It takes all of us to build a community where youth feel an increased sense of belonging and connection
What is PYSUP?
PYSUP is a group of community partners who want all children and youth to thrive. The goal? To create healthy, supportive social environments where children and adolescents feel connected and can flourish.
The best and most affordable way to help children succeed is to build a strong, supportive community around them.
Adolescence is a key time for healthy development. There isn’t one single reason why youth start using substances. One of the strongest influences is the conditions in which they are born, grow, work, and live – their families, schools, communities, and opportunities.
Youth substance use a complex issue that is strongly shaped by social and structural conditions. It is less about individual decisions and more about the context in which youth live. PYSUP is focused on the four areas where youth spend most of their time. Our goal is to increase protective factors and reduce risk factors of substance use in each of these areas.
SCHOOL
PEER GROUP
FAMILY
LEISURE TIME
We owe it to young people to listen to and empower their voices in addressing their needs. As a community, we must link our arms with youth to ensure they have the best start possible.
We're doing this work with mentorship from Planet Youth and guided by local data with Peterborough youth. This community-driven approach will ensure that youth are immersed in healthy, supportive social environments where it is easier to adopt healthy behaviours.
The Icelandic Prevention Model
Using proven strategies to support local youth
The Icelandic Prevention Model (IPM) is a community led approach that has helped reduce youth substance use in Iceland since the early 1990s and is now gaining recognition within Canada. This model helps communities create healthy, supportive social environments where young people can build strong relationships, feel connected, and are less likely to use substances. (KDE Hub, 2026)
Every community is different. Each has its own strengths, challenges, and opportunities. The IPM recognizes that the best solutions are created by the people who know their community the best (Kristjansson et al., 2020).
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Since 2024, PYSUP has been bringing together more than 16 local organizations, youth from three local high schools and community partners to build a strong foundation for long-term youth substance use prevention in Peterborough City and County.
Together we are collecting and learning from local data to better understand the root causes of youth substance use in our community.
We will share what we learn with the community starting in fall 2026 and continuing through winter 2027.
These findings and community feedback will help shape local priorities and guide actions that support young people.
Creating lasting change takes everyone. Youth, parents and caregivers, schools, community organizations, service providers and other caring adults all have an important role to play. By listening to youth and working together we can create more opportunities for young people to feel connected, supported and hopeful about their future.
Braiding Ways of Knowing to Increase Youth Belonging
The internationally recognized process. Rooted in the land we inhabit. Guided by local data.
Peterborough Nogojiwanong is a place of outstanding natural beauty known for its beautiful lakes, rivers, forests and green spaces which shape our community and way of life. Our local implementation of the IPM aims to build on this strength by embracing nature as a pathway to connection, belonging and youth well-being.
We are guided by Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk), a concept coined by Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall. This approach invites us to braid together:
Indigenous Worldviews:
Learning from the strengths, teachings, and connections to the land that have existed here since time immemorial.
Western Methodologies:
Utilizing data, surveys, and systemic frameworks to identify trends and needs.
By "walking in two worlds," we carry valuable teachings from both perspectives to better support our youth.
Why This Matters
Many of the risk factors youth face today are rooted in colonial systems that have disconnected people from community and land.
We also know that many protective factors (the things that keep youth safe and healthy) are found in Indigenous ways of being and knowing.
CONNECTION TO NATURE
Recognizing the land as a source of healing and belonging.
THE SEVEN GRANDFATHER TEACHINGS
Values like Respect, Bravery, and Truth that guide healthy development.
CONNECTION TO COMMUNITY
Strengthening the bonds between generations.
The IPM’s emphasis on the importance of a supportive environment aligns with these Indigenous worldviews.
Working together, building community
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References:
KDE Hub (2026). A Priner on Upstream Youth Substance Use Prevention. https://kdehub.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A-Primer-on-Upstream-YSUP_Final-1.pdf
Kristjansson, A. L., Mann, M. J., Sigfusson, J., Thorisdottir, I. E., Allegrante, J. P., & Sigfusdottir, I. D. (2020). Development and guiding principles of the Icelandic model for preventing adolescent substance use. Health Promotion Practice, 21(1), 62–69. It details 5 core guiding principles targeting youth as social products within family, school, peer, and leisure environments