Anchoring Change

Schools across Canada are facing increasingly complex substance use challenges but have lacked a shared approach to prevention, education, and intervention.

To address this need, Wellstream: The Canadian Centre for Innovation in Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of British Columbia brought together national partners—including the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), the Canadian Association of School System Administrators (CASSA), Physical and Health Education (PHE) Canada, and the Students Commission of Canada —to launch Anchoring Change, a collaborative initiative advancing evidence-informed approaches to school-based substance use prevention, education, and intervention

A national initiative to transform school-based substance use prevention, education, and intervention in Canada

A national initiative to transform school-based substance use prevention, education, and intervention in Canada

The Standard

 

School-Based Substance Use Prevention, Education, and Intervention: A Multi-Tiered and Developmental Approach for Kindergarten to Grade 12 Schools in Canada

The Standard is Anchoring Change’s foundational output and the first panCanadian framework of its kind for school-based substance use prevention, education, and intervention. Developed under the guidance of CSA Group, it provides schools with a shared, evidence-informed foundation for supporting student health and wellbeing.

The Standard was shaped by educators, health professionals, researchers, policy experts, Indigenous knowledge holders, youth, and nearly 1,000 public review comments, ensuring it reflects diverse perspectives from across Canada.

Multidisciplinary Expert Committee

Central to the development of the Standard was a multidisciplinary committee of subject matter experts. This diverse group brought together professionals from education, public health, mental health, and substance use fields, along with youth, to ensure the Standard reflects current scientific evidence and the realities and needs of Canadian school communities.

The Standard is just the beginning.

Explore the milestones below to learn how it was developed and what’s next for the Anchoring Change initiative.

Transforming Substance Use Harm Prevention in Schools:
A Multi-Phased Initiative

Phase

1

Characterizing the Landscape & Guiding Innovation

AIM: Strengthen intersectoral partnerships, including with school-based professionals, substance use experts, and youth networks, to characterize current practices and distill evidence to inform the co-development of national standards for substance use education and intervention in K-12

Phase

2

Making the Change, Building the Solutions, & Evaluating for Impact

AIM: Realize systems transformation by enacting co-developed implementation processes to facilitate the ratification and adoption of national standards across education systems. Develop and test low-barrier, evidence-aligned prototype resources to support practice change, and trial a data strategy to assess impacts on education systems and youth substance use more broadly.

Phase

3

Optimizing Outcomes

AIM: Produce a framework for continuous monitoring and refine research and data processes, implementation products, and training to scale practice resources across education systems and respond to emerging trends to strengthen impacts.

Phase 1 Highlights

Co-Creating Capacity for Change: A National Strategy for School-Base

Co-Creating Capacity for Change: A National Strategy for School-Based Substance Use Harm Prevention

Webinar

In May 2025, our team was proud to share our innovative approach to transforming school-based responses to substance use as part of the Joint Consortium for School Health Webinar Series.

Missed the live session? No problem — you can still watch the full presentation and learn more about our work!

Video Link

Engagement Report: Addressing Substance Use in K-12 Schools Workshop

Explore highlights from our engagement event, where educators, school leaders, youth, and public health professionals came together to shape a standard that will reflect the diverse realities and needs of schools and communities nationwide.

Transforming Substance Use Harm Prevention in Canadian Schools: An Examination of School Administrators’ Experiences and Perspectives

This report presents findings from a recent survey of Canadian kindergarten to 12th grade school administrators conducted as part of Wellstream’s Transforming Substance Use Harm Prevention in Schools initiative. The survey aimed to characterize current practices and identify needs related to substance use education and intervention in schools.

Additional Reading:

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    School-Based Substance Use Interventions: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis

    Schools offer a strategic setting for substance use prevention; however, program effectiveness remains uncertain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of school-based approaches to preventing and reducing substance use for children and adolescents, while incorporating school ecosystem considerations.

    International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

    2026/01

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    Addressing student substance use in Canadian schools: an exploration of administrators’ perspectives

    To support the development of evidence-informed guidance for Canadian Kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) school administrators, this study examined their perceptions of the scope of student substance use and the challenges they face in responding within school settings.

    Health Promotion International

    2025/10

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    Taking stock of youth substance use portrayals: A critical content analysis of Canadian news media, 2016-2024.

    A mixed-methods critical content and discourse analysis exploring the characteristics and consequences of youth substance use as portrayed in Canadian news media.

    Social Science & Medicine

    2025/08

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