointments are available weekly. These 30-minute appointments are available for prospective clients or family members seeking service navigation, or additional information about clinical counselling for substance use concerns. Drop-in appointments can also be booked to provide support to youth in completing the referral package for substance use counselling at SHARE.

To find available drop-in times, contact our intake department by phone at 604-540-9161 ext. 230 or via email at intake@sharesociety.ca

Program Eligibility

This program is for youth aged 12-24 who are concerned about their own substance use or the substance use of someone close to them. Youth must reside in the Tri-Cities, Anmore or Belcarra to access services.

How to Complete a Referral

Our referral process is collaborative and rooted in the belief that youth should be involved in seeking the support they wish to participate in. As such, all youth referred to the W.A.Y.S. program must be informed and provide their consent for the referral.

With a youth’s consent, we will accept referrals from the following:

• The youth themselves
• A parent or caregiver*
• A supportive adult in the youth’s life, such as a counsellor, family member, teacher, or youth worker

*If a parent or caregiver has concerns and are not able to get consent for a referral, they will be invited to book a drop-in appointment to speak with one of our counsellors about available support services for parents/caregivers.

Self-referral packages can be requested by contacting our Intake Department Monday to Friday, 9:00am–4:00pm.

Phone: 604-540-9161 ext. 230
Email: Intake@sharesociety.ca

Consent & Confidentiality

We require informed consent from you to proceed with services. Before you consent to services, we will review your rights, your responsibility and confidentiality. We will answer all questions to the best of our ability to ensure that you are comfortable in proceeding with counselling support.

Withdrawal Management Sites

There are several services that can be accessed without a referral, these include:

Detox/Withdrawal Management Services
Fraser Health – Adult and Youth

• Creekside Withdrawal Management Centre
  13740 94A Avenue, Surrey
  Phone: 1-888-587-3755

Vancouver Coastal Health – Youth Only

• Directions Youth Detox (for youth age 21 and under)
  1138 Burrard Street, Vancouver
  Phone: 1-866-249-6884

In partnership with Tri-Cities schools and community, the Youth Substance Use Services Health Promotion program provides free prevention and health promotion initiatives that assist in identifying and changing personal and environmental factors that influence youth and support them in adopting and enhancing healthy behaviours’, attitudes and connections to family and community. Prevention services include but are not limited to: Brief screening/ referrals/consultation; committee work; groups; youth lead special events; presentations; professional training; and community development work.

Health Promotion/Prevention seeks to increase drug literacy, enhance skills and competencies that protect against problem use, delay early onset of first use and reduce harms associated with use. This program is informed by best practices and current research in prevention/health promotion, which supports building the capacity for the resilience that already exists in youth. Our focus is on three main protective factors to build capacity:

1. Caring, connected relationships within which they feel a sense of belonging.
2. Opportunities to participate and contribute in the lives of others and their community;

The above two converge to support youth in:

3. Developing high self-expectations and personal standards (connection to aspirations, commitments, core values, what matters most, what I stand for…)

The resiliency approach is developmental and the focus is not on risk but on learning and modelling.

This program is funded by the Fraser Health Authority.

For more information, please contact our Health Promotion Team at:
Email: hpp@sharesociety.ca
Phone: 604.540.9161 (ext. 534 or 657)

Location: This program provides services in SD43 middle and high schools as well as the Tri-Cities community.

Office hours: Monday – Friday 8:30am-4:30pm *Due to Covid-19, hours may differ

Our humble disclaimer - we offer the following resources to ALL parents and youth who access the YSUS program - we treat this like First Aid in that we may not necessarily anticipate needing to use CPR or the Heimlich, but if a situation arises in which we do, we all best be prepared! It is to be noted that you cannot use Naloxone on yourself, and thus having the knowledge allows a person to be in support of others in their life, but does not support that individual’s safety. Thus, sharing this knowledge amongst the community is the best way to support overdose response. To be clear - there is no research speaking to overdose risk with folks who use cannabis only. Having said that, we are in an overdose epidemic and we feel it is our program’s responsibility to destigmatize overdose and educate all we can about the life-saving basics that may be useful in any environment in the current landscape.

To learn more about the overdose crisis in BC here.

Naloxone information, education and training options:
Find more information about Naloxone and view a short 4 minutes training video here.

NaloxHome - NaloxHome provides students and communities with education on signs of an overdose, stigma, naloxone, and how to keep each other safe. As a youth-led initiative, NaloxHome is proud to be made up of 18-25-year-olds eager to make a change and end the stigma against overdose.

Training and certificate here.

Where to find Naloxone and other harm reduction supplies:
Naloxone can be picked up at a pharmacy. You can find sites that distribute Naloxone and other harm reduction supplies here.

Signs of an overdose:
Know the signs of an overdose.

The Good Samaritan Act:
“People who call 9-1-1 at the scene of an overdose and help someone experiencing an overdose have some legal protection under the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act.” Learn about the Good Samaritan Act here.

Find Supervised Consumption Sites and Overdose Prevention Sites here.

The Lifeguard App: a versatile smartphone app that automatically connects a user to emergency responders if the user becomes unconscious or unable to function. Importantly, Lifeguard App, using the even platform technology, arms the emergency responders with information critical to the success of emergency intervention. Download Lifeguard App today on iOS or Android.

Grief support and bereavement:

Cross Roads Hospice - For those seeking support following the loss of a loved one to overdose.

Tri-Cities Overdose Community Action Team (TC CAT)

The Tri-Cities Overdose Community Action Team operates within the Tri-Cities to address the overdose crisis. For updates or inquiries, follow their social media here:

Facebook: TCCAT TriCities Overdose Community Action Team

Instagram: @tricitiescat

See the Youth Action Team art project and community resource page here:

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1

Are you in crisis?

Call the Fraser Health crisis line:

604-951-8855 or 1-877-820-7444 (toll-free)

Trained volunteers provide emotional crisis support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Get Help Now

Text Kids Help Phone -To start using the text service, text CONNECT to 68686

Online chat visit youthinbc.com

START: The Short Term, Assessment, Response, Treatment (START) Team provides confidential mental health crisis intervention services for children and teens. Call 604 949 7765 for more information, visit their website

These are some of our favourite resources!

1. The Foundry - Health and wellness resources, services and supports for young people ages 12-24 and their caregivers.
2. Teen Mental Health – Resources for adults and youth
3. Anxiety Canada
4. Youth In BC – Youth Crisis Line/Chat and resource hub
5. Here to Help: Mental health and substance use information you can trust
6. Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre
7. Mindshift App - MindShift is a free app designed to help teens and young adults cope with anxiety.
8. What's Up ? - A Mental Health App - What’s Up is an app designed to provide helpful tools for managing depression. Download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play.
9. Breathr App - Breathr offers simple ways to explore mindfulness and learn about benefits for your mind, body and relationships.

These are some of our favourite resources!

1. Book: Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change by Jeffry Foote, Carrie Wilkens & Nicole Kosanke, with Stephanie Higgs
2. Article: The Relationship Approach: What it Is and What It Will Give You – this is a chapter in a older book entitled Parent-Teen Breakthrough: The Relationship Approach by Mira Kirshenbaum & Charles Foster
3. Workbook: Recognizing Resilience: A Workbook for Parents and Caregivers of Teens Using Substances
4. Video: Talking With Youth About Substance Use: Paying Attention-Relationship or Behaviour
5. Book: Parenting Through The Storm: by Anne Douglas
6. The Foundry - Health and wellness resources, services and supports for young people ages 12-24 and their caregivers.
7. Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre
8. Family Smart: Support for children, youth and families facing mental health challenges
9. Here to Help: Mental health and substance use information you can trust

These are some of our favourite resources!

1. SHARE’S Top 10 for Talking with Youth About Substance Use – A resource for School Professionals.
2. Talking Pot with Youth: A Cannabis Communication Guide for Youth Allies
3. iMinds – “a collection of resources for schools related to substance use and gambling. The lesson ideas fit well within the scope of BC’s K-12 curriculum with its emphasis on core and curricular competencies.”
4. The Foundry – for School Professionals - Foundry offers resources and tools to help people working in school communities learn more about mental health and support student mental wellness in a variety of ways.
5. Fraser Health Mental Health and Substance Use Services - Find mental health and substance use services.
6. Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre
7. Here to Help: Mental health and substance use information you can trust
8. NaloxHome - NaloxHome provides students and communities with education on signs of an overdose, stigma, naloxone, and how to keep each other safe. As a youth-led initiative, NaloxHome is proud to be made up of 18-25-year-olds eager to make a change and end the stigma against overdose.

bc211.ca or dial or text 211 from any phone (150+ languages) – 211 connects you to programs and service in your community - https://youtu.be/Ti_ifVV16H4

Fraser North Community Services - Directory

Tri-Cities Local Immigration Partnership - “New to the Tri-Cities” Resource List