As with the Changing Paths program, Take on the Challenge promotes and gives guidelines on ways to bring the “Whole Person” to learning. It draws on teachings from the Aboriginal Medicine Wheel, Buddhist mindfulness and meditation and provide tools, approaches and resources that will help us to bring balance into learning and to heal each part of the self: the spirit (crushed), the emotions (overwhelmed by fear, panic, sadness), the body (wounded) and the mind (limited by people who said she was stupid) (Morrish et al., 2002: 17).
This review of educational materials used with homeless people, women in conflict with the law and women living with violence has provided ideas, activities, approaches and philosophies that are congruent with a Harm Reduction approach to learning. With this information, I can go on to describe the research I conducted. But first, I will re-visit the research questions to remind myself what lessons have been learned.
Because I work closely with programs around the Downtown Eastside, I am familiar with many of the kinds of Harm Reduction services described in the literature. Many of the learners I work with are peer workers in needle exchanges, alley patrols, and at the supervised safe injection site. They conduct workshops on Hepatitis C and HIV-AIDS. I know the street nurses and drug counsellors, and have participated in programs promoting safer sex, safer drug use and holistic medicine. I was heartened that our programs are on the right track with our flourishing peer programs.
It was reassuring to learn that Harm Reduction does not conflict with abstinence – in fact, it can work in partnership. Literacy practitioners can support participants who want to get off drugs or out of a violent relationship, but also discuss how to use drugs more safely or help learners to make a safety plan for their current living situation.
The literature also confirms that practitioners need to constantly listen to learners to find out what aspects of Harm Reduction are most important and useful to them. What I learned from this ongoing listening is part of the research reported here.
What was new to me in the literature was the detailed discussion of addiction, and the fact that drugs can have positive and neutral effects — they are not all bad all the time.