Another lesson is that harm reduction work can be both clinical (promoting and providing safer sex and condoms, needle exchanges, bridging to treatment programs, etc.) and non-clinical (helping users to access housing, etc.). As literacy practitioners, we might find ourselves involved in support work that is not strictly about literacy — and we should not avoid it, because it is central to relationship building and to learning. It is also linked to the “systems literacy” that helps learners to learn. Murray and Ferguson found that it is also central to effective Harm Reduction work. For example, when a woman comes to a literacy class having just lost her home or been beaten up by her partner, we cannot ignore that reality and just go on with the lesson.
The literature that describes the skills and attitudes required by harm reduction workers resonates with the skills that are necessary for literacy work. Some of these are:
On a program level, it is crucial to have clear, easy to follow policies and procedures – especially, but not only, if you encourage learners to participate as peers in your organization.
The literature talks about educating clients about harm reduction. We are interested in the role education can play beyond this, just as we are interested in going beyond teaching the GED. So what does that mean? According to Downtown Eastside community worker and instructor, Lucy Alderson who notes that programs such as WISH often “throw out” Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (which says the basic needs need to be in place before you can attend to learning or self-actualization needs). She encourages people to seek learning wherever they are:
I see it over and over; people say, “I want to know how to do this. Can you show me this?” or “I’ve decided to get my GED.” You have to be there for that whether it’s at five to five or in the middle of the street, (interview in Battell et al., 2004: 108)