The Lighthouse Community Strategy (LCS) steering committee has released a new community-driven strategy to address the harms associated with substance use and mental health challenges in Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Haldimand and Norfolk counties.
Established in 2024, the LCS was developed through broad local engagement to support a coordinated, multi-sector approach to addressing substance use and mental health challenges and improving community wellbeing.
The strategy focuses on building safer, healthier and more resilient communities through a holistic, evidence-informed and multi-sector approach. This next phase moves the work from foundational planning to coordinated action. Guided by the steering committee and an advisory committee, the strategy is organized around four pillars: harm reduction, treatment, community safety and prevention, with 26 recommended actions.
Since its launch, the LCS has continued to evolve in response to emerging community needs, system pressures and the lived realities of people affected by substance use and mental health challenges. In 2025, the steering committee undertook a renewed community consultation process to validate priorities and ensure the strategy reflects current conditions across the region.
Feedback from people who live and work in the in community and people with lived or living experience directly informed the final recommendations and implementation priorities outlined in the new strategy.
The full strategy is available at: geph.ca/lcs/.
Quotes:
“The Lighthouse Community Strategy reflects what is possible when organizations across sectors come together around a shared commitment to community wellbeing. This strategy marks an important step forward, moving us from planning to action and helping ensure that our collective efforts are focused, coordinated and grounded in the needs of our communities. It also provides a clear path forward for sustained collaboration and meaningful progress.”
-Sarah Page, CEO, Grand Erie Public Health and Co-Chair of the Lighthouse Community Strategy
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The Lighthouse Community Strategy
The Lighthouse Community Strategy (LCS) is a collaborative initiative working to reduce the harms associated with substance use and mental health in Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Haldimand and Norfolk. As part of the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario, the LCS brings together people with lived or living experience and partners from the non‑profit, private and public sectors to coordinate local action. The Lighthouse Community Strategy is made up of members from over 20 community partners.