History
The history of the Chatham-Kent Drug Awareness Council dates back to April of 1988, when passionate community members saw the potential in building community education for Drug Awareness Week, so a formal committee was made.
They were re-named the Chatham-Kent Drug Awareness Council years later in 2007, when the Westover Treatment Centre and Kent Addiction Program approached United Way to take the lead in developing a local drug strategy.
After a community-based Drug Strategy forum was held in, with leadership from United Way and CAMH Drug Educator, the community and agencies working in the area of children’s mental health, adult outpatient MH and addiction services, social services, Municipal Housing Services, substance use treatment programs, local municipal police, and concerned citizens, some in recovery or with lived-experience of substance use, came together to discuss and give their ideas and concern.
This started Chatham-Kent’s involvement in the Municipal Drug Strategy Co-ordinators Network in 2008, and the Framework for a Drug Strategy for Chatham-Kent was published.
In 2008-2009, CKDAC played a key role in the development of a Framework for a Municipal Drug Strategy which can be viewed here.
Discussions and meetings continued, to update and keep each other informed on substance use trends, service changes within local agencies, any needs observed within the community, and to provide ongoing education events for our community and promote the 4 pillars of the drug strategy. Similar to most other Municipal Drug Strategies, we were focused on pillars involving Prevention, Treatment, Harm Reduction and Enforcement (which later evolved to the current term of community safety).
In 2012, we received a grant to hire a program coordinator for a three-year project from the Trillium Foundation. During this time, some smaller rural “clusters” began in Blenheim, Dresden, and Wallaceburg, while working in the shared vision with the already established Tilbury Drug Awareness Team. CKDAC had challenges with trying to keep momentum and collaboration going after the Trillium grant was not renewed, including a sudden unexpected departure of leadership, while at the same time, many new members on the Board also changed. Amoung other priorities, CKDAC proudly worked over the past 5 years in the development of the Chatham-Kent Municipal Drug Strategy, which was given approval for ongoing municipal funding in March 2024.
The ability to sustain has occurred because of the grass-roots efforts of some very dedicated individuals, many who have been involved since 2008, with representatives from various service agencies in Chatham-Kent, Moraviantown Delaware and Walpole Island First Nations over the years. Today we continue to collaborate with our local Municipal councillors, police services, & many community agencies representatives who have a vested interest in the client’s they serve with substance use concerns, and value the need to increase education and awareness with purpose to educate and reduce harms associated with substance use. A priority has evolved in the organization, which relies on individuals with lived and/or living experience with substance use, to inform our approach and work in our communities. Our ability to sustain has been through the dedicated efforts of a some individuals who sat on the Grant and Fundraising sub-committee, who spend additional time and effort outside of their respective jobs to complete grant proposals yearly or work on assisting at various fundraising events. We are so grateful for the generously given grants from CK Community Foundation, South Kent Wind Community Funds, and the United Way of Chatham-Kent over many years. Aside from this, CKDAC Board sustained the registered charity status, and relied on donations and fundraising to support the needs, for CKDAC to do this important and ongoing work.
The Board made the difficult decision to withdraw CKDAC’s registration as an individual charity on March 31, 2025, with plans to continue operating as an ongoing committee under partnership with R.O.C.K. (Reach Out Chatham-Kent), as R.O.C.K.’s Values and Mission Statement are in line with that of CKDAC’s. With the increasing need and demand for substance use & related services, particularly in the past 5 years, and a significant rise in presenting issues seen during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the work that CKDAC does must continue with the support of R.O.C.K. We have confidence that this will be a welcomed and important change for CKDAC, to help the sustainability of what we do. CKDAC will act under R.O.C.K.’s by-laws, policies, and their charitable status; however, R.O.C.K. will not have specific say in what CKDAC does other than to ensure CKDAC continues to operate in line with shared visions and missions.