Some of us say we believe in harm reduction, or that our shelters are harm reduction based. But how well are we really meeting the needs of people who use drugs or are engaged in criminalized economies? This workshop provides an opportunity to learn from someone who has been doing the work for over a decade, and to brainstorm ways to overcome challenges. The facilitator attends to issues of race, gender, class, age, culture, ability, and staff privilege in her analysis.

Learning Objectives:

• Practical information around how harm reduction does and could look in a shelter context
• Considering youth versus adult needs
• Navigating tensions and our difficult feelings about people of different ages using substances
• Practicing harm reduction within limiting legal/agency policy contexts
• Advice for advocating for policy change
• Policies and procedures needed for overdose prevention
• Integrating service user leadership into program delivery
• Enhancing participant engagement in harm reduction programming at your shelter/drop-in
• Centering the ethic “nothing about us without us” and doing solidarity as service providers who don’t identify with substance use or street economies