By Cecilia Nasmith

With consequences both intended and unintended, Northumberland County Manager of Community and Social Services Sarah Tanner this week declared the Summer of Wellness Pilot a success.

Tanner gave her report at the first of the monthly Northumberland County Social Services Committee meetings, chaired by County Councillor John Henderson.

With funding from the Ontario Cannabis Legalization Implementation Fund – designated to address the implementation costs directly linked to the legalization of recreational cannabis use – the program was launched in partnership with the Port Hope and Cobourg police services. Over a three-month period, they spent about 125 hours working one-to-one with police officers, during which time they talked to more than 320 residents.

“Our approach was very much an outreach street-level approach with the police officers when they went to residences or spoke to people on the street to show people where they could get resources and apps they could use on driving safety or safe amounts of usage,” Tanner said.

“We looked at how legalization was happening across Northumberland and what services we need to put into place to make sure people had the information they need or to have safe practices.”

Tanner's report included some of the things they learned, including the “increase in larger-scale illegal cannabis moving throughout Northumberland County.”

Through conversations with the officers and their community partners, the report continued, “the need for outreach to support people involved in mischief calls where cannabis use is present was identified. Street Outreach in which resources, information, short-term case management and wellness supports could be offered was a key priority for this pilot. Further, given the changes within our local cannabis landscape including legalization and new cannabis shops applying to open within Cobourg, dissemination of information around safe and legal access to cannabis became a key priority.

Reviewing some of the key purposes of the Ontario Cannabis Act, Tanner's report listed some Summer of Wellness priorities that addressed these goals, such as connecting with young people and school officials, conversing with individuals to offer information o safe access and legal usage, and developing tools and strategies to enable people to access accurate and timely information.

Some positive unintended consequences resulted, Tanner reported.

Police partners gave positive feedback on how this had enhanced their own outreach efforts.

“The outreach worker was able to share referral, eligibility and service details with police staff, who reported that this will be useful in other work they do,” the report said.

As for their own participants, it proved an enjoyable experience that offered the chance not only to help people but to reconnect with others whom they could encourage to remain in touch.

“When speaking with individuals in the community, there were several requests surrounding access to food and homelessness resources,” the report continued.

“Through the Summer of Wellness pilot project, we were able to provide rapid connection to service including local food banks, shelter, financial supports, advocacy, legal advice and harm reduction supplies. Given some of the unique supports required by community members, Summer of Wellness purchased gift cards to offer people a hot meal, funds to purchase cell phones, funds to purchase warm clothing. This demonstrated a significant impact in the community meeting immediate needs of individuals while building relationships and trust within the community.”