Toward the Heart is the main website for BCCDC's Harm Reduction Services Program that provides harm reduction and overdose prevention information and resources for a diverse audience. It features support for registered harm reduction and Take Home Naloxone distribution sites, including training materials and other educational tools. It also includes topic sections on reducing harm, naloxone programs, overdose prevention and response, and working together.

This page is intended to provide clinical resources for health professionals on harm reduction and overdose prevention and response.

This web page collates a variety of resources by topic. Due to the unpredictable and unregulated drug supply, information can change and many of our resources are currently under review. We recommend checking this page regularly. If you can't find what you are looking for, or if you have questions about any of our resources, please email harmreduction@bccdc.ca.

Harm reduction

• History of harm reduction supply program in B.C.
• Clinical information sheets:
• Medetomidine 
  
• Xylazine
  
• Skin infections
  
• Toxic Leukoencephalopathy
• Etizolam in BC’s illicit drug market
  
• Levamisole
• Nitazene
  
• Best practices:
  
• Safe needle disposal
• Needle distribution
  
• Community needle stick injuries
  
• Overdose prevention at meetings and events
• Hormone Injection Supplies Toolkit 
  

Overdose prevention & response

• Toxic drug and health alerts
  
• Guiding Principles
  
• Recommended Practices 
  
• BCCDC Toolkit: Responding to opioid overdose for BC service providers
• Communicable Disease Prevention: Responding to Drug Poisoning at Overdose Prevention Services and Supervised Consumption Sites 
  
• OD Prevention Services Guide
  
• Provincial Episodic Overdose Prevention Service (eOPS) Protocol
  
• eOPS Quick Reference Guide
  
• Youth eOPS Quick Reference Guide
  
• Pregnant & Parenting eOPS Quick Reference Guide
  
• Housing & Emergency Shelter eOPS Quick Reference Guide
  
• Prolonged Sedation
• Responding to Opioid Poisoning with Prolonged Sedation 
• Naloxone info:
  
• DST
  
• Should you give naloxone?
• BCCDC illegal drug overdose events
• BCCDC harm reduction reports
  

Stigma & substance use

• Language and substance use stigma:
• Toward the Heart Language Matters
• Peer2Peer Compassionate Engagement modules

Engagement with people with lived/living experience

• Peer Engagement Principles and Best Practices
• Peer Payment Standards for Short-term Engagements
  
• Paying Peers in Community Based Work
  
• Best practice manual for supporting peers/experiential workers in overdose response settings
• Peer Engagement and Evaluation Project (PEEP) final report
• History of Peer Engagement in the BCCDC Harm Reduction Program

Youth

• Guidelines for Providing Harm Reduction Services to Youth in BC
  

Research

• BCCDC harm reduction services research projects