Top 10 Holiday Harm Reduction Tips: Reducing Your Risk!

Posted on Monday, November 25th, 2019

The holiday season can be a joyous and celebratory time! When academics finish, you have more time for reconnecting with family and friends! Student Support Services is here to help you stay safe with harm reduction tips!

You did it! You’ve gotten through your semester, and you may be headed home for the holidays, or hanging out around Ottawa. Follow these harm reduction tips to celebrate safely!

1. If you’re going out, remember to eat and hydrate well!
Food in your stomach helps prevent rapid intoxication and hydrating ensures that you stay safer and feel better—both while you’re out and while recovering the next day.

2. Be prepared!
Whether you’re home alone or heading out this holiday season, make a plan to stay safe:

  • Set a limit on how many drinks you’re planning to have, and space the drinks out over a period of time rather than consuming all of your alcohol at once.
  • Make an exit plan: know how and when you plan to leave.
  • Plan to have substance-free days.
  • Charge your phone before leaving so that you can call friends or family in case of an emergency.

3. Heading to a holiday party? Don’t drive your sleigh (or car) tonight!
Stay on the nice list by handing over the reins to a sober friend, OC Transpo, Uber, Lyft, or a taxi.

 

4. Consent is everything!
When the lights are turned way down low, or you’re standing under the mistletoe, remember, consent is essential every time you hook up. Learn more about consent here!

5. Don’t mix your substances, including caffeine!
If you’re heading out this holiday season, stick with one substance at a time.

6. Measure your drinks to know exactly how much you’re consuming.
Do you know how much one standard drink is? Learn more from Ottawa Public Health.

 

7. Choose the least harmful method of use.
For example, when it comes to cannabis, eating cannabis or using a vaporizer or smoking a joint (with a rolled-up cardboard filter) is safer than using a bong and some pipes. If you use other substances, injecting a drug carries more risk than smoking, snorting or swallowing it. (If you do inject drugs, avoid the neck area.)

8. If you experience distress, please seek help.

Algonquin College Student Distress Helpline
613.727.4723 ext. 7300
Call during regular business hours to be immediately connected to Algonquin College’s Student Support Services.

Connex Ontario
1.866.531.2600
24/7 health services information for addiction, mental health, and problem gambling.

For additional resources, please see our Crisis Supports.

9. Staying sober this holiday season, or know someone who is?
The AC Umbrella Project shares relapse prevention tips for getting through the next few weeks. View all 5 tips here.

10. Thinking of quitting smoking or cutting back?

Algonquin College is a smoke-free campus. Check out these Clean Air resources to help you quit or cut back on smoking!

Looking for additional resources? Check out the Umbrella Project and Project Lighthouse for more available in-person and online supports.

From the Umbrella Project, Project Lighthouse, and the Student Support Services team, have a safe and happy holiday season!

 


Comments

Comments are closed.