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Hacks for Preventing Beef

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Some of the most escalated situations in harm reduction spaces are conflicts between participants that are pre-existing and have nothing to do with the site.

Because of this, harm reduction leaders offered a few hacks to minimize or prevent these situations from getting out of hand before they got started:

  • Make it clear to participants that they should keep their internal conflicts outside your space.
  • Anticipate that people will break any boundary you set.
  • Do not participate, but keep an ear out for gossip about who has beef with whom so you can be aware if those parties should both arrive for services.
  • Treat everyone with respect.
  • DO NOT take sides—ESPECIALLY WITHOUT A TRANSPARENT PROCESS

Featured Hacks

These featured hacks highlight creative, practical solutions from harm reduction leaders on the ground. From DIY tools to clever workarounds, each one reflects the ingenuity, care, and real-world experience that keeps this movement alive. 

Trauma-Informed

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The term “trauma-informed” emerges from a growing understanding of the far reaching ways that trauma impacts health and well-being. Trauma is defined here, in keeping with the scientific literature, as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience(s) that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, and significantly impacts their mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
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Edie Springer’s Worker Stances for Clients Who Use Drugs & Harm Reduction Worker: Best Practices

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Harm reduction immediately resonated for Edie, who was herself a former drug user and methadone patient. Faced with the devastation of HIV’s impact on drug-using communities, Edie fully embraced harm reduction and trained hundreds of harm reduction workers who have carried her legacy with them. She developed these worker stances in 1996 and they have been shared among many of us in the harm reduction community for generations.
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