Once you have grounded yourself during an escalated situation, next engage in active listening with the person who is agitated. This can seem counterintuitive or difficult when you are dealing with somebody who is, for example, screaming at you, and it may feel like you’re rewarding them for being completely irrational. But it is key to getting them more centered and grounded so they’re less agitated and less likely to become a danger to themselves or others.

Over and over, harm reduction leaders interviewed for Space Hacks centered the creation of community as central to their efforts to create safe, humane harm reduction spaces services that are trauma-informed and minimize the potential for escalated situations.