Ascribe has led the development of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) annual report since 2006. In 2022–2023, the organization’s CEO retired after more than 15 years in the role — so we worked closely with CCSA’s leadership and communications teams to deliver a report that told a compelling story while reflecting the incoming CEO’s vision for the future.

How Ascribe Helped

CCSA is an arms-length organization tasked with advancing solutions that reduce the harms of alcohol, cannabis, opioids and other substances in Canada. The organization fulfils this mandate in a variety of ways, including producing and synthesizing research as well as convening diverse groups to mobilize knowledge, collaborate on action plans, and disseminate strategies and insights across the country.

In 2022–2023, people and communities in Canada were facing the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, including higher rates of substance use-related harms and an overtaxed healthcare workforce. Ascribe helped develop thematic approaches that would emphasize the importance of an organization like CCSA in the post-pandemic landscape. Each option framed CCSA and its activities throughout the year as vital to improving substance use health in Canada, highlighting its contributions to public health, policy development and health service delivery.

After the communications team selected its preferred theme, we conducted a series of interviews with CCSA leadership, including the new CEO, to gather details on key initiatives and perspectives on the organization’s value more generally. We also developed email questionnaires to gather additional project details from other CCSA staff. From these inputs, we created a detailed outline indicating how the report’s content would be organized.

We then drafted the report, drawing from our interview notes, the responses to our email questionnaires and additional research on the CCSA website. We took care throughout to avoid language that could stigmatize people who use substances, in accordance with CCSA’s editorial guidelines.

The final report, Meeting Critical Needs: Evidence with Impact, was ready in time for the deadline set by Health Canada, CCSA’s primary funder. CCSA leadership and staff were pleased with the results and engaged Ascribe again the following year — continuing our long-standing relationship with the organization and track record of well-received corporate reports.

Deliverable: Annual report

Our process:

• Background material review
• Questionnaire development
• Facilitated session with leadership team
• Content-gathering interviews with executives and email questionnaires to subject-matter experts
• Creative concept development and storytelling approaches
• Detailed content outline
• Writing and revisions