Harm Reduction Hacks in Focus: Space Hacks
Hacks for Individual Accountability Using Restorative and Transformative Justice
There are 8 hacks in this section
Approaches to Conflict and Consequence
Calling in, not out—building safety through repair, not punishment
First—if a person is an immediate threat to the community or individuals in the community, harm reduction workers often simply ask the person to leave.
Harm reduction leaders repeatedly talked about simply telling people some variation of “I can see you’re having a bad day today because your behavior is off in X ways (e.g., you’re shouting for no reason) and Y is happening as a result (e.g., that is making people uncomfortable). Maybe you should try coming back tomorrow or when you’re feeling more chill and like you don’t want to yell anymore.”
Adopt a perspective that isn’t shaming, focuses on behavior, doesn’t further people’s marginalization, and invites them to return to the community when they’re more functional.
But what about more severe behavior, how do organizations respond to violence, theft, or other egregious violations of the social contract?
These violations may be dealt with in the moment by asking the person to leave, especially if they present a risk of violence, but there must be a process for follow-up. The steps of a restorative process for errant behavior include some variation on the following—please know that this is not an exhaustive or exact standard, and feel free to adjust it to your needs:
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.
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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 -
"We have to be ready and able to reach clients where they are, not where we want them to be”
-
"Not all traumas are the result of what happened to you; some are the result of what didn’t happen for you"
Gabor Maté -
"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 -
"We don’t need to professionalize the people closest to the crisis. We need to recognise them as professionals already.”
Jules Netherland -
“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 -
"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 -
“In general, it is antithetical to harm reduction best practices to call the police except under the most extreme life-or-death circumstances.”
-
"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 -
"Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow. "
Dominique de Villepin -
"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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“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.”
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"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. -
"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 -
"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 -
“One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”
Charles M. Blow -
"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 -
“Boundaries help me to give all that I can and still come back tomorrow.”
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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 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 -
“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.”
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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 -
"There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do."
Terry Pratchett -
"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 -
"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 -
"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 -
“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.”
- “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
- "We have to be ready and able to reach clients where they are, not where we want them to be”
- "Not all traumas are the result of what happened to you; some are the result of what didn’t happen for you"
- "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."
- "We don’t need to professionalize the people closest to the crisis. We need to recognise them as professionals already.”
- “The bottom line is that overdose prevention sites — which exist in more than 100 cities around the world — offer compassion for fellow human beings,”
- "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."
- “In general, it is antithetical to harm reduction best practices to call the police except under the most extreme life-or-death circumstances.”
- "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."
- "Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow. "
- "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. "
- “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.”
- "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."
- "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."
- "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.”
- “One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”
- "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."
- “Boundaries help me to give all that I can and still come back tomorrow.”
- "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
- 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.”
- “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.”
- “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.”
- "There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do."
- "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."
- "The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma."
- "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."
- “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.”