Our Work
Ongoing Projects
A Question of Care
A Question of Care (QoC) is a Peterborough-based capacity-building initiative focused on building and strengthening skills, knowledge, and awareness to address the intersections between substance use, stigma, mental illness, and trauma. QoC creates spaces for mutual learning, respectful dialogue, and fostering collaboration between community members, as well as multi-sectoral collaboration and interdisciplinary practice between professionals.
Visit the QoC website for more information or to register for a workshop: www.questionofcare.com
Lived Experience Advisory Panel (shortened to LEAP or ‘the panel’)
Comprised of 12 local people who have diverse experiences with substance use and/or supporting a loved one who uses substances, the panel presents a platform where people with lived experience (PWLE) are paid to leverage their experiences to help shape local programs, policies, and initiatives. The panel offers organizations an invaluable opportunity to receive feedback on their activities and make necessary adaptations to more effectively serve to the needs of individuals who have navigated experiences with substance use.
“You could not replicate the feedback shared by the panel. Being able to
interact with the panel firsthand was extremely beneficial to my learning… the feedback shared by the group heavily influenced
Learn More about the panel.
Mobile Support Overdose Resource Team (MSORT)
The Mobile Support Overdose Resource Team (MSORT) is a collaboration between FourCAST, PARN, Peterborough County and City Paramedics, the Peterborough Police Service, and Peterborough Drug Strategy. It is an interdisciplinary frontline team providing direct service supports to people who are experiencing, and at risk of experiencing, opioid overdoses.
For more information or to make a referral (self-referrals are welcome) to this program, visit our MSORT page.
Recent Projects
PDS Housing Report
The Peterborough Drug Strategy (PDS) conducted a housing research project between September 2022 and April 2023. This report provides an accountability framework for federal, provincial, and municipal governments, and presents four case studies on how communities are addressing the issue in productive ways.
Housing Unit Takeovers (HUTs)
The Peterborough Drug Strategy (PDS) provided project coordination to implement and oversee a Housing Unit Takeover (HUTs) project running from September 2020 to March 31, 2023. The need for this project was determined at a PDS meeting in early 2020 and funds were secured through a Proceeds of Crime grant through PDS Pillar partner Peterborough Police from the Ministry of the Solicitor General.
Past Projects
Peterborough Community Cannabis Project (2018-2020)
PDS supported helping professionals and members of the public in Peterborough City and County with evidence-based information and supports as we transitioned to legal cannabis for non-medical use.
PDS Panel (2017-2018)
The PDS Panel was an opportunity for people with lived experience related to substance use to use their experiences to help inform local programs, policies and initiatives. It was also an opportunity for organizations to get feedback on their activities and adapt them to better meet the needs of people with lived experience of substance use.
This project was generously funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and agency of the Government of Ontario.
Peterborough Regional Overdose Preparedness Project (2017)
The Peterborough Police Service with PDS and other supporting organizations received funding in July 2017 from Proceeds of Crime Front-Line Policing program to support the harm reduction work already happening in our community.
From September 2017 to March 2018, PDS undertook a number of project components to meet identified harm reduction needs in our community.
Emergency Department Naloxone Access Project (2016)
The Peterborough Police Service with PDS and other supporting organizations received funding in August 2016 from the Proceeds of Crime Front-Line Policing program to work with the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) to implement a naloxone distribution kit program through the hospital’s emergency department.
Challenge, Beliefs, Change (CBC)
Challenges, Beliefs, Change connects senior high school students to grade 8 feeder school classrooms to facilitate discussions about substance use, internet safety and making healthy choices. Most of this information is conveyed through hands-on activities that are engaging, interactive and interesting to both the facilitators and the students. The students are accompanied by the school liaison officer and student success teacher from the high school, who are responsible for providing support to the peer leaders.
Strengthening Families for Parents and Youth (2015)
Up to 2015, PDS implemented the Strengthening Families for Parents and Youth (SFPY) program in Peterborough. SFPY is a great program that comes from Parent Action on Drugs. The goal of the program is to improve communication between parents and teens. Topics covered included communication, praise, stress management and other issues that impact family relationships.
Life Unleashed
Life Unleashed was a speakers group made up of youth who have lived experience of alcohol and drug use and/or mental health issues. After several months of training, participants had the opportunity to share their stories of adversity, challenge and change to other members of the Peterborough community.
The goal of Life Unleashed was to build public speaking skills for youth and empower them to share their experiences, while providing audiences (often younger youth) with insightful reflections
PDS in the News
- PARN, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP push for local consumption and treatment service site (2019)
-
Peterborough bar and restaurant workers get a crash course on treating an overdose (2018)
- Peterborough Police Service and health official launch Drug Awareness Week amid overdose epidemic (2018)
- Opioid use in Peterborough and Kawarthas above provincial average (2017)
- Order of Merit for Peterborough Police Deputy Chief Tim Farquharson (2016)
- Drug Early Warning System (2013)
Contact Us
Reach out to the Peterborough Drug Strategy here.