“Some Principles of Harm Reduction
Meet People Where They Are is one of the mottos of harm reduction. It means not only physically showing up to people where they are at and offering education and tools, but the phrase can also be applied metaphorically - it means meeting someone at the mindset they are operating from, meeting them at where they are operating. It means working from an open perspective and showing up for folks without judgement.
Any Possible Positive Change means just that. If a person is engaging with activities that may be risky, like having unprotected sex, as a harm reductionist I will offer them education and supplies that may help them to make a different choice. I am not going to tell them what that choice needs to be; I am just going to offer the education about risks and about options to reduce risk, and leave it up to the person to make their own choices about what changes they may make. For example, using a condom some of the time, or with some people, is less risky than never using a condom.
Nothing About Us Without Us - Peer Leadership This phrase is held true and dear by many communities including disability rights, sex worker rights, and the Harm Reduction movement. What these communities have in common is that they hold peer leadership as a central value. What this means is that people with lived experience of drug use, sex work, and often unhoused life, for instance, are central to the movement. Legislation and organizational structure and movement values all inform the input and vantage points of folks with lived experience.”
LaSara Firefox Allen, What's Harm Reduction?
