Harm Reduction Hacks in Focus: Space Hacks
Hacks For De-Escalation: Restorative & Transformative Responses
There are 19 hacks in this section
De-Escalation
Preventing escalation is the responsibility of each harm reduction leader
The final steps of dealing with escalated situations are the critical steps that take place after the event is over. This includes how you follow up with consequences as well as how you restore the community in a manner that helps ensure situations don’t come up again.
Changing Focus
Harm reduction organizations demand a different approach than traditional organizations with regard to escalated situations and errant behavior. Traditionally, the response to such situations has been purely punitive. But as discussed in Section One, Space Hacks, in concert with harm reduction overall, takes a more restorative and transformative justice approach to these events. Please see Chapter Two for more information on restorative and transformative justice.
Using Restorative and Transformative Justice
So, how do harm reduction organizations deal with consequences for errant behavior?
As with the formal grievance procedure, there are a number of different steps to addressing errant behavior through the lens of restorative and transformative justice.
This section is made up of the following categories:
Complaint or Incident
The process for responding to a complaint that’s been made and an incident that has happened are slightly different. But the process is more or less the same. Most escalated situations will actually result from incidents that take place, so we will focus on incidents rather than complaints. If a participant does lodge a complaint […]
Investigation
Once you have acknowledged the concern, it’s important to move forward with as impartial an investigation as possible, as soon as possible, in order to gather facts and evidence related to the incident.
Hearing or Meeting
Once an investigation has been completed and you’re ready to have a formal meeting or hearing about it, it is time to call the stakeholders and their representatives in to discuss the findings.
Individual Restorative Action Plan
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.
Community Restorative Action Plan
In addition to individual restorative action, it may be necessary to restore the community or, where possible, transform it in such a way that similar issues are avoided in the future.
Appeal
If the participant is not satisfied with the outcome, they should have the option to appeal, depending on the process established by the program or organization.
Follow-Up and Reflection
Part of the restoration plan should include a timeline for follow-up and reflection.
Documentation
The entire process, including the complaint, investigation, restoration plan, appeal, and any follow-up actions, must be fully documented for record-keeping and future reference.
Participant Grievances: Filing
Posted in Hacks for Participant Grievances.
All grievance procedures start with filing—some way for the person to formally state that there’s a problem. Filing procedures should be posted widely and made clear to participants, especially when they are introduced to the space or service, since this is the first step towards getting their concerns addressed.
Participant Grievances: Investigation
Posted in Hacks for Participant Grievances.
Once you have acknowledged the concern, it’s important to move forward with as impartial an investigation as possible, as soon as possible, in order to gather facts and evidence related to the grievance.
Participant Grievances: Hearing or Meeting
Posted in Hacks for Participant Grievances.
Once an investigation has been completed and you’re ready to have a formal community meeting or hearing about it, it is time to call the stakeholders in, along with representatives to discuss the findings.
Participant Grievances: Individual Restorative Action Plan
Posted in Hacks for Participant Grievances.
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 actions, depending on the concern and severity.
Participant Grievances: Community Restorative Action Plan
Posted in Hacks for Participant Grievances.
In addition to individual restorative action, it may be necessary to restore the community or, where possible, transform it in such a way that similar issues are avoided in the future.
Participant Grievances: Appeal
Posted in Hacks for Participant Grievances.
If the participant is not satisfied with the outcome, they may have the option to appeal, depending on the process established by the program or organization.
Participant Grievances: Follow-Up and Reflection
Posted in Hacks for Participant Grievances.
Part of the restoration plan should include a timeline for follow up and reflection.
Participant Grievances: Documentation
Posted in Hacks for Participant Grievances.
The entire process, including the complaint, investigation, restoration plan, appeal, and any follow-up actions, must be fully documented for record-keeping and future reference.
Hacks for Organizational Accountability & Transparency Using Restorative and Transformative Justice
Posted in Hacks for Organizational Accountability.
Organizational response to escalated or harmful events must include consideration for the community of people who witnessed or were otherwise impacted by the situation.
Hacks for Community Involvement in RJ & TJ Processes
Restorative and transformative justice processes are holistic in their approach to conflict and escalated or harmful situations. This means they aim to address all affected parties—those directly involved, and all others who are more laterally impacted.
Roadblocks to Using Restorative & Transformative Responses
Some of the biggest roadblocks to using restorative and transformative justice responses in your organization are likely to be the cultural barriers you will encounter in trying to use holistic transformative processes, instead of typically punitive and shaming ones.
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“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 -
"We have to be ready and able to reach clients where they are, not where we want them to be”
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"There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do."
Terry Pratchett -
"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. -
“In general, it is antithetical to harm reduction best practices to call the police except under the most extreme life-or-death circumstances.”
-
“As always, be transparent with participants about what you have, what you don't have, and/or what's for only special populations.”
-
“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.”
-
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
Martin Luther King Jr. -
"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 -
"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 -
"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 -
"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 -
“One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”
Charles M. Blow -
"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 -
“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 -
"We don’t need to professionalize the people closest to the crisis. We need to recognise them as professionals already.”
Jules Netherland -
"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 -
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 -
"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 -
"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 -
"Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow. "
Dominique de Villepin -
"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 -
“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 -
“Boundaries help me to give all that I can and still come back tomorrow.”
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"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. "
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“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
Audre Lorde -
"Not all traumas are the result of what happened to you; some are the result of what didn’t happen for you"
Gabor Maté -
“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.”
- “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.”
- "We have to be ready and able to reach clients where they are, not where we want them to be”
- "There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do."
- "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."
- “In general, it is antithetical to harm reduction best practices to call the police except under the most extreme life-or-death circumstances.”
- “As always, be transparent with participants about what you have, what you don't have, and/or what's for only special populations.”
- “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.”
- "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
- “One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”
- "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."
- “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.”
- "We don’t need to professionalize the people closest to the crisis. We need to recognise them as professionals already.”
- "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."
- 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.”
- "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."
- "The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma."
- "Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow. "
- "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.”
- “The bottom line is that overdose prevention sites — which exist in more than 100 cities around the world — offer compassion for fellow human beings,”
- “Boundaries help me to give all that I can and still come back tomorrow.”
- "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. "
- “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
- "Not all traumas are the result of what happened to you; some are the result of what didn’t happen for you"
- “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.”