International Overdose Awareness Day is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died from overdose, and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind. Campaign resources linked to the day can be picked up here. The theme for 2023, “Recognizing those people who go unseen” is about acknowledging people in our communities who have been affected by overdose but might go unseen in the crisis.

The Children’s Health Policy Centre recognizes that some of the unseen may be young people — whether through their own substance use problems or as a result of a parent’s overdose. To learn more about helping prevent young people from engaging in problematic substance use, see Vol. 13, No. 4 of the Children’s Mental Health Research Quarterly.