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Hacks for Laundry Management

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Laundry access can be a vital part of supporting dignity, health, and comfort—especially for people navigating unstable housing. With a few clear guidelines and the right supplies, laundry services can run smoothly while remaining welcoming and respectful.

  • Post signage clearly and in multiple languages.
  • Walk people through expectations for using the facilities first, and enforce any boundaries consistently.
  • Make load limits and enforce them, but with compassion. Feel free to make consistent exceptions, such as for emergencies.
  • Provide soap and other supplies—the expense is well worth it to save your machines from the wrong product being used.
  • Make sure people check their pockets.

Featured Hacks

These featured hacks highlight creative, practical solutions from harm reduction leaders on the ground. From DIY tools to clever workarounds, each one reflects the ingenuity, care, and real-world experience that keeps this movement alive. 

Edie Springer’s Worker Stances for Clients Who Use Drugs & Harm Reduction Worker: Best Practices

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Harm reduction immediately resonated for Edie, who was herself a former drug user and methadone patient. Faced with the devastation of HIV’s impact on drug-using communities, Edie fully embraced harm reduction and trained hundreds of harm reduction workers who have carried her legacy with them. She developed these worker stances in 1996 and they have been shared among many of us in the harm reduction community for generations.
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Hacks for Staying Present

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As discussed in the part of the site on preventing escalation, it is essential for harm reduction workers to stay present and remain centered and relatively calm during escalated events. This is one of the hardest things to do, but staying present and centered during any kind of escalated situation at your harm reduction site is essential to de-escalation.
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