Breakout Session: Harm Reduction in Shelter Settings: Current Practices and Future Opportunities

Led by: Jen Tracey, MSW (Chief Program Officer, RIZE Massachusetts Foundation) 

Avik Chatterjee, MD, MPH (Primary Care and Addiction Medicine Physician, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless, Boston Medical Center) 

Tom Regan, MPH (Coordinated Entry System Manager, King County Regional Homelessness Authority. Seattle, WA.) 

Nicole Bell (Founder, Living in Freedom Together; Program Director, Her House) 

Gregory Grays-Thomas (Director of the Homeless Services Bureau, Boston Public Health Commission) 

Summary: Join RIZE Massachusetts Foundation for a panel discussion of “Harm Reduction in Shelter Settings: Current Practices and Future Opportunities.” Recently, RIZE partnered with the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center to study harm reduction strategies in four shelters across Massachusetts. This study informed a toolkit of harm reduction strategies that shelters can implement to better serve people who use drugs. RIZE hosted a webinar in October 2024 to release the findings of the study and engage a panel of shelter experts in discussion of the toolkit's recommendations.

The session will begin with an overview of the harm reduction strategies featured in the toolkit by the study's investigators, Avik Chatterjee, MD, of Boston Medical Center and Thomas Regan of King County Regional Homelessness Authority. RIZE Chief Program Officer, Jen Tracey, will then engage our panel of experts —   Desiree Demos of the EVA Center, and Gregory Grays-Thomas of the Boston Public Health Commission — in a discussion of case studies of real-life scenarios integrating harm reduction strategies in shelter settings. The audience will then be invited to engage with the speakers about next steps for implementation of harm reduction in shelters and advocacy strategies to promote harm reduction in shelters at the policy level.