Our Services - LIFT - Community Services

Services

The iOAT program offers a safe, welcoming environment for people who use substances to access care and to establish and work toward personal wellness goals.

Part of this care is working with the clinical team to develop an individualized care plan involving opioid replacement therapies including long acting oral Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) options including Methadone, Suboxone, or Kadian options, or Fentanyl patch or Sublocade, and /or short acting prescriptions of hydromorphone (injectable or tablets) as a safer alternative to the toxic drug supply.

Nursing staff on site can also assist with wound care, blood work, connection to primary care and or outreach teams for concurrent health concerns. Non-clinical staff and peer support are available to assist with navigation of other systems and tasks including connecting to Legal aid, Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, treatment applications, and Food security as well as offer connection and emotional support.

We offer:

Pharmacologic treatments
Access to addiction specialty physicians
Nursing care (e.g., assessments, medication administration)
Drug checking
Harm reduction supplies
Wound care
Peer to peer supports
Referral to substance use treatment, mental health supports, outreach teams, housing, and financial and legal supports
A safe, and judgement-free community

Supports

A clinical team
Our team of nurses are here to provide assessments, dispense medications, and offer nurse-led interventions, provide harm reduction education and make community referrals.

Peer-to-peer support
Our non-clinical support team includes people with lived and living experience of using substances. They’re here to help provide a safe and comfortable space, and provide you with harm reduction education and advocacy, additional resources, and emotional support.

Client-centred care plans
We’ll work with you and our prescribers to make a personalized care plan that involves opioid agonist treatments and/or pharmaceutical alternatives as required.

Safer use supplies
We offer free harm reduction supplies including needles, pipes, rigs, and naloxone kits.

Drug Testing
We offer point of care dip tests to test for fentanyl and benzodiazepines in your substances and can connect you with FTIR mass spectrometeters.

Referrals
Our team can refer to additional substance use treatments, mental health supports, outreach teams, and other community resources.

Questions & Answers

Who is eligible to receive care at the iOAT Clinic?

Our program is open to consenting adults over the age of 19. Young participants may be considered on a case-by-base basis.

Eligibility requirements for our program are:

Current diagnosis of active Opioid Use Disorder
Ability to consent to program guidelines
Ability to attend clinic regularly
If requesting access it iOAT, active injection opioid use

How can I become a client of the iOAT Clinic?

Individuals may self-refer by booking an appointment by phone, or dropping by the clinic.

Individuals may also be referred by any member of their healthcare team (outreach worker, primary care provider, emergency room care provider, etc.).

What are some of the benefits to the iOAT program?

iOAT programs are evidence-based treatment for people with opioid use disorder. OAT is evidence-based and is proven to reduce occurrence of death by overdose.

Do you have a waitlist?

Because our program is intensive, and requires for some people to attend the clinic for multiple visits a day, we do have a limited number of spots in our program.

We try our best to accommodate folks based on need, but we realize there is often more interest than there is space.

We do our best to meet people’s needs as soon as possible, and connect people with care in the meantime.

Will my doctor find out if I join this program?

We work collaboratively with prescribers to provide prescriptions for this program, and generally do alert other members of your care team when appropriate. Please talk to us if this is a concern and we can see how we can support!