Harm Reduction: A Better Approach to Recovery?

Harm reduction aims to reduce negative consequences of substance abuse by forming strategies and procedural ideas to alleviate health and social conditions of the patient. Harm Reduction also recognizes that people suffering from drug abuse have certain rights that should be respected.

Interestingly, harm reduction does not support abstinence as a conclusive means to addiction recovery.

Here is an article by Joe McGuffin who wants to be a Harm Reduction Counselor. Take a look at this article from The Fix.

I Want to Be a Harm Reduction Counselor

How the phrase means more than just the opposite of abstinence.

                                       Source : Shutterstock

As in many other arenas, it can take a long time, often years, for evidence-based findings in addiction medicine to “trickle down” to the practitioner level. That means that there is frequently a disconnect between what researchers know, what clinicians believe and what they are actually able to implement in their clinical practice. Does the harm reduction approach to addiction treatment fit this paradigm? Here, a young clinician, The author struggles with the disconnect between what he finds intuitively valid and the abstinence-oriented treatment philosophy that is often mandated by referral sources and government entities…Richard Juman.

Yes. I want to be a harm reduction counselor. There, I said it. You should try it; it feels good. After all, who among us does not want to reduce harm? The problem is, for many in our field, these two words are a dog whistle for something other than abstinence. There are places where uttering these words is verboten, blasphemous, or even professional suicide. I worked for one agency in which the lead counselor would have run into the director’s office, waving this article and demanding my immediate termination. I am a graduate student and a novice in the field of substance use counseling, and as such, I am in the process of forming my style and approach to the helping profession. At this moment, I am convinced that harm reduction is the future of our field. I am not going to explain what harm reduction is, or why its time has come; Debra Rothschild does a fine job of that here. I am not going to explain how abstinence is included under the “harm reduction umbrella”; Jeannie Little does that beautifully here. I want to explain in my own words why I am inclined to view my work as part of the harm reduction paradigm. See full post

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