Building Resilient and Inclusive Responses to Substance Use and Addiction WORLD FORUM 2026 WFAD CAPACITY TRAINING SERIES

Let’s be clear, everybody, and we do mean every single person on the planet, starts out life as a kind of ‘wheelbarrow’. Now wheelbarrows are empty and powerless vessels that are filled by someone else and pushed by someone else. This is not a bad thing, it’s a design factor. Humans, like no other creature, are created with very little ‘pre-loaded’ stuff – What we do have is an incredible faculty and capacity to learn and learn big!

However, as this is done over a long period of time and only done in connection, in relationship, to other human-beings, how you develop and grow heavily depends on who or what is filling you and pushing you and why.

Up until you hit puberty, you’re set up to learn by that input and instruction. Once you hit puberty, your learning, your input and what you let direct you begins to be determined more by you…. Ah, but how you were prepared (or not) for that stage is a huge factor in you making smarter, wiser, safer, and sound developmental choices. So, the question is, who or what is influencing you and is it the best? (Click here for more)

Details: Published: 16 June 2026; Hits: 9

WFADBuildingResilienceTrainingReport2026 The WFAD Capacity Building Webinar Series on Building Resilient and Inclusive Responses to Substance Use and Addiction was organised as part of this year’s World Forum series. Developed based on input from WFAD’s global network, the series aimed to strengthen the knowledge, skills, and capacity of organisations, practitioners, community leaders, and advocates working in prevention, treatment, recovery, and public advocacy. Across five sessions participants from different regions and professional backgrounds came together to exchange experiences, explore emerging challenges, and discuss practical approaches for strengthening responses in substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery. The series recognised that effective prevention and recovery efforts require comprehensive and coordinated approaches that address the complex social, psychological, and environmental factors influencing substance use. Throughout the webinar series, speakers and participants explored a range of interconnected topics, including trauma-informed and gender-sensitive approaches, meaningful youth engagement and leadership, recovery-oriented systems of care, emerging trends in substance use and behavioural addictions, and strategies for strengthening organisational and advocacy capacity