National Addictions Awareness Week 2024
National Addictions Awareness Week 2024
CATC is forging connections to create accessible pathways to addiction treatment
Nov 24-30 is National Addictions Awareness Week (NAAW) and this year is all about forging connections. Respectful and diverse collaboration is in CATC’s DNA as a leading healthcare and community care provider, and we’re proud to be working together with the full spectrum of people and organizations with vested interest in evidence-based recovery to connect people to the care they need to reach their goals.
We’re also innovating to stay on the leading edge as the largest addictions medicine provider in Canada, responding to increasingly complex patient needs by introducing new medication prescribing protocols and launching a fully-virtual patient onboarding program across our clinic network—the first of its kind and scale in the country. This innovation is necessary to enable the right treatment for that patient at this point in their recovery journey – particularly given the increasing acuity of the patients we serve in the community.
All of this work supports our mission of empowering people experiencing addiction to take control of their health through compassionate, person-centred care that meets them where they are in recovery.
Snapshot of our Impact
As patients’ needs become more complex, the answer remains simple: more treatment + more collaboration = more lives saved.
The opioid crisis in Canada is a testament to the fact that urgency necessitates innovation. As fentanyl continues to fuel growing overdose rates across the country—currently accounting for an estimated 47% of related emergency room visits and 81% of deaths—old ways of responding are no longer working. Opioid overdoses triggered 8,719 Emergency Medical Services responses and 1,906 deaths within the 3 months of 2024 alone (41,934 and 8,480 respectively in 2023). Compounding the problem are pervasive barriers blocking access to evidence-based treatment where and when people need it most, reinforced by deeply-rooted silos preventing the collaborative response that’s so desperately needed to turn the tide.
Through all of the distracting rhetoric around how to best handle the homelessness, mental health and addiction crisis straining emergency room departments and putting communities at risk, one simple truth rises above the noise: we need more people in treatment that works, and at CATC, we have the capacity needed to do it today.
As the largest provider of substance use disorder treatment in Canada, Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres (CATC) is working closely with government, healthcare and community care partners to build immediately-accessible pathways to treatment that meet people where they are in recovery, and move them along the spectrum of care with evidence-based clinical approaches that meet their unique and complex needs. We’re leveraging our vast patient health data (the largest of its kind in Canada) to evolve our clinical practices, creating better treatment outcomes for patients using fentanyl which represent over 60% of the over 15,000 patients we treat each day.
Our new virtual patient onboarding program, launched across our expansive network of community clinics this year, is making access to treatment faster and easier than ever, including in rural and remote regions that are buckling under the pressure of skyrocketing overdoses. Through this innovative program, our dedicated teams are seamlessly connecting at-risk individuals to our network of ~100 specialized addictions medicine physicians (also the largest in Canada) to people across Ontario, providing the same-day access they need to stabilize safely and begin the recovery process. Building upon this success, we’re integrating with the public health system and community resources to embed this under-utilized capacity for rapid access to treatment into existing infrastructure alongside our accredited inpatient medical detox, inpatient and virtual outpatient services—all with the shared goal of getting people into treatment, now.
Through all this collaboration, our message remains clear: Canada’s overdose crisis will be solved through building pathways, breaking down walls and tapping into existing capacity to provide scalable access to effective treatment. CATC stands ready today to be the proven solution for making effective substance use disorder treatment accessible to everyone who needs it. We are making great strides, but we cannot afford to slow down now.
Help us break down stigma surrounding addiction
One of the most powerful things you can do to make a difference in the lives of people affected by substance use disorder—including their friends and family—is to challenge common myths and misunderstandings about addiction.
Arming yourself with facts and knowledge about addiction, including the ways labels and language can cause harm, is easy and meaningful. When you understand the experience of people who use drugs, it opens your mind to new ways of thinking. It also helps you feel confident to correct people who are not informed about these topics and be a part of a global shift to break down stigma around mental health and addictions.
If you get the chance to meet someone who has experienced addiction, whether or not they’re in recovery, take the time to get to know their unique story. You’ll quickly see that there’s more than meets the eye, and that no two stories are the same!
Join the conversation
If you’re passionate about supporting people experiencing substance use disorder, join the National Addictions Awareness Week conversation on social media by following #NAAW2024.
If you’re supporting people with addiction, we’re with you all the way
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to recovery. If you’re looking for credible, tailored support for someone suffering from substance use disorder, harmful behaviours and underlying mental health issues, trust Canada’s largest provider of accredited addiction treatment. We help people reclaim and rebuild their lives, one step at a time.
We help the full spectrum of addiction treatment referents, including healthcare providers, families, interventionists, case managers, employers and coverage providers, connect the people they support to accredited personalized care.
From medical detox to inpatient treatment, virtual outpatient and community clinic services, we’re with you all the way.
Need help connecting people to addiction treatment?
Connect with our dedicated referent support team
Need help for yourself?
Send us a message using the form below, or call us at 1.877 937 2282.