Administering help, hope Demand for Naloxone training workshops grows as drug crisis intensifies By: Tiago Resko Posted: 6:12 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2026

Melanie Leslie-Bernard was driving home two weeks ago and decided to pull over after seeing three people who appeared disoriented on a West-End street.

One was draped over the curb on Sargent Avenue near Dominion Street and appeared to be overdosing.

Leslie-Bernard and several other bystanders called 911, but no one knew how to help while they anxiously waited for emergency crews.

“In those first couple minutes when responding to an urgent situation, if you don’t know what to do and you don’t have that 911 operator helping you, it’s very scary and it’s very stressful,” said the 39-year-old social worker, who uses they/them pronouns.

Leslie-Bernard was grateful in that moment they had signed up for a harm-reduction workshop designed to teach people how to respond to drug crises and administer naloxone, a medication that rapidly reverses the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose.

Organizations providing these workshops have seen a spike in demand for their services amid the ongoing drug crisis in Manitoba.

It’s an overall gap in public knowledge that needs to be filled, said Mandy Mondaca, co-founder of Nahuen Consultation, a Winnipeg-based consulting firm that specializes in harm reduction and community safety training.

Mondaca started the workshops after she saw people in her West End neighbourhood online chat group ask about administering naloxone.

The organization held its first public harm reduction workshop in April.

“We had a lot of interest and a lot of people wanted to come but couldn’t because there was a wait list,” said Mondaca.

A second session was held Tuesday at Transcona Library. A third is scheduled July 23 at 333 Maryland St.

Standard registration is $20 a person, with that money covering the organization’s operations.

The classes typically have 30 spots; the first two classes sold out and the third is filling up, Mondaca said.

People can sign up by visiting Nahuen Consultation’s Facebook page.

Each workshop is two hours and covers what opioid poisoning is, how to identify it, how to administer naloxone and what to do after.

“If you can prepare and assess and then respond, it’s less overwhelming. I was relieved that the training is just so practical,” said Leslie-Bernard, who attended Tuesday night’s class.

They previously worked for Street Connections, a community-based outreach program operated by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. They said they’ve seen the toxic drug crisis evolve and deepen, and felt it was crucial to learn how to respond.

“I consider it in the vein of first aid or CPR, I feel like we all unfortunately need those skills right now,” they said.

St. John Ambulance, which provides first aid and CPR training, emergency medical services and a variety of community programs, has also seen a spike in interest in its opioid response lessons, said instructor James Sage.

Sage said public training is important because administering naloxone via needles requires practise. It’s cheaper and more accessible than the nasal spray version.

Naloxone administered via needles is subsidized by the province and available free at most pharmacies. The nasal spray is not.

On Monday, St. John started introducing needle training in its classes.

“We decided if that’s what most people are going to be able to get, we’re just going to start training everybody how to use it,” said Sage.

David Pensato, executive director of Exchange District BIZ, said the nasal spray costs the BIZ about $50 per bottle and is used by its neighbourhood patrol officers.

“It’s just not affordable, even for our small teams of patrols,” he said.

The province recently spent $7 million on harm reduction including naloxone training, said a provincial spokesperson in an email statement.

The statement did not mention the cost of the nasal spray but said the province will continue to monitor trends to make sure Manitobans get needed supports.

— with files from Scott Billeck

tiagoresko@freepress.mb.ca