Understanding
Understanding
Harm Reduction
Grounded in respect and compassion, harm reduction supports the well-being, dignity, and self-determination of individuals by providing strategies that help people who use substances stay safer (First Nations Health Authority, n.d.).
Privacy and Confidentiality
All traffic through this site is anonymous to ensure privacy and maintain confidentiality so learners can receive the care they need without judgement. This aligns with Humber’s commitment to the Okanagan Charter (2018).
Humber's Commitment to Health and Well-Being
Humber is a proud signatory of the Okanagan Charter, a global framework that embeds health and well-being into all aspects of campus life. By adopting a whole-system approach, the Charter guides institutions to create supportive environments where health is foundational to learning, culture, and community impact.
Acknowledgements
This resource was developed in collaboration with Humber’s Wellness and Education team—Krista Elliott-Shahid, Angel Megumi Quiamco, Natalie Douglas, and Jessica Beshay—and a group of third-year nursing students who completed their Fall 2024 placement with Student Learning and Equitable Learning.
We would like to thank the following students for their valuable contributions: Angel Ayson, Aidan Chamberlain, Saloni Gajjar, Eloisa Joyce Jaena, Muna Kasim, Mariana Martins, Aisha Nantongo, Kristina Pajic, Alyssa Williams.
Access the Substance Use Spectrum PDF
What Is Harm Reduction?
It is an evidence-based and non-judgmental approach that aims to lessen the health and social harms caused by alcohol and substance use, without requiring users to stop using completely (Thomas, 2005).
Harm Reduction Can Look like This
2. Safe Use means using substances in a safe environment or with someone you trust.
3. Dose Awareness means opting for a lower-dose (THC) edible.
4. Meet People Where They Are means meeting people where they are, without pushing abstinence.
What is Stigma?
Stigma is one of the biggest barriers to support, safety, and recovery for people who need help with substance use. Stigma refers to a society's unfair and negative beliefs about something (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Stigma shapes how individuals are treated by society, healthcare systems, and even by themselves. It fuels judgment, shame, and misinformation—often overshadowing the complex and deeply human realities of substance use and addiction.
Stigma can:
- Lead a person to avoid getting help due to fear of judgement, getting in trouble with their employer, their loved ones, or the law.
- Cause a person to hide their drug use or use drugs alone.
- Affect a person’s ability to find housing or jobs, which affects their health and quality of life.
- Increase the likelihood that people who use drugs will receive a lower quality care from the healthcare system when seeking services.
A common myth is that addiction is a choice, or that people can simply stop using whenever they decide to. This is not true. Addiction is complex and influenced by a range of factors, including:
- Trauma, stressful experiences, or events
- Environmental factors such as peer influence or socioeconomic status
- Mental well-being (emotions, thoughts, feelings, and mental illness)
- Genetics and biology
How do I know if I have a problem? Am I at Risk Quiz
Try one of the following questionnaires to see if you are at risk:
Why Do People Use Substances?
Biological Factors for Substance Use
Genetics
Genetic factors play an important role in shaping an individual's vulnerability to substance use and addiction. While not deterministic, certain inherited traits can influence how the brain responds to substances, how quickly dependence develops, and how difficult it is to quit. These genetic predispositions can interact with environmental, social, and psychological factors, increasing the risk for substance use disorders.
A specific variant of the CHRNA2 can increase the likelihood of developing an addiction in those who try cannabis. Genetic factors may make adolescents with ADHD more susceptible to developing alcohol use disorders. While genetic makeup begins to affect substance use behavior from an early age, it is ultimately the environment that determines how these tendencies develop over time.
Dopamine
Dopamine, aka the “feel-good” neurotransmitter, is a chemical in the brain that helps people feel pleasure and reward. All substances with addictive properties stimulate the release of dopamine. A contributing factor to why change can be difficult is that the immediate effects of using harmful substances are often pleasurable.
Psychology of Substance Use
Psychological factors play a significant role in why individuals may begin or continue to use substances. The following are some of the reasons some people may choose to use substances.
- Escape from stressors
- Low tolerance to stress
- Unhealthy coping strategies
- Pursue pleasure to hide the pain (emotional & physical) temporarily
- Gradually increases the pursuit of pleasure
- Emotional triggers
- Shame
- Guilt
- Anger
- Frustration
- Trauma
- Early exposure to substance use as a coping mechanism
- Personality
- Thrill seeking
- Impulsivity
Understanding Emotions, Feelings & Triggers
Emotional intelligence is "The capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.” (Goleman, 1995)
We can develop our emotional intelligence by:
- Knowing the wide variety of emotions & feelings
- Identifying your own emotions & feelings
- Recognizing which emotions and feelings trigger substance use (anxiety, guilt, shame, etc.)
- Manage/Express your emotions
- Self-care
- Focus on things you can control
- Humber's support services
Why Am I Feeling This Way?
There are two models that explain how we process feelings.
- The Three Component Model of Emotions explains how our thoughts impact our behaviour.
- The Polyvagal Theory explains how our nervous system has three states (relaxed, immobilized, and mobilized) which operate independently, or it operates as a hybrid.
Identify My Emotions
Naming our emotions decreases the activity in the amygdala, and it increases the activity in the prefrontal which regulates our emotions.
Ask yourself, “what would be the most accurate word that describes the main emotion or feeling I am feeling right now?”
How Do My Emotions Feel?
We can experience emotions in our body in the following ways: backaches, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, headache, lightheadedness, change in body temperature, clenched teeth, muscles tensing, shoulder pressure, pressure on your lips, tapping your foot, slurring your words, flushed face, heartache, eyestrain, slow thinking, etc.
Ways to Express My Emotions
- Communicating emotions and boundaries
- Creative writing
- Poetry
- Meditation/prayer
- Breathing techniques and body scans
- Drawing
- Painting
- Exercise and lifting weights
- Dancing
- Playing an instrument
- Singing
- Knitting
- Sculpting
- Photography, etc.
Things I Can & Can't Control
School
Things I Cannot Control
- The outcome of my efforts (i.e. grades, etc.)
- The professor’s teaching style
- The methods professors use to evaluate students (i.e. quizzes, presentations, etc.)
- The weight of exams, tests, assignments and presentations on my final mark
- How much time students get to write tests and exams
- Whether or not my professor will give me more time to complete an assignment
- When the professor shares course content
- Missing the bus
- Traffic on the roads
- Doing everything perfectly all the time
- The cost of my course books
- Whether or not my course books are available for loan at the library
Things I Cannot Control
- The outcome of my efforts (i.e. grades, etc.)
- The professor’s teaching style
- The methods professors use to evaluate students (i.e. quizzes, presentations, etc.)
- The weight of exams, tests, assignments and presentations on my final mark
- How much time students get to write tests and exams
- Whether or not my professor will give me more time to complete an assignment
- When the professor shares course content
- Missing the bus
- Traffic on the roads
- Doing everything perfectly all the time
- The cost of my course books
- Whether or not my course books are available for loan at the library
Things I Cannot Control
Things I Can Control
- Write important dates in my calendar (tests, assignment due dates, etc.)
- Researching the accommodation process at the start of my semester
- Schedule an appointment with a Humber accessibility learning consultant to determine if I need accommodation
- Going to drop-in tutoring for writing, accounting or math
- Ask for a tutor early in the semester
- Asking professors for more time to complete an assignment
- Asking professors questions about content I do not understand
- Asking peers for help
- Learning about plagiarism
- Not cheating or plagiarizing
- Asking each professor about permitted AI tools (ChatGPT, Grammarly, etc.)
- Going to Humber workshops (studying habits, learning style, etc.)
- Reading the readings and slides
- When I study
- How often I study
- Where I study (i.e. noise, etc.)
- Getting my course books in advance
- Asking the library to add my course books to their collection
Things I Can Control
- Write important dates in my calendar (tests, assignment due dates, etc.)
- Researching the accommodation process at the start of my semester
- Schedule an appointment with a Humber accessibility learning consultant to determine if I need accommodation
- Going to drop-in tutoring for writing, accounting or math
- Ask for a tutor early in the semester
- Asking professors for more time to complete an assignment
- Asking professors questions about content I do not understand
- Asking peers for help
- Learning about plagiarism
- Not cheating or plagiarizing
- Asking each professor about permitted AI tools (ChatGPT, Grammarly, etc.)
- Going to Humber workshops (studying habits, learning style, etc.)
- Reading the readings and slides
- When I study
- How often I study
- Where I study (i.e. noise, etc.)
- Getting my course books in advance
- Asking the library to add my course books to their collection
Things I Can Control
Life Events
Things I Cannot Control
- Death of a family member
- Failure
- Trauma
- Development of a disease
- Systemic/structural barriers
- The way I was raised
- The household I was born into
- Workplace politics
Things I Cannot Control
- Death of a family member
- Failure
- Trauma
- Development of a disease
- Systemic/structural barriers
- The way I was raised
- The household I was born into
- Workplace politics
Things I Cannot Control
Things I Can Control
- Go to supportive friends and family members to express my grief
- How I consciously react to trauma
- When I reach out for support about the trauma I have experienced
- How I interact with the individual(s) who inflicted the trauma onto me
- The actions I take to correct a wrong
- The lessons I learned from my failure
- Maintaining my self-care routine
- Seeking out mental health professionals
- Seeking out healthcare professionals
- Learning about healthy habits from healthcare professionals
- Incorporate healthy behaviours into my daily life
- Asking for help from knowledgeable people and mentors when navigating systemic/structural barriers
- Learn about workplace policies and procedures
- Learn about my rights as a worker
- Seek out mentors in leadership roles within my workplace
- Seek out mentors in leadership roles within my industry
- Join association(s) for my industry (if one exists)
Things I Can Control
- Go to supportive friends and family members to express my grief
- How I consciously react to trauma
- When I reach out for support about the trauma I have experienced
- How I interact with the individual(s) who inflicted the trauma onto me
- The actions I take to correct a wrong
- The lessons I learned from my failure
- Maintaining my self-care routine
- Seeking out mental health professionals
- Seeking out healthcare professionals
- Learning about healthy habits from healthcare professionals
- Incorporate healthy behaviours into my daily life
- Asking for help from knowledgeable people and mentors when navigating systemic/structural barriers
- Learn about workplace policies and procedures
- Learn about my rights as a worker
- Seek out mentors in leadership roles within my workplace
- Seek out mentors in leadership roles within my industry
- Join association(s) for my industry (if one exists)
Things I Can Control
Self-Care & Health
Things I Cannot Control
- The timing of some social events
- How long it takes for me to recover from burnout
- Access to a family doctor
- Wait times at the hospital
- The weather
- The cost of physical activities and self-care activities (i.e. gym, zumba, tai chi, yoga, pilates, Jie-jitsu, spa, hair salon, barber, chair-ercise, etc.)
- Cost of nutritious food
- Access to a group healthcare plan
- Which self-care or health tips will have a positive impact on me
Things I Cannot Control
- The timing of some social events
- How long it takes for me to recover from burnout
- Access to a family doctor
- Wait times at the hospital
- The weather
- The cost of physical activities and self-care activities (i.e. gym, zumba, tai chi, yoga, pilates, Jie-jitsu, spa, hair salon, barber, chair-ercise, etc.)
- Cost of nutritious food
- Access to a group healthcare plan
- Which self-care or health tips will have a positive impact on me
Things I Cannot Control
Things I Can Control
- When I go to bed and wake up
- When I take a bath/shower
- How frequently I exercise
- The frequency of my nature walks
- Visiting my doctor for a check-up (physical, mental health)
- The hobbies I enjoy
- Using a weighted blanket for comfort
- Petting a domestic animal for comfort
- My grooming routine (make-up, shaving)
- When I meal prep for the week
- Choosing healthier food options
- How often I initiate communication with a friend or family member who lives far away
- Spending quality time with others
- Meditation or prayer
- Expressing myself through art (painting, dancing, singing, creative writing, etc.)
- Taking a mental health day
- Inserting breaks into my daily schedule
- Decluttering my living space
- Playing uplifting music
- Unplugging from social media and my phone
- Opening my blinds/curtains
- Writing in my gratitude journal
- Watching a comedy
- Managing my money wisely
- Volunteering for causes that I care about
Things I Can Control
- When I go to bed and wake up
- When I take a bath/shower
- How frequently I exercise
- The frequency of my nature walks
- Visiting my doctor for a check-up (physical, mental health)
- The hobbies I enjoy
- Using a weighted blanket for comfort
- Petting a domestic animal for comfort
- My grooming routine (make-up, shaving)
- When I meal prep for the week
- Choosing healthier food options
- How often I initiate communication with a friend or family member who lives far away
- Spending quality time with others
- Meditation or prayer
- Expressing myself through art (painting, dancing, singing, creative writing, etc.)
- Taking a mental health day
- Inserting breaks into my daily schedule
- Decluttering my living space
- Playing uplifting music
- Unplugging from social media and my phone
- Opening my blinds/curtains
- Writing in my gratitude journal
- Watching a comedy
- Managing my money wisely
- Volunteering for causes that I care about
Things I Can Control
Social Interactions
Things I Cannot Control
- What people say about me
- What people think about me
- What other people do
- How others respond to my boundaries
- Who likes me
- Who does not like me
- The availability of friends and family when meeting together
- What other people are going through, and how they might project their problems onto me
Things I Cannot Control
- What people say about me
- What people think about me
- What other people do
- How others respond to my boundaries
- Who likes me
- Who does not like me
- The availability of friends and family when meeting together
- What other people are going through, and how they might project their problems onto me
Things I Cannot Control
Things I Can Control
- How I behave
- My inner dialogue when interacting with others
- Communicating my boundaries to others
- Advocating for myself
- Distance myself from people who behave abusively towards me (emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually, etc.)
- Going to my allies for support
- How often I reach out to family and friends to talk, or see them in person
- Discovering commonalities between myself and others
Things I Can Control
- How I behave
- My inner dialogue when interacting with others
- Communicating my boundaries to others
- Advocating for myself
- Distance myself from people who behave abusively towards me (emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually, etc.)
- Going to my allies for support
- How often I reach out to family and friends to talk, or see them in person
- Discovering commonalities between myself and others
Things I Can Control
Time
Things I Cannot Control
- The past
- The past trauma that happened to me
- The future
Things I Cannot Control
- The past
- The past trauma that happened to me
- The future
Things I Cannot Control
Things I Can Control
- Whether or not I learn from the past
- My present actions
- How I spend my free time
- Making decisions now that will help me in the future
- Adding extra time slots in my calendar to help with time management
Things I Can Control
- Whether or not I learn from the past
- My present actions
- How I spend my free time
- Making decisions now that will help me in the future
- Adding extra time slots in my calendar to help with time management
Things I Can Control
Identity
Things I Cannot Control
- My biological parents
- My inherited DNA
- How others perceive me
- How others treat me
- The value system of others
- How my brain recalls schemas that I have learnt through others (i.e. role schemas, self-schemas)
- How some identities are discriminated against
- Cultural norms that have been passed down from the past
- My group identity in the aging process
Things I Cannot Control
- My biological parents
- My inherited DNA
- How others perceive me
- How others treat me
- The value system of others
- How my brain recalls schemas that I have learnt through others (i.e. role schemas, self-schemas)
- How some identities are discriminated against
- Cultural norms that have been passed down from the past
- My group identity in the aging process
Things I Cannot Control
Things I Can Control
- My values
- Communicating to others when one of my values have been violated
- My likes and dislikes
- Exploring my identity
- Changing my identity
- Communicating my identity to others
- When to show my authentic self
- Who I want to show my authentic self to
- What I believe my personal mission is in life
- My impact on the community (i.e. legacy)
- Finding a community where I feel a sense of belonging
Things I Can Control
- My values
- Communicating to others when one of my values have been violated
- My likes and dislikes
- Exploring my identity
- Changing my identity
- Communicating my identity to others
- When to show my authentic self
- Who I want to show my authentic self to
- What I believe my personal mission is in life
- My impact on the community (i.e. legacy)
- Finding a community where I feel a sense of belonging
Things I Can Control
Safe Substance Use
Things I Cannot Control
- My psychological triggers
- Coming from a household where drugs were used daily
- How many times I have relapsed
- My decision to start using substances
- Access to alcohol at social events
- Access to cannabis in my neighbourhood
- Access to over-the-counter medications
- Access to illegal substances
Things I Cannot Control
- My psychological triggers
- Coming from a household where drugs were used daily
- How many times I have relapsed
- My decision to start using substances
- Access to alcohol at social events
- Access to cannabis in my neighbourhood
- Access to over-the-counter medications
- Access to illegal substances
Things I Cannot Control
Things I Can Control
- Understanding my psychological triggers
- Ensuring my substance is safe to use (drug test centre, home kit)
- Buying cannabis from a cannabis dispensary
- Seeking help from a healthcare professional when I am ready to cut back or completely stop usage
- The people I hang around and places I go
- Do not use substances alone (i.e. call, etc.)
Things I Can Control
- Understanding my psychological triggers
- Ensuring my substance is safe to use (drug test centre, home kit)
- Buying cannabis from a cannabis dispensary
- Seeking help from a healthcare professional when I am ready to cut back or completely stop usage
- The people I hang around and places I go
- Do not use substances alone (i.e. call, etc.)