Peple with Lived or Living Experience

People with lived and living experience refers to people who have used or are using one or more substance.

Recovery

Recovery is a dynamic process towards well-being that is free of stigma and discrimination and is unique to individual strengths, cultures and experiences. Recovery is supported by collaboration among services across many levels, including communities, sectors and systems. It extends beyond the individual and involves family, peers and workplaces. Recovery is multidimensional, involving all aspects of physical, social, mental, emotional and spiritual health.

Screening (see also Assessment)

Brief initial process using screening tools to consult with an individual about their substance use and any concerns they may have about it.

Self Care

Deliberately and continuously take action at a professional and personal level to protect and preserve one’s own well-being, especially during times of stress.

Skill

The capacity to perform mental or physical tasks with a specific job outcome. As with knowledge, skills can range from highly concrete and easily identifiable tasks, such as completing a checklist during an assessment interview, to less tangible and more abstract tasks, such as managing community participation. Skills help determine whether a person’s training and experience have prepared them for a specific workplace activity.

Social Support

Individuals or groups who constitute social networks, Elders, community systems and any configuration of significant others in the individual’s past, present or future, and who can either support or undermine the individual’s wellness goals.

Specialist Practitioner

Psychiatrists, psychologists and other regulated clinicians trained in substance use and mental health who can diagnose and treat substance use and mental health conditions.

Substance Use

The self-administration of a psychoactive substance. For CCSA’s Competencies, substance use is inclusive of situations where professionals are working with individuals who use or have used substances, are diagnosed with a substance use disorder or are experiencing harms as a result of using substances. Refer to the criteria for substance use disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition, DSM-5).

Trauma

Experiences that overwhelm an individual’s capacity to cope. Such experiences include trauma early in life (e.g., child abuse and neglect, witnessing violence) and later traumatic experiences (e.g., accidents, war, natural disasters). See also ACEs and Trauma- and Violence-informed Care.

Trauma - and Violence-informed Care

“Trauma and violence informed approaches are policies and practices that recognize the connections between violence, trauma, negative health outcomes and behaviours. These approaches increase safety, control and resilience for people who are seeking services in relation to experiences of violence and/or have a history of experiencing violence” (Government of Canada, 2018; retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/health-risks-safety/trauma-violence-informed-approaches-policy-practice.html).