Youth Substance Use Prevention Program

Download the PDF format

Objectives

• Prevent and delay substance use in youth and lower experiences of substance use and associated harms into adulthood
• Generate knowledge on the implementation and adaptation of the 10-step Icelandic Prevention Model in Canada including what interventions work, in what ways, and in what contexts

Program partners

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) will work with the following partners to exchange knowledge and support communities:

• Knowledge Development and Exchange Hub for Youth Substance Use Prevention (KDE Hub-YSUP)
  • Objective: Build capacity of the funded projects and lead the evaluation of Canada's adaptation of the IPM
• Planet Youth
  • Objective: Guide communities through the 10 steps of the IPM and provide support to the KDE Hub-YSUP to capture and support the Canadian experience
• Funded Communities and Organizations
  • Working to support prevention of substance related harms among youth

Program structure

YSUPP Stream 1: Incubator and capacity building

Stream 1 recipients may be eligible for Stream 2 funding.

• Objective: Support communities with building capacity to implement the IPM
• Outcomes:
  • Local coalition development
  • Pre-data collection planning and community engagement
  • Identify local funding resources
• Communities and organizations to implement steps 1 to 3 of the Icelandic Prevention Model:
  • Step 1: Local coalition identification, development, and capacity building
  • Step 2: Funding identification, development, and capacity building
  • Step 3: Pre-data collection planning and community engagement

YSUPP Stream 2: Implementation and intervention research

• Objective: Support communities to deliver and evaluate interventions identified through real-time, local data and engagement sessions
• Outcomes:
  • Local data collection and analysis
  • Implementation of actions and interventions
  • Knowledge of what interventions work, in what ways and in what contexts
• Communities and organizations to implement steps 4 to 10 of the Icelandic Prevention Model:
  • Step 4: Data collection and processing, including data driven diagnostics
  • Step 5: Enhancing community participation and engagement
  • Step 6: Dissemination of findings
  • Step 7: Community goal setting and other organized responses to the findings
  • Step 8: Policy and practice alignment
  • Step 9: Adolescent immersion in primary prevention environments, activities, and messaging
  • Step 10: Reflect on the work that has been completed and build upon this local work by repeating the steps again in a new cycle (on an annual or bi-annual basis)

List of funded organizations

• Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre (BRT6HC), North Battleford and surrounding area, Saskatchewan
• Chaleur Regional Service Commission, Chaleur Region, New Brunswick
• Grand Erie Public Health, Haldimand and Norfolk Counties, Ontario
• Haliburton-Kawartha-Northumberland-Peterborough Health Unit (HKNPHU), Peterborough, Ontario
• North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, North Bay and West Nipissing, Ontario
• Northeastern Health Unit, Timiskaming District, Ontario
• Northern Health Authority (NHA), Valemount and McBride, British Columbia
• Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warrior Family Society (NCNYWFS), Port Alberni, British Columbia
• Open Doors Mental Health for Children, Youth & Families, Lanark County, Ontario
• Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre, Sudbury, Ontario
• The DAM (Develop, Assist, Mentor), Mississauga, Ontario
• Undercurrent Youth Society (UYS), Glace Bay and New Waterford, Nova Scotia
• United Way of Calgary and Area, Calgary, Alberta

Knowledge Development and Exchange (KDE) Hub for Youth Substance Use Prevention

• Outcomes:
  • Build the capacity of community-based projects funded through the program to support upstream substance use prevention among youth
  • Lead a pan-Canadian Community of Practice
  • Capture the Canadian experience and adoption of the IPM by consolidating evaluation results across Stream 1 and 2 funded projects at the pan-Canadian level

Download the PDF version

What is the Youth Substance Use Prevention Program?

A community-based funding program designed to help prevent and delay substance use among youth in Canada.

What are we working towards?

Preventing and delaying substance use in youth, and lowering experiences of substance use and associated harms into adulthood.

Generating knowledge on:

• The implementation and adaptation of the IPM in the Canadian context
• What population-level interventions work, in what ways, and in what contexts

YSUPP guiding principles

• Scalable: Support communities to build a strong evidence-informed foundation for continuous expansion and success
• Sustainable: Achieve sustainability through effective and collaborative partnerships at the community level
• Cultural adaptation: Adapt the IPM to reflect the diverse cultural perspectives, practices and values in Canada
• Health equity: Ensure fair and just opportunities for all to attain their highest level of health
• Youth-centred: Engage youth as essential partners to inform action at the community level

Planet Youth

What is Planet Youth?

Planet Youth is an organization based out of Iceland, that supports communities worldwide to adapt and implement a substance use prevention approach called the Icelandic Prevention Model.

What is the Icelandic Prevention Model?

The IPM was developed in Iceland to ensure children and youth have the supports they need to live their best lives. This includes using less alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, experiencing less violence, better mental health, and feeling like they belong. The IPM has been adopted in more than 18 countries and hundreds of cities and towns around the world.

What does the IPM look like in practice?

• Building local coalitions of community members, community-based organizations, policy-makers, researchers, professionals, schools, youth service and health organizations, public health practitioners, and youth
• Conducting youth Surveys every 2 years in schools and providing user-friendly reports to give communities real-time data on youth substance use behaviors and risk and protective factors (things that make it more or less likely for a youth to use substances)
• Community engagement
  • Based on local findings, communities design programs and policies that address the risk and protective factors identified in the surveys (for example, parent groups, buses that take kids to activities after school, support for recreational activities, and school-based health promotion activities)

Examples of protective factors for an individual

• Family: spending time with the family
• Peer group: having a supportive groups of friends
• School: feeling safe at school
• Leisure Time: affordable options for activities

The IPM is built on a foundation of 5 guiding principles

1. Society is the patient
2. Meaningful connection is treatment
3. Sustained attention as a treatment
4. Builds community-specific and institution-level capacity for leadership and problem-solving
5. The scope of the solution matches the scope of the problem

10 core steps of the IPM

1. Local coalition identification, development, and capacity building
2. Local funding identification, development, and capacity building
3. Pre-data collection planning and community engagement
4. Data collection and processing, including data driven diagnostics
5. Enhancing community participation and engagement
6. Dissemination of findings
7. Community goal setting and other organized responses to the findings
8. Policy and practice alignment
9. Child and adolescent immersion in primary prevention environments, activities, and messaging
10. Repeat steps 1 to 9 annually

Organization: Northern Health Authority (NHA), Valemount and McBride, British Columbia

Funding amount: $607,103 over 30 months
The project will strengthen youth substance use prevention and mental wellness in Robson Valley, BC. Using local, regional and provincial resources, the project will deliver data-driven, community-adapted interventions. NHA will engage youth and community members in interpreting survey results and support Community Action Teams to set goals and track progress.

Organization: Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warrior Family Society (NCNYWFS), Port Alberni, British Columbia

Funding Amount: $722,122 over 30 months
Funding will support Indigenous young men in protecting their communities, caring for the land, and building resilience through culturally grounded, strength-based programming. Weekly and monthly gatherings with Elders and instructors will nurture hope, belonging, and purpose—key protective factors against substance use and social adversity. Youth will lead data collection to guide ongoing improvements and track progress toward community wellness goals.

Organization: United Way of Calgary and Area, Calgary, Alberta

Funding amount: $750,000 over 3 years
Funding will support administration of the IPM school survey to Grade 10 students in eight high schools in communities across Calgary, and for Planet Youth Calgary to work with researchers from the University of Calgary, Matheson Centre, to develop, implement and evaluate data-driven interventions in the project communities. Funding will also support Planet Youth Calgary to work with Indigenous Scholars and other Indigenous stakeholders to adapt the IPM for urban Indigenous youth in Calgary. The project team will determine appropriate data collection methodologies for Indigenous youth, and develop solutions guided by Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing.

Organization: Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre (BRT6HC), North Battleford and surrounding area, Saskatchewan

Funding amount: $579,290 over 30 months
The project will support initiatives to strengthen protective factors and reduce youth substance use across Treaty 6 communities. School-based surveys in 2025 and 2027 will guide the co-development of culturally relevant, evidence-informed interventions. Lessons learned will contribute to national understanding on culturally grounded Icelandic Prevention Model implementation in Indigenous contexts.

Organization: The DAM (Develop, Assist, Mentor), Mississauga, Ontario

Funding amount: $705,915 over 30 months
Funding will support youth substance use prevention in three neighbourhoods. The project will start with school-based surveys to identify local risks and protective factors and guide Community Action Teams (CATs) in setting goals and taking action. CATs will lead policy discussions and community activities that create healthy, supportive environments for children and youth.

Organization: Grand Erie Public Health, Haldimand and Norfolk Counties, Ontario

Funding amount: $704,886 over 30 months
Funding will support community-led, evidence-based initiatives. Surveys of Grade 10 students will take place every two years to identify local risk and protective factors, guiding Community Action Teams in developing targeted policies and programs involving families, schools, and service providers.

Organization: Haliburton-Kawartha-Northumberland-Peterborough Health Unit (HKNPHU), Peterborough, Ontario

Funding amount: $720,570 over 30 months
Funding will support Planet Youth Nogojiwanong, brought to you by the Peterborough Youth Substance Use Prevention (PYSUP) initiative. The project will start with Planet Youth school-based surveys to identify local risk and protective factors. Findings will guide the development of community goals and initiatives emphasizing sustainable funding, transparency, and continuous learning. By fostering shared accountability and data-driven action, PYSUP aims to embed youth and community-led prevention within local systems for long-term impact.

Organization: North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, North Bay and West Nipissing, Ontario

Funding amount: $750,000 over 3 years
The project will support the implementation of the IPM and provide insights into youth health and well-being across pilot communities in the Nipissing District. The project will integrate input from diverse community partners and meaningfully engage youth, emphasizing cultural safety, health equity, and inclusive research practices. Key protective factors of focus will include strong family and peer relationships, extracurricular involvement, and school engagement. Some of the key activities that will be implemented by Planet Youth Nipissing include data dissemination, community engagement, and ongoing evaluation to measure project impact and generate knowledge about promising interventions.

Organization: Northeastern Health Unit, Timiskaming District, Ontario

Funding Amount: $743,859 over 3 years
Funding will support Planet Youth Timiskaming to identify, implement, and evaluate upstream interventions. Interventions will be identified through local data collected in November 2023 and through ongoing engagement with youth and three Local Action Teams, made up of community members and leaders. Funding will also support Planet Youth Timiskaming to partner with a Brock University-based researcher to conduct intervention research in order to contribute new knowledge in the field of youth substance use prevention, with a focus on learning from promising interventions and identifying key adaptations in the northern-rural context.

Organization: Open Doors Mental Health for Children, Youth and Families, Lanark County, Ontario

Funding amount: $750,000 over 3 years
Funding will support Planet Youth Lanark County's continued implementation of the IPM. The objectives of the project include strengthening youth and family engagement, establishing a robust collaborative governance model, and developing and evaluating interventions that enhance youth safety and well-being protective factors while diminishing sleep related risk factors. Throughout the project, Open Doors Mental Health for Children, Youth and Families, will partner with leaders in diverse, youth-serving sectors to enhance the quality of life of communities through the prevention of substance-related harms among youth.

Organization: Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre, Sudbury, Ontario

Funding Amount: $723,556 over 30 months
Funding will support a culturally grounded, inclusive approach to youth substance use prevention. Planet Youth surveys in English and French will assess youth well-being and identify risk and protective factors among Indigenous, Francophone, newcomer, 2SLGBTQIA+, and other equity-deserving groups. Findings will guide community-led goal setting and the development of targeted interventions that reflect local needs and priorities. Youth leadership initiatives, training, and participatory planning will strengthen community engagement and shared accountability.

Organization: Chaleur Regional Service Commission, Chaleur Region, New Brunswick

Funding amount: $531,471 over 30 months
The project will support a bilingual initiative to prevent youth substance use by fostering healthy environments and strengthening protective factors. In partnership with Public Health at Vitalité Health Network, the project will conduct youth surveys, in 2025 and 2027, to identify community priorities and guide locally led interventions. These will be co-developed with regional partners to ensure cultural and contextual relevance.

Organization: Undercurrent Youth Society (UYS), Glace Bay and New Waterford, Nova Scotia

Funding amount: $704,234 over 30 months
The project will support inclusive, community-driven youth substance use prevention strategies. Youth surveys will be conducted in 2025 to assess substance use behaviours and risks, and protective factors. Results will inform the design of locally tailored interventions and the creation of Community Action Teams representing schools, families, and local organizations. UYS will build prevention capacity through community forums, training, and youth leadership. A second survey cycle in 2027 will measure progress and refine priorities.