Bridging the Gap: A Practitioner's Guide to Harm Reduction in Drug Courts

This presentation will provide an overview of what harm reduction is — its origins, evolution, and guiding principles — and highlight the benefits and challenges of integrating harm reduction in the drug court space. Concrete examples will be used to demonstrate how the principles and practices of harm reduction can support the key components of drug courts by providing:

• Additional life-saving responses amid intersecting public health crises.
• Effective engagement strategies for marginalized groups.
• Deeper and more trusting therapeutic relationships.
• Improved treatment retention and long-term outcomes.
• Improved equity and inclusion.
• The expertise of people with varied lived experience.
• Adaptability in the face of drug policy reform.

After completing this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Understand the principles of harm reduction.
• Identify opportunities to incorporate harm reduction into their daily practice.
• Recognize relational and programmatic strategies to improve their drug court practice.