Every September, communities across Canada recognize Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Month. During this time, it’s an opportunity to raise understanding, reduce stigma, and promote support for individuals and families impacted by FASD. While awareness is important year-round, September provides a special opportunity for organizations to actively engage, educate, and advocate.  

You do not have to be an FASD organization or providing FASD support to be a part of FASD Month. Whether you’re a business, nonprofit, school, or government agency, here are practical ways your organization can make a difference! 

Raising awareness in your community  

When communities see, hear, and discuss FASD, people become more aware, reduce stigma, and strengthen understanding. Organizations have a unique capacity to contribute to this process by leveraging their physical spaces, communication networks, and influence. This can be achieved by sharing accurate FASD information and visuals through social media channels, displaying posters and banners in high-traffic locations, incorporating awareness messages into newsletters or internal communications, and more. 

And if you’re looking for inspiration – look to Southern Alberta. This year, the South Alberta FASD Network is rolling out one of its biggest campaigns yet. Lethbridge City Hall will be lit in red to mark the occasion, with messaging appearing everywhere – from buses and billboards to cinema screens, pubs, and restaurants featuring prevention-themed coasters and posters.  

They’re also bringing the community together through a Client Art and Tea showcase, interactive booths at The Word on the Street Festival and Lethbridge Polytechnic’s Student Support Fair, and a joint FASD and Honoring Life event with the Kainai Nation.  

Over in Winnipeg, Manitoba the Winnipeg FASD Coalition hosted its first-ever logo design contest. Community members were challenged to create an image reflecting positive words like appreciation, connection, dignity, education, family support, and celebration.  

What about your organization? Maybe you’ve already got something exciting planned – or maybe this sparks a new idea. Either way, we’d love to hear about it! Share your initiative by filling out our event form. 

Make learning interactive and memorable  

Events create space for conversation, connection, and fun – while delivering important information. Across Canada, innovative approaches are bringing people together.   

In Saskatchewan, FASD Awareness Walks unite communities to celebrate strengths, promote inclusion, and build understanding. Watch this video to hear from the Training Manager at the FASD Network of Saskatchewan, Shana Mohr. She discusses the key factors behind the success of these walks and offers practical guidance for organizing one in your own community.  

Whether your event is an intimate coffee discussion or a large-scale community festival, the most important outcome is the same: creating a welcoming space that invites participation and sustains meaningful conversation.  

Join an existing event 

Want to join in but you don’t know where to start? Consider getting in touch with your local FASD organization to find out how you support their event. Consider donating your staff, funding, or products to help the event go further. Local bars and restaurants could get together and launch a mocktail in honour of FASD Awareness Month. Local grocery stores could donate food and drinks to sponsor an FASD walk or barbeque. Radio stations and newspapers can help by spreading the word or doing a feature on a local FASD initiative. Community businesses could offer to host an FASD event in their building, or help with planning, funding, and spreading the word.  

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel! Get connected to your community to make this FASD Month truly memorable. You can find events happening in your area on our website.  

Innovating FASD-informed programming  

Awareness doesn’t stop at posters and events – it’s also about changing the way we work. By building FASD-informed approaches into your policies, programs, and everyday operations, your organization can make a long-term difference.  

Inspiring examples include:  

• The Eastern Door Centre in New Brunswick offers long-term advocacy and support for youth up to age 21, incorporating their voices into the diagnostic and case-planning process.  
• The Co-Creating Evidence Project was a multi-site evaluation of community-based programs that support women in the prevention of FASD through harm reduction oriented, trauma-informed, culturally safe and women-centred approaches.  
• Manitoba FASD Courts provide young adults involved in the legal system with diagnostic and follow-up support, ensuring the legal process is informed by an understanding of FASD.
• Project Choices in Winnipeg distribute pregnancy test care kits with resources and snacks help communities access healthy pregnancy information during FASD Month.   

Building awareness and knowledge in your team  

One of the easiest things you can do as an organization is to make your staff aware of FASD. Send out a short newsletter or email to celebrate FASD Awareness Month and encourage them to learn more about FASD in their practice. The more people understand FASD, the more effectively they can support those impacted by it. 

Consider further professional development opportunities for your team to help them learn about FASD and how it intersects with their work. Professional development options include online courses that provide foundational knowledge of FASD and practical strategies for support, as well as national conferences – such as the Canada FASD Conference – that convene leading experts in research and practice. You could even reach out to an FASD organization to see if they’d be interested in presenting to your team in person or running a webinar about FASD for your whole organization.  

Sustaining the momentum  

FASD Awareness Month is a powerful catalyst, but the real impact comes when the commitment lasts year-round. Let’s keep the conversation alive, keep creating spaces where FASD is understood and supported and keep finding new ways to collaborate with your community beyond September. Together, we can create a Canada where every person with FASD has the understanding and support they deserve.