HARM REDUCTION
Harm Reduction is Love
Clinical Services
We intentionally practice radical love and acceptance every day to build relationships with PWUD and meet them where they are, just as they are. We provide safer use and safer sex supplies, hygiene and other survival supplies without coercion, requirements of abstinence, or judgement. We empower through education and access to services and resources to promote self directed wellness. We recognize and embrace that any self directed positive change IS RECOVERY! Harm reduction incorporates a spectrum of strategies that includes safer use, managed use, abstinence, meeting people who use drugs “where they’re at,” and addressing conditions of use along with the use itself.
Boots on the Ground Harm Reduction Program
SOOAR’s programs and services are centered on community engagement. Community members with lived and living intersecting in substance use, homelessness, sex work and informal economies were sought to advise program design and service delivery through project participation and committee work.
SOOAR operates under the assumption that no one knows what PWUD need more than themselves. We distribute supplies on street outreach because we wish to make those supplies available directly and with as few barriers as possible, guided by harm reduction principles. SOOAR chooses to accept the reality of drug use and to humanize the people who use drugs by treating them with love and compassion, not degrading and violating human rights.
We are committed to overcoming the stigma and discrimination experienced by people who use drugs by promoting social inclusion and participation across all levels of our work.
We provide a low barrier, life affirming and saving services to address the overdose crisis which has overwhelmed Out-Wayne County. Our services include distribution of sterile injection and harm reduction supplies, education, overdose prevention, intervention, other services, and referrals (mental health, HIV and HEP C testing, etc).
We aim to reduce the negative health, social, and economic consequences that may result from the use of both legal and illegal drugs, without necessarily reducing drug use.
Our cornerstones of Harm Reduction are public health, human rights, and social justice:
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Reducing the number of drug overdoses
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Reducing the risk factors leading to infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis
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Enabling access to & Increasing the use of detox and drug treatment services (if desired)
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Connecting people with other health and social services; and
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Reducing the number of publicly discarded needles
We want to ensure that people who use substances are treated with respect and without stigma and that substance-related problems and issues are addressed systemically.
Outreach takes our services to the community, going where our people are (geographically and philosophically), and listening to consumers. Outreach acts as a bridge between street-level users, service providers, allied health agencies, and policymakers. Our programs are built from the bottom up on evolutionary principles and continue to adapt to changing trends.
The Outreach Team:
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Recruits, trains and supports PWUD and community members to respond to drug overdoses as peer-educators and/or with naloxone for peer-administration.
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Provides training, education, and consultation to treatment or harm reduction providers and a wide variety of health and other agencies and tertiary education and research institutions.
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Represents Peer Based Harm Reduction on several committees and reference groups.
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Provides education to drug users and service providers, and supports community and workforce development activities, in Wayne's County and surrounding areas.
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS
SOOAR’s harm reduction program exists for the community, to identify and serve their needs. We commit to constantly review ways to enhance representation and ownership by the community.
SOOAR is committed to forming partnerships built on shared goals and trust, to respond more effectively to the needs and reduce the harms for people who use or have used drugs. Our partner includes, but are not limited to:
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City of Inkster
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Michigan Department of Health and Human Service- Viral Hepatitis Division
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Mother’s Pantry – Inkster Michigan
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Beaumont Clinic (Taylor and Westwood)
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Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network
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Wayne County Health Department (Out-Wayne)
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National Harm Reduction Coalition
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Harm Reduction Michigan
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Detroit Recovery Project
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Unified Health and Beyond
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No Veteran Left Behind
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Benefitts- Inkster nonprofit
STIGMATIZED - Viewing life through the eyes of substance use
Stigma is defined as the experience of being “deeply discredited” or marked due to one’s “undesired differentness.” To be stigmatized is to be held in contempt, shunned or rendered socially invisible because of a socially disapproved status
What Can Be Done To Fight Stigma? Know the facts. The majority of people who ever try any drug do not use them problematically and do not develop a physical dependence. People who struggle with drug dependence, however, should be afforded the same dignity, respect and support as a person who struggles with any difficult issue. The public’s perception of the “deadliest” and “most addictive” drugs are often not based on scientific evidence. You can help end stigma by learning the facts about drugs, drug use and evidence-based drug treatment and sharing the information with others.