Harm Reduction Hacks in Focus: Space Hacks
Resources
External Resources
What we’ve learned, what we’ve borrowed, what we’re sharing forward
The links below represent a wide variety of information and resources to help further you and your organization’s knowledge and work. In previous iterations of the Hacks we tried to offer narrative explanations of these resources but have found that is unsustainable because links change so frequently that it makes it difficult to ensure they are updated – especially if they are in narrative form.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive inventory of all things related to the subjects addressed by Space Hacks, harm reduction, SSPs, or anything else for that matter. But it is a collection that has been curated by experts who know things that even AI doesn’t.
For more information we strongly suggest that you use a variety of tools on the web including:
Harm Reduction Hacks
Specialist learning from harm reduction leaders
The most obvious resource to share with you is of course the original Harm Reduction Hacks website which covers hacks relating to the running of harm reduction services in the USA.
Advocacy and Activism
Posted in Resources.
This section offers tools and networks to support your advocacy efforts—whether you’re navigating public health policy, organising around community issues, or amplifying the voices of those most affected. From toolkits to activist libraries, these resources can help you make change, build campaigns, and stay grounded in justice.
Balanced Imperfection Resources
Posted in Resources.
Materials from Balanced Imperfection, the origin point of the Space Hacks and Harm Reduction Hacks series. These resources bring lived experience and practical insight into the realities of harm reduction, leadership, and cultural shift work in community services.
Community Building
Posted in Resources.
Community organising is both an art and a strategy. These resources focus on how to bring people together around shared needs, build local power, and grow strong grassroots networks rooted in equity, inclusion, and sustainability.
Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma
Posted in Resources.
Harm reduction work is emotionally demanding. This section offers guides and frameworks for recognising, addressing, and mitigating burnout, secondary trauma, and fatigue—so you can sustain yourself and your team in the long run.
De-Escalation Resources
Posted in Resources.
De-escalation is more than a set of techniques—it’s a practice grounded in care, communication, and situational awareness. These tools, guides, and trainings support the development of calmer, safer environments for staff and participants alike.
Emotional Health Resources, Trauma and Resilience
Posted in Resources.
Trauma-informed approaches are essential to harm reduction. Here you’ll find information on trauma, resilience, mental health first aid, and emotional wellbeing—both for those you support and for your own care and longevity. Trauma & Recovery Trauma Research Foundation Trauma Resource Center Cleveland Clinic has a Guide to Trauma in their Health Library ACE Aware maintains […]
Harm Reduction & Harm Reduction Service Provision
Posted in Resources.
A wide-ranging collection of resources covering harm reduction advocacy, technical assistance, education, self-organising, safer use, and overdose response. Whether you’re running a syringe service programme or just starting out, there’s something here for you.
Restorative and Transformative Justice
Posted in Resources.
Accountability doesn’t have to mean punishment. These resources explore alternative ways of responding to harm, conflict, and crisis—centred on healing, relationships, and community transformation, inside and outside of formal systems.
Technology, Data Hygiene and Security Resources
Posted in Resources.
Digital safety and strategic tech use are part of modern frontline work. This section covers tools and frameworks for secure communication, privacy, and responsible data management in community-based settings.
Workforce and Peer Development
Posted in Resources.
The future of harm reduction depends on strong, skilled, supported teams. This section focuses on building leadership, peer-delivered services, and harm reduction as a workplace culture—where people can thrive, not just survive.
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"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
Martin Luther King Jr. -
"We have to be ready and able to reach clients where they are, not where we want them to be”
-
"Opponent’s of syringe service programs and harm reduction in general typically remark that it “sends the wrong message.” The message they are referring to is, “We love you and want you to be safe.”
Christopher Abert -
We need to play that game where we require politicians to finish every sentence denouncing supervised injection facilities with the phrase, “and that is why I think injecting alone in a McDonald’s bathroom is better.”
Jonathan Giftos -
"The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma."
Judith Lewis Herman -
“People who cause harm are often also survivors of harm. If we want to address the roots of violence, we have to honour both truths.”
Danielle Sered -
"Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone."
Fred Rogers -
"One of the problems that arises with the term “people who use drugs” is that it is intentionally pluralistic in its embrace of ALL people who use drugs—from recreationally to deeply problematically. This makes using it to talk about the things that especially impact people who are using drugs problematically very difficult. "
-
"Not all traumas are the result of what happened to you; some are the result of what didn’t happen for you"
Gabor Maté -
"If you question harm reduction works, I can’t help but wonder if you have ever actually seen what happens in these spaces. We promote health safety and dignity, and it works. It is simple, beautiful and changes peoples lives."
Haven Wheelock -
“Boundaries help me to give all that I can and still come back tomorrow.”
-
"Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone."
Fred Rogers -
"Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free."
Thich Nhat Hanh -
"What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured."
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. -
"I describe my experiences as a nurse volunteer at the overdose prevention site as “being in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.” And that’s exactly where I want to be as a nurse: working outside the system to make a real difference in people’s lives, showing up in the community when it matters most and challenging rules that directly contribute to the overdose crisis, and exposing government inaction by being part of the solution on the ground. For me, this is what nursing is all about."
Marilou Gagnon -
“Identify five things that you can see, four things that you can touch, three things that you can hear, two things that you can smell and one thing that you can taste.”
-
"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."
Fred Rogers -
“In general, it is antithetical to harm reduction best practices to call the police except under the most extreme life-or-death circumstances.”
-
“The bottom line is that overdose prevention sites — which exist in more than 100 cities around the world — offer compassion for fellow human beings,”
Mayor Jim Kenney -
"Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow. "
Dominique de Villepin -
"We don’t need to professionalize the people closest to the crisis. We need to recognise them as professionals already.”
Jules Netherland -
“One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”
Charles M. Blow -
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
Audre Lorde -
"There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do."
Terry Pratchett -
“Many of the harm reduction leaders interviewed talked about the importance of not having too many policies and involving your participants in the development of policies—especially those that impact them directly.”
-
"One of the most important things we can do as advocates is to define & make concrete the vague terms used by politicians. What does it mean to “take a public health approach”? What you mean when you say “treatment”? Politicians rarely know. Our job is to make it plain for them."
Jonathan Giftos -
“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.”
Thich Nhat Hanh -
“As always, be transparent with participants about what you have, what you don't have, and/or what's for only special populations.”
- "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
- "We have to be ready and able to reach clients where they are, not where we want them to be”
- "Opponent’s of syringe service programs and harm reduction in general typically remark that it “sends the wrong message.” The message they are referring to is, “We love you and want you to be safe.”
- We need to play that game where we require politicians to finish every sentence denouncing supervised injection facilities with the phrase, “and that is why I think injecting alone in a McDonald’s bathroom is better.”
- "The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma."
- “People who cause harm are often also survivors of harm. If we want to address the roots of violence, we have to honour both truths.”
- "Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone."
- "One of the problems that arises with the term “people who use drugs” is that it is intentionally pluralistic in its embrace of ALL people who use drugs—from recreationally to deeply problematically. This makes using it to talk about the things that especially impact people who are using drugs problematically very difficult. "
- "Not all traumas are the result of what happened to you; some are the result of what didn’t happen for you"
- "If you question harm reduction works, I can’t help but wonder if you have ever actually seen what happens in these spaces. We promote health safety and dignity, and it works. It is simple, beautiful and changes peoples lives."
- “Boundaries help me to give all that I can and still come back tomorrow.”
- "Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone."
- "Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free."
- "What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured."
- "I describe my experiences as a nurse volunteer at the overdose prevention site as “being in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.” And that’s exactly where I want to be as a nurse: working outside the system to make a real difference in people’s lives, showing up in the community when it matters most and challenging rules that directly contribute to the overdose crisis, and exposing government inaction by being part of the solution on the ground. For me, this is what nursing is all about."
- “Identify five things that you can see, four things that you can touch, three things that you can hear, two things that you can smell and one thing that you can taste.”
- "We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."
- “In general, it is antithetical to harm reduction best practices to call the police except under the most extreme life-or-death circumstances.”
- “The bottom line is that overdose prevention sites — which exist in more than 100 cities around the world — offer compassion for fellow human beings,”
- "Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow. "
- "We don’t need to professionalize the people closest to the crisis. We need to recognise them as professionals already.”
- “One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”
- “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
- "There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do."
- “Many of the harm reduction leaders interviewed talked about the importance of not having too many policies and involving your participants in the development of policies—especially those that impact them directly.”
- "One of the most important things we can do as advocates is to define & make concrete the vague terms used by politicians. What does it mean to “take a public health approach”? What you mean when you say “treatment”? Politicians rarely know. Our job is to make it plain for them."
- “When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.”
- “As always, be transparent with participants about what you have, what you don't have, and/or what's for only special populations.”