Treatment for opioid, alcohol and stimulant use disorders

Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT)

Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) is an effective opioid replacement therapy for people dependent on opioids such as Codeine, Fentanyl, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone, and Tramadol. Treatment involves the choice of three medications: Suboxone (Sublocade), Methadone, and Kadian. These medications prevent withdrawal, reduce cravings for opioids, and allow the person to focus on other elements of their recovery.

Opioid use disorder is when someone keeps using opioids even though it's causing harm to their health, relationships, work, housing, or other areas of their life. It's a medical condition, not a moral failing, and it's treatable.

OAT is one part of it. We also provide treatment for mood, sleep, and other mental health conditions. The rest is peer support and connecting you to support groups, counselling, mutual help groups, treatment applications, and other social services.

What it is. Alcohol use disorder is when drinking keeps causing harm to your health, your relationships, your work, or your sleep, and it's hard to stop or cut down even when you want to.

Treatment. Treatment is planned with you, at the pace you set. For some people, medication helps reduce cravings or blunts the reward from drinking. For others, counselling, peer support, and a group do more. Some people want to cut down rather than stop. That's your call, and we work with whatever you want.

What a first visit looks like. We ask how much and how often you drink, whether you drink in the morning, and how you sleep and feel. If you drink heavily, stopping suddenly can be dangerous, so we make a plan for the first days together. You can answer as much or as little as you want.

What it is. Stimulant use disorder is when stimulant use keeps causing harm and is hard to stop or cut down, such as cocaine, methamphetamine, or prescription stimulants.

Treatment. There's no medication approved for stimulant use disorder that works the way OAT works for opioids, and we'd rather say that plainly than sell you something. What helps most is being seen regularly: counselling, peer support, the clinic's Monday evening group, and treating the things that keep the cycle going, like sleep, anxiety, low mood, and attention problems. Harm reduction matters too: not using alone, testing your supply, and naloxone if opioids are also in the picture. If you're not ready to change anything yet, you're still welcome to come in and talk.

What a first visit looks like. We ask what you use, how often, and how you take it, how you're sleeping and eating, and what you want to change. We check your blood pressure and heart rate, because stimulants affect both. You don't have to be ready to stop to come in.