Health PEI has joined other provincial health authorities in Atlantic Canada to offer employers a new way of dealing with the impact of substance abuse in the workplace, says Keith Dewar, CEO of Health PEI.
“The Atlantic Canada Council on Addiction – of which Prince Edward Island is a member – has produced a resource toolkit that should be on every employer’s bookshelf,” Dewar said. “Addiction affects everyone, and this toolkit will help organizations build capacity and strengthen their response to the potentially damaging effect of substance abuse.”
Formally called “Addressing Problematic Substance Use that Impacts the Workplace,” the resource manual is the product of a three-year Atlantic Canada project funded by Health Canada. Atlantic Canada Deputy Ministers meeting with Health Canada in 2005 said they wished to collaborate in the areas of mental health and addictions, so the Atlantic Canada Council on Addiction chose addictions in the workplace as the topic for a joint demonstration project.
The toolkit was made possible by Health Canada’s Grants and Contribution program through the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund.
Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are all currently launching the toolkit and will soon start testing it with select employers, training stakeholders in its use, and evaluating the success of the project. Prince Edward Island launched the toolkit on February 23.
“For our part, Health PEI provides high-quality addiction services including inpatient and outpatient detox, methadone maintenance treatment, counseling and smoking cessation, to name a few,” said Margaret Kennedy, Health PEI’s director of Mental Health and Addictions who also is an advisory committee member for the addictions toolkit project. “We focus on prevention and early intervention, which are at the core of Health PEI’s renewed focus on primary health care.”
To download a copy of the addictions workplace toolkit, visit www.healthpei.ca.