The Significance of Harm Reduction Strategies, Treatment, and Training
Harm reduction is an approach used to help people minimize the negative effects of certain behaviors through various interventions and strategies tailored to the individual. Most of us subconsciously implement harm reduction strategies throughout our daily lives. Perhaps you’re working to reduce your sugar intake because you’ve noticed increased headaches when you eat sugar. Or maybe you don’t like wearing a seatbelt but have committed to wearing one more often because you know it’s a safer way to ride.
At 3Keys, our Harm Reduction Program is specifically designed to help our residents reduce the negative effects of substance use and other risky behaviors. Using evidence-based harm reduction strategies, our program embraces three key principles:
Nonpunitive and Compassionate Care
The people we serve have experienced chronic homelessness and are living with mental illnesses. Many have endured unimaginable trauma in their lives. Rather than stigmatizing them and implementing punitive measures, we recognize that the most compassionate and realistic way to help them improve their overall wellbeing is to embrace harm reduction strategies. For some, abstinence is an effective and realistic harm reduction strategy. But for others, it’s not. Harm reduction strategies are tailored to each individual and instead of striving for unattainable goals, we meet people where they are and help them set goals based on their individual circumstances.
Education
We equip our residents with the knowledge and tools to optimize their health and wellbeing, make safer choices, and in some cases, save lives. With health and wellness education, we foster a sense of ownership among residents by providing them with information to make decisions based on facts and evidence.
Low-Barrier Prevention and Treatment Services
We believe that regardless of one’s circumstances or choices, each person deserves access to support. In addition to helping residents address and treat underlying factors and conditions that contribute to certain behaviors, we make life-saving resources and services available to reduce the negative consequences of those behaviors. For example, we train our residents in the use of Narcan and provide free Narcan kits thanks to our partnership with Georgia Overdose Prevention. Narcan is a very effective harm reduction tool that reverses opioid overdoses and saves lives.
Harm reduction is a pragmatic approach that recognizes the realities and complexities of human behavior. Equally as important, harm reduction uses empathy and compassion, and acknowledges respect for each person.