The future of harm reduction depends on strong, skilled, supported teams. This section focuses on building leadership, peer-delivered services, and harm reduction as a workplace culture—where people can thrive, not just survive.
Open Society Foundations has a Guide to Harm Reduction at Work
NHRC published a Toolkit for Peer Delivered SSP
Digital safety and strategic tech use are part of modern frontline work. This section covers tools and frameworks for secure communication, privacy, and responsible data management in community-based settings.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Accountability doesn’t have to mean punishment. These resources explore alternative ways of responding to harm, conflict, and crisis—centred on healing, relationships, and community transformation, inside and outside of formal systems.
Equal Justice USA and especially their Resource Section
Creative Interventions and their Toolkit which is available in both English, Spanish, French and Maori
Just Practice Collaborative and their workbook Fumbling Toward Repair
The Transform Harm Resource Hub
European Forum for Restorative Justice
Vassar College has The Restorative Practice Center for Engaged Pluralism which hosts a Resource Section
Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice
Whose Security Is It Anyway? A Toolkit to Address Institutional Violence in Nonprofit Organizations, Lara Brooks and Mariame Kabadesyuh
Saving Our Own Lives, Shira Hassan
Healing Resistance, Kazu Haga
Beyond Survival; Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement, edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice, Mariame Kaba
A wide-ranging collection of resources covering harm reduction advocacy, technical assistance, education, self-organising, safer use, and overdose response. Whether you’re running a syringe service programme or just starting out, there’s something here for you.
International Network of People Who Use Drugs
National Harm Reduction Coalition
SAMHSA’s well developed Harm Reduction Framework
NAMA – National Alliance for Medication Assisted Recovery
National Black Harm Reduction Network
National OD Prevention Network has an excellent Resource section
NHRC has a Learning Lab and Training Center
Black Indigenous Harm Reduction Alliance has a Resource section
NEXT Distro has a great Resource Center
Remedy Alliance for the People
CDC has information on Opioid Overdose
SAMHSA published an Overdose Toolkit
NHRC’s DOPE Project has a Guide to OD as well as a guide to Overamp
NEXT Distro has an Overamp Guide and a lot of other Resources on OD
The Overdose Prevention Network also has a Resource library
Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP) USA
Mo Ho Justice has a resource Library
Urban Justice has a Sex Worker project
NSWP Global Network of Sex Worker Projects
The National Association of Community Health Workers has a Resource Center
Health Outreach Partners has a National Outreach Guidelines for Underserved Populations
SAMHSA has published Minimum Standards For Conducting Street Outreach with Hard to Reach Populations
The National Alliance to End Homelessness maintains a Resource Center
Street Medicine Institute has a Resource archive
Homeless Hub also has a great Training Series
Oregon Health Authority has an extensive Harm Reduction Library
World Health Organization has an international Guide to Starting and Managing Needle and Syringe Programmes
SF Department of Public Health has published a Syringe Access and Disposal Program Policies and Guidelines
Trauma-informed approaches are essential to harm reduction. Here you’ll find information on trauma, resilience, mental health first aid, and emotional wellbeing—both for those you support and for your own care and longevity.
Cleveland Clinic has a Guide to Trauma in their Health Library
ACE Aware maintains a Resource and Information Section
SAMHSA Tip Sheet #57 and their Practical Guide for Implementing a
Manitoba Trauma Information and Education Centre has a number of Resources including a Trauma Informed Toolkit
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center has a guide for Creating Trauma Informed Services
UPenn has the Authentic Happiness Center
Yale has a famous Science of Wellbeing class
International Positive Psychology Association
The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley
National Alliance of Mental Illness, NAMI hosts a wide variety of Support and Education information
Mental Health First AID from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing
De-escalation is more than a set of techniques—it’s a practice grounded in care, communication, and situational awareness. These tools, guides, and trainings support the development of calmer, safer environments for staff and participants alike.
Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health in Nursing Facilities (COE-NF) and the COE-NF Toolkit a project of SAMHSA
Crisis Prevention Institute and their Resource Library
Right Response and their free e-book De-escalate Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime:
Unplug the Power Struggle with Principle-Based De-escalation
Powershift De-Escalation Guide
The American Organization for Nursing leadership, AONL has a Guide to Mitigating Workplace Violence
Joint Commission has a Guide to De-Escalation in Healthcare
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, Marshall B. Rosenberg
Harm reduction work is emotionally demanding. This section offers guides and frameworks for recognising, addressing, and mitigating burnout, secondary trauma, and fatigue—so you can sustain yourself and your team in the long run.
Tend Academy and the Tend Academy Resource Library
Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project
Department of Justice Office of Victims of Crime and Vicarious Trauma Toolkit
The Burnout Challenge, Christina Maslach & Michael P Leiter
Help for the Helper, Babette Rothschild
Reducing Secondary Traumatic Stress, Brian C. Miller
Community organising is both an art and a strategy. These resources focus on how to bring people together around shared needs, build local power, and grow strong grassroots networks rooted in equity, inclusion, and sustainability.
Ontario Open Library and specifically Community Development Practice: From Canadian and Global Perspectives
Solutions Project, specifically their Guide to Community Organizing
Racial Equity Tools section on Community Organizing resources
Connexions and specifically their Organizing Resources information
Materials from Balanced Imperfection, the origin point of the Space Hacks and Harm Reduction Hacks series. These resources bring lived experience and practical insight into the realities of harm reduction, leadership, and cultural shift work in community services.
This section offers tools and networks to support your advocacy efforts—whether you’re navigating public health policy, organising around community issues, or amplifying the voices of those most affected. From toolkits to activist libraries, these resources can help you make change, build campaigns, and stay grounded in justice.
The Network for Public Health Law
Institute for Public Strategies
Johns Hopkins University Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy
Society for Public Health Education
American Public Health Association Advocacy
Public Health and Equity Resource Navigator Advocacy Learning Series
Global Health Advocacy Incubator
Change Lab Public Health Advocacy Solutions
Alberta Health Services guide to Public Health Advocacy
Columbia School of Social Work Action Lab for Social Justice
The Commons Social Change Library
Amnesty International USA Resources for Activists