Youth Solvent Addiction Committee 

• In 2008, CCSA and YSAC, in collaboration with national and international partners, were awarded a Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) International Opportunities Fund. The objective of the grant was to bring together expertise from Canada, the United States, Australia and Mexico to develop an international research program specific to the treatment of and healing from volatile solvent abuse for Indigenous youth, and to share the success of the Canadian experience. Outcomes from this grant included the development of information-sharing video sessions from each of the participating countries in the topic area and the securing of a Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grant: Aboriginal Peoples' Health from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Working in collaboration with additional national and international partners, this subsequent grant focused on stigma and discrimination. A direct outcome of this planning grant is the joint submission of a Letter of Intent to the SSHRC Partnership Program with urban and remote Indigenous communities in Canada, New Zealand and Australia on the use of digital media by youth to strengthen individual and communal identity.
• In November 2007 a partnership to study Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) was initiated. The partnership includes YSAC, CCSA, the University of Calgary, the University of Regina, the University of Saskatchewan and various community partners. The first publication from this work was Horse as Healer: An Examination of Equine Assisted Learning in the Healing of First Nations Youth from Solvent Abuse. Funding for a two-year study was secured in June 2010 from the Alberta Centre for Child, Family & Community Research. This study will examine the role of EAL in the treatment of volatile solvent abuse among Indigenous youth.
• The research activities noted above supported YSAC and CCSA’s collaborative involvement in the June 2011 special issue of Substance Use & Misuse, which focused on international volatile substance misuse and was produced in partnership with the National Institute on Drug Abuse International Program (United States), Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre (Australia) and the University of Saskatchewan.
• CCSA and YSAC support each other’s various advisory boards and have collaborated in various forums and presentations:
  • YSAC is an emerging partner on the National Advisory Group on Youth Substance Abuse Prevention.
  • CCSA and YSAC jointly presented a research-based poster, Determining Optimal Length of Stay for Aboriginal Youth in Residential Treatment for Inhalant Abuse, at the 2008 National Institute on Drug Abuse International Forum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
  • YSAC participated as a member of the program committee for CCSA's 2005 and 2007 national Issues of Substance conferences.
  • CCSA and YSAC jointly participated in the 2007 National Institute on Drug Abuse International Forum session, Catalyst for Global Progress on Inhalants Research, in Quebec City.
  • CCSA was a member of the YSAC-chaired planning committee for the 2005 International Forum on Youth Solvent Abuse Treatment.
  • YSAC participated in the CCSA-chaired thematic workshop on treatment workforce development.
  • YSAC presented at the 2002 CCSA-chaired Health, Education and Enforcement in Partnership (HEP) annual meeting in Montreal.
  • YSAC and CCSA associates presented a joint paper at the 2002 World Forum on Drugs and Dependencies. They also co-authored an article on the same topic in the Journal of Aboriginal Health, entitled Resiliency and Holistic Inhalant Abuse Treatment.
• In 2006, YSAC provided expert comment on CCSA’s Youth Volatile Solvent Abuse (VSA) FAQ, providing answers to frequently asked questions about youth volatile solvent abuse.
• In 2005, YSAC and CCSA collaborated with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health as well as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction) to identify a Canadian delegation to attend Inhalant Abuse Among Children and Adolescents: Consultation on Building an International Research Agenda, an international conference on inhalant abuse among children and adolescents.
• In partnership with YSAC, CCSA completed a research project in 2005, entitled Designing a Tool to Measure the Impact of Client Length of Stay on Treatment Outcome. This followed a 2003 joint YSAC-CCSA research report, entitled Youth Residential Solvent Treatment Program Design: An Examination of the Role of Program Length and Length of Client Stay. CCSA made two presentations to the YSAC Board of Directors in 2004 and one in 2005 on these research projects.
• In an effort to raise awareness about solvent abuse, CCSA and YSAC co-sponsored a poster contest directed at Canadian children and youth in treatment for solvent abuse. Participants were invited to submit a poster design focusing on key prevention themes such as the harms of solvent use and how to say no to solvent use. Winners were announced on March 15, 2005, at the International Forum on Youth Solvent Addiction Treatment and Prevention. To date, more than 1,500 posters have been distributed. As of 2009, the posters are now also available in French, Cree, Mi’kmaq, Carrier, Dene and Shuswap languages.
• Working with CCSA and YSAC, a Carleton University MA student completed her thesis research in 2007 on post-treatment community reintegration at one of the YSAC treatment centres.
• In conjunction with Carleton University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology research placement program, CCSA conducted a survey for YSAC on the treatment of solvent use with participants in the 2003 Australian Institute of Criminology's Inhalant Use Disorder Conference.

This agreement expires in October 2013 and can be renewed again with the consent of both parties.