British Columbians living with overlapping brain injury, mental-health and substance-use challenges will benefit from a new research project that will explore these areas and propose solutions to meet people’s needs.
The Province is investing $345,000 in Constable Gerald Breese Centre for Traumatic Losses (CGB) to support ongoing research into brain injury, mental health and addictions, and propose evidence-based solutions and services that are integrated, accessible and culturally safe.
“People who survive an illicit drug poisoning are at higher risk of brain injury because of the increasingly toxic drug supply,” said Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. “B.C. is funding this research to find the best ways to support people who have complex overlapping mental-health, substance-use challenges and brain injury.”
The research project includes provincial conferences – BC Consensus Building Days – and educational programs. The first BC Consensus Building Day, at the University of Victoria, will focus on overdose survivors with brain injuries. The conference will gather perspectives and ideas from health-care providers, community stakeholders and people with lived experience, including Indigenous groups and marginalized communities.
