Based on the investigation and any hearings, a decision is made regarding how individuals can take restorative action. For those who have been harmed, this may include support or other services, and for the person who has done harm, it may include a range of repercussions, depending on the concern and severity.

Potential consequences at harm reduction organizations for people who violate the social contract by doing things like being violent, bullying people, threatening people, stealing from people, etc., can include:

• Temporary Bans—Harm reduction leaders are clear that people should never be permanently banned from harm reduction services. Even when bans are in place, measures should be taken to ensure that people continue to get supplies they need in order to use drugs more safely. For example, this may include providing bags of supplies offsite to people who are otherwise banned from services. Harm reduction leaders were universal in their condemnation of lifetime bans, saying that such a practice is antithetical to harm reduction, which is fundamentally predicated on the idea that people can and do change, and have value and deserve care, even if they never change.
• Story Telling/Listening—Central to the heart of restorative and transformative justice is storytelling. It’s essential for people who have been harmed to have their stories heard by the people who have harmed them. This produces an important kind of healing. Unless it would be inappropriate because of unusual circumstances, it’s essential to establish a mechanism for people who’ve been harmed to tell their stories.
• Community Service or Restorative Labor—Restorative labor is literal labor to restore the conditions to what they were before, or to provide labor as a means of restoration for the person that has been harmed. The great example of this would be a participant who had vandalized property repairing it.
• Restitution—The goal of restitution is to restore the conditions to what they were before the harm was done. This can be done either monetarily (by paying to recover the loss) or non-monetarily: by return of goods, restorative labor, or other creative ways to recover the loss. In the case of theft, restitution could be the return of the stolen property, the return of similar property or the return of the value of the property.
• Continuing Support of Victim—Ongoing support for the person who was harmed may be needed for a period of time.
• Continuing Support of Doer—It may also be that the person who did harm or violated the social contract needs support. For example, they may have done harm out of anxiety, depression, or a number of different negative emotions that they could use help with to avoid causing similar harm in the future.
• Reflective Journaling—This is another exercise that someone who has done harm might agree to, to help them reflect on their behavior, thoughts, and feelings, and strategies for the future.
• Accountability Buddies—Accountability buddies are people that help remind someone of their goals and can be an excellent resource for people trying to change their behavior to do so.

There are no absolutes, but it’s important to ensure that the action plan includes listening to the person who has been harmed.