Midwest Harm Reduction Institute
MHRI is a collaboration between Heartland Health Outreach and the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, in consultation with the national Harm Reduction Coalition. Its goals are to increase understanding of the harm reduction philosophy throughout the Midwest; build the skills necessary to implement harm reduction strategies in diverse settings; strengthen harm reduction leadership across disciplines and communities; and develop an awareness of the attitudes that contribute to discrimination against drug users and other marginalized groups. MHRI comprises skilled trainers and consultants dedicated to promoting the values, philosophies, and practices of harm reduction techniques and strategies.
What is harm reduction?
The Harm Reduction Coalition, a national organization, defines harm reduction as a set of practical strategies that reduce the negative consequences of drug use, incorporating a spectrum of techniques that range from safer use to managed use to abstinence. Harm reduction strategies meet drug users where they're at, addressing conditions of use along with the use itself. Because harm reduction demands that interventions and policies designed to serve drug users reflect specific individual and community needs, there is no universal definition of, or formula for, implementing harm reduction. (See also: www.harmreduction.org.)
What is MHRI?
The Midwest Harm Reduction Institute mirrors the above mission and principals, with the goal of expanding harm reduction practice, theory, and policy in ways that are relevant to practitioners working in the Midwest. MHRI will offer a curriculum of workshops and classes to social workers, outreach workers, case managers, nurses, physicians, clients, administrators, and other interested individuals. Consultants will also be available to provide technical assistance and program development for service providers interested in incorporating and sustaining a harm reduction environment and skill set in existing or new programs.
MHRI will regularly offer introductory workshops on harm reduction for those new to these concepts, as well as population-specific trainings that will highlight innovative intervention strategies. In addition, MHRI will provide train-the-trainers sessions and a certification track. The first train-the-trainer workshop was held in September 2004 in Chicago.
Why is MHRI important to the Midwest?
Chicago and the Midwest are home to some of the most innovative and proven harm reduction programs in the country. MHRI will both expand and focus this wealth of passion, experience, and expertise, coordinating trainings and consultations that will accommodate the needs of diverse providers and consumers throughout the Midwest interested in learning about harm reduction and deepening their practice.
The goals of MHRI speak to the following purposes and needs:
- Train health care workers, drug treatment staff, mental health professionals, other social service practitioners, administrators, and volunteers to employ harm reduction approaches;
- Minimize the negative consequences of drug use on relationships, work, and communities.
- Train corporations on addressing drug use in the workplace;
- Train supervisors and managers to adequately support staff in utilizing harm reduction approaches;
- Educate and collaborate with elected officials and government agencies in the fields of criminal justice, public health, and housing to support harm reduction policies and approaches;
- Provide training curricula; and
- Develop trainers in various fields to teach essential skills and strategies to targeted groups.
For more information:
Scott Petersen, LCSW, CADC
4750 N. Sheridan, Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60640
Phone: 773.751.4194
Fax: 773.751.4174
E-mail: spetersen@heartlandalliance.org
