That spirit of harm reduction, it is believed by many, is also essential to providing the kinds of services that result in people being twice as likely to enter treatment for SUD if they’ve accessed harm reduction than if they haven’t. This spirit includes embodying all of the following:

• Compassion & Kindness
• Authenticity & Transparency
• Fairness & Consistency
• Non-Judgment
• Equality
• Attending to Internal Bias
• Assuming Positive Intent
• Integrity
• Flexibility
• Strong Ego vs. Big Ego

Compassion and Kindness—Feeling compassion and acting with kindness—that is, having an attitude of genuine care and warmth toward participants—is the very heart of providing harm reduction-based services and of minimizing the potential for escalated situations. This does not mean that staff and volunteers must like every participant, but simply that they treat everyone with kindness, some grace, and a genuine desire to help.

Authenticity and Transparency—One of the best ways to build rapport and community is to start with authenticity. The more authentic you can be, the more credibility you build in the community. Part of building credibility is being as transparent as possible. Explaining why you do things, not just what you expect from people, is a very important part of both de-escalating escalated situations and preventing them from occurring in the first place.

Fairness and Consistency—Of the many traumas experienced by people in need of harm reduction services, one of the most universal is probably having been treated unfairly. Being treated unfairly is more than a minor annoyance; it is often a sign that you are viewed as less than human, and that you and your needs are not important and will not be attended to, and it often triggers memories of previous experiences of unfairness. As a result of that collective trauma, two of the most basic building blocks for harm reduction communities are consistency and fairness. If there are routine exceptions to rules (such as special services for a part of the population), those must also be clearly stated and consistently enforced.

Non-Judgement—A core attitude of harm reduction is non-judgment. We cannot meet people where they are if we have already decided where they are at.

Equality—The heart of harm reduction is the understanding that as human beings we are all individuals, yet equal and equally responsible for our own lives and choices, and that none of us has any right to dictate choices to others.

Attending to Internal Bias—Another important component of minimizing the possibility of an escalating situation is the resolution of internal biases. Everyone has internal, sometimes unconscious, biases based on the cultural norms and narratives they were raised with. This is especially true with regard to the marginalized populations like folks who use drugs, do sex work, or live outside. Attending to internal bias, and learning to be accountable for it, through training and attention to the stories you tell yourself, is essential to preventing escalated situations and doing harm reduction work.

Assuming Positive Intent—Another important practice that OGs reported can minimize the potential for escalated situations is to assume positive intent on the part of participants. This means inflecting each interaction with a positive bias to help minimize the potential for escalation. This does not mean that one should blind oneself to the possibility that a participant may be offering a potential problem; but assuming positive intent—even when you have reason not to—has been shown to improve other people’s emotional reactivity.

Integrity—Personal integrity and commitment to the principles of harm reduction. This includes honesty and trying to avoid hypocrisy.

Flexibility—The ability to adapt to change. Change can emanate from policy and funding environments, community need, evolving science and theory, and input from community members and colleagues.

Strong Ego vs. Big Ego—Finally, harm reduction leaders talked about being humble and having a strong enough self-image to be able to “lean into” critique as an opportunity for growth, rather than responding defensively or with hostility. This requires the willingness to be accountable for wrong action or behavior. It is the opposite of arrogance.