The ‘Opioids and Our Youth’ project is a nationwide initiative led by Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP) to improve safe, effective, equitable, and evidence-based use of opioids for pain in youth in Canada. Continuing forward until March 2024, this project will develop resources, mobilize evidence, build capacity, and raise awareness on issues related to opioid use for acute and chronic pain in youth. This project directly responds to the call from Health Canada’s Action Plan for Pain in Canada (2021) to take the steps necessary toward an improved approach to the prevention and management of pain in youth, ensuring those with pain are recognized and reducing the impact of pain on families, communities, and society. The goal of this project is to improve the safe, effective, equitable, and evidence-based use of opioids for pain in youth in Canada.

We are recruiting patient and caregiver partners to join an Advisory Group for this project. The Advisory Group will help develop new resources, share information, and launch a national awareness campaign focused on opioid use for acute and chronic pain in youth. We aim to ensure youth with pain are recognized, supported, and that their pain is understood, prevented, and effectively treated across Canada.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit this webpage:  https://kidsinpain.ca/work-with-us/

To directly apply to become a member please fill out our application at: https://tinyurl.com/yc6dhn24

The goal of SKIP’s ‘Opioids and Our Youth” project is to raise awareness of and address issues relating to medical use of opioids in youth in Canada. The Advisory Group members will support gathering resources on opioid prescribing for youth, developing educational resources where they are needed, and launching a national awareness campaign focused on opioid use for acute and chronic pain in youth. The overall goal is to ensure youth with pain are recognized, supported, and that their pain is understood, prevented and effectively treated across Canada. This is your opportunity to help set priorities on this important topic at the national level!

We are looking for youth with lived experience of using opioids for pain management or caregivers of youth prescribed opioids for pain to join an Advisory Group that will also include SKIP’s project team and partners. As a patient or caregiver partner you would be expected to join (virtually) in our monthly Advisory Group meetings which will be about 2 hours long. Monthly meetings will take place on Zoom and continue until the project wraps up in March 2024.

In addition, there will be additional opportunity to review resources, pamphlets or materials we are co-developing about this topic. It is anticipated this will not take more thatn an hour or two of your time every other week.

We would expect you to be available via email, text, group chat (WhatsApp/Signal/Platform of your choice) or phone to coordinate our Advisory Group monthly meetings as well as provide feedback and engage with us on our project activities.

This project anticipates to start late 2022 and continue until March 2024. Your commitment would include:-Being able to join monthly Advisory Group meetings about the project (about 2 hours long each)

-Working with our staff to coordinate your availability for these monthly meetings
-Helping co-develop meeting agendas by sharing about topics you want shared/discussed at the monthly meetings
-Providing your unique insights and feedback on items and topics shared at monthly meeting
-Being responsive to emails/texts/group messages from SKIP and/or other Advisory Group members
-Helping co-develop and finalize educational materials and other resources about opioid use in youth

This opportunity is anticipated to be online. There are no anticipated direct expenses (i.e. travel, parking, etc ) related to collaboration.

Advisory Group members will be offered compensation totalling $2000 for their time and contributions  over the course of the ‘Opioids and Our Youth’ project ending March 2024.