At their most basic, grievance procedures provide a formal mechanism for your participants to have their concerns, grievances, and voices heard and taken seriously. Too often, participants are re-traumatized by the provider/participant power imbalance when provider perspectives are given deference—in other words, when providers are automatically believed.

Providing a mechanism for participants to level concerns in harm reduction programs is essential, because providing a formal mechanism for participants to share their concerns gives them power.

In addition to the strong ethical reason for such a mechanism, it’s also a good idea to have this instrument in place for liability concerns. This provides a safety valve that allows people a way to voice concerns before they rise to the level of liability to the organization.

With that in mind, it’s always important to consult with other stakeholders, including board members, legal counsel, and insurers, when making any decision about designing a grievance process, to ensure it conforms to their requirements.

Again, harm reduction leaders suggested involving participants or at least Community Advisory Boards, in making choices for how these processes work and periodically reviewing them to ensure participant buy-in to these important community standards.

For more information on grievance procedures please see the section on restorative and transformative justice.