Harm Reduction Workshop

Date:

Wed, 03/12/2025 - 01:00

Time:

Full-Day Workshop

Location:

Department of Healing and Community Wellness

Community:

Behchokǫ̀

Harm reduction is an approach to help people explore their relationship with substances and behaviours. It works to reduce and mitigate damage and pain, and offers strategies to increase and promote safety, choice, and control. Harm reduction moves away from traditional understandings of “addiction” as a disease and responses that are based on assumed morality and abstinence or fear and punishment.

This workshop explores the principles of harm reduction, how it works, and to whom it may apply. Participants will learn practical strategies for working with individuals, families, and communities within a harm reduction framework. This training will also explore how these concepts can be used in policy, procedure, and practice.

Target Audience

This intermediate-level workshop is intended for social service and health care professionals, counsellors, social workers, school personnel, and anyone seeking a better understanding of the harm reduction framework.

Learning Objectives:

• Differentiate between traditional approaches to “addictions” and a harm reduction approach
• List qualities and values needed to practice within a harm reduction model
• Describe a relational framework for working with a person’s use of substances and behaviours
• Apply a variety of practical strategies to reduce harm