BC Business
The Port Moody-based nonprofit delivers free destigmatizing drug education
Founder and executive director, NaloxHome Society
Life Story: In 2016, high school student Chloe Goodison was commuting home to Port Moody when she saw a girl her age overdosing on the SkyTrain. “I never thought people my age did drugs,” she admits, “and I didn’t think people in my community did drugs. I was very naive.”
By then, B.C. had already declared a public health emergency regarding the overdose crisis, yet nobody on the train knew how to help this person. After that experience, Goodison started volunteering with the Tri-Cities Community Action Team—a group of stakeholders advocating for decreased stigma and increased drug awareness. At 19 years old, she was appointed to the Port Moody Police Board for her passion and efforts toward the cause.
Her educational workshops—which touch on B.C.’s poisoned drug supply and training around the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone—resonated so well with recipients that in her first year as a health sciences student at SFU, Goodison launched her very own tri-cities-focused nonprofit: NaloxHome.
“When we go into high schools to talk to youth, it’s from youth, for youth,” she says. “Other drug education programs are led by parents or teachers or police officers, which is still important, but youth learn best from their peers. So that’s what makes us different.”
Bottom Line: Port Moody-based NaloxHome delivers free destigmatizing drug education with information backed by Fraser Health and language reviewed by social services organization Share Family & Community Services. Its naloxone training can save a life, says executive director Goodison, who leads a team of 60 youth volunteers.
Mazda Canada named Goodison a Rising Legend in 2023 and awarded her $50,000 to continue the good work. “We’ve reached over 7,500 students,” she says. “There’s a need—every single health authority and school district in B.C. has reached out to me and said, ‘Can you bring NaloxHome to us?’”