Youth Substance Use Services & Resources

If you are wondering whether experimental, social or recreational substance use is becoming problematic for you or someone you know, these resources may help.

• Substance Use & Youth developed by Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre
• Substance Use Information Foundry BC offers youth health and wellness resources, services and supports
• Help Lines Fact Sheet contains links to trustworthy help lines
• Mobile Apps/Virtual Treatment Fact Sheet provides a list of virtual/online supports
• PreVenture is a school based substance use prevention program. Ask if PreVenture is available at your school.
• School Based/Youth Outreach Services are provided by substance use counsellors in select high schools and communities

Easy to access services to meet you where you are at, when you are ready.

• Supervised Consumption / Overdose Prevention Services for ages 16+ (service listings and locations)
• Overdose Prevention & Treatment Watch our service videos, get drug alerts by text, learn about the naloxone program, drug checking and the lifeguard app
• Harm Reduction get information on harm reduction supplies, drug checking, stigma reduction

These services help connect you to supports in your community when you are experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.

• Substance Use Connections
• Addiction Medicine Consultation Services
• Integrated Crisis Response Teams respond to mental health or substance use (MHSU) emergencies in Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton. Our MHSU clinicians are partnered with a specially trained RCMP officer to help connect you to the services you need to keep you safe.

Our Community Based Services provide individual and group counselling, family support and integration, youth case management or day treatment programs in the community, depending on participant needs.

• Youth Substance Use Counselling & Treatment 
• Youth Substance Use Day Treatment
• Youth Intensive Case Management 
• Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT)
• MHSU Caregiver Support 
• Indigenous Patient Navigator (APN) Services - Community MHSU
• Virtual Addictions Medicine (VAM) Clinic 

These services may be a fit when community based services, such as the Community Based Services listed above, cannot meet your treatment goals. 

• Withdrawal Management Services (Detox): Provides you with medically supported services through the acute stages of withdrawal from alcohol or other substances in a live-in setting.
• Youth Treatment Beds: Provides you with a structured, live-in program where your treatment goals are supported through assessment, evidence-based treatment and skill building.

For a complete list of beds available to Interior Health youth see our list of Bed-Based Services.

The Interior region is home to the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Tŝilhqot’in, Secwépemc, Dãkelh Dené, St’át’imc, syilx, Nlaka’pamux, and Ktunaxa Nations, comprised of 54 First Nations Communities. View our map of Bed-Based Services locations within the interior region.

Call a crisis line for immediate assistance (24/7 unless indicated):

• Kids Help Phone - 1-800-668-6868
• Interior Crisis Line Network - 1-888-353-2273 or 1-800-784-2433
• Suicide Crisis Helpline - 988
• KUU-US (Indigenous) Crisis Line- 1-800-588-8717
• Métis Crisis Line- 1-833-638-4722
• Youth In BC Chat - Noon-1 a.m., 7days/week
• Foundry Phone & Online Chat Support - 1:15-7:15 p.m. 7 days/week
• Helpline for Children - 310-1234

• Get to know more about drugs with accurate, honest information about drugs, including information on the effects, the risks and how to reduce the risks, if you or someone you know is using.
• Our Child and Youth Mental Health & Substance Use (MHSU) Service Directory contains a list of key service providers in the interior region. This resource will help you easily find services in your area.
• Our Youth Harm Reduction Toolkit is designed for service providers. It contains resources on overdose response, substances and harm reduction that may be of interest to youth.

Read blog posts, watch videos and listen to youth with lived experiences speak about IH's services, substance use, recovery, stigma and more. Peers Brynn and Hayden (not their real names) teamed up with us to create SAY - Services Available for Youth.

Substance Use Services Available for Youth (SAY)

Read Brynn and Hayden's blog posts