How to become a member of The Alliance

Given the history between many spiritual and religious communities and people who use drugs or do sex work, becoming a member of the Faith in Harm Reduction Alliance is a privilege. Membership is evaluated annually based on concrete actions and commitments rather than being granted permanently. At this time, we are prioritizing communities who can agree to the Foundations explained in Step 2 below. We understand ‘communities’ to be comprised of three or more people - it does not need to be an entire institution! We celebrate the movement work that can happen under the leadership of a few dedicated and passionate people, even in larger contexts of resistance. If you or your community is not ready to take the steps below, we still wish to encourage you in your practice of faith in harm reduction. Find more resources of support here.

Step 1

Put together a team of at least three people.

We believe the most transformative and sustainable work flows from a collective with solidarity, mutual support, and shared commitment. The work of harm reduction in your community cannot be sustained by a singular individual. Who can you bring together? Gather a minimum of three people who are ready to take up the commitment of introducing or deepening your community’s relationship to harm reduction.

- Who are you? (Individually and as a team, what are you bringing together? Consider who is represented among your team and who isn’t, what social identities you bring, and what your motivations for this work are. As you discover gaps, assess how you will tend to them.)
- What’s the lay of the land? (Who are the people providing harm reduction services in the wider neighborhood/region? What is your relationship to them, if any? What history does your faith community have with people who use drugs and people who do sex work - positive and/or negative? Do you expect clergy, lay leadership, overall community to be supportive?)
- What are your foundations? (Are there commitments to your own learning as a team that might be the starting place for you before you begin working with your wider community? Are there shared understandings among you and do they align with the larger movement led by PWUD and PWDSW? Do you have a clear sense of how harm reduction and your faith/spirituality support one another?)
- What’s your commitment? (Have honest conversations together about what commitments you are able to make together. What is your capacity in terms of time - short term and long term? How can you support one another if there is conflict/push-back? What are your needs of each other?)
Make sure to document your name and response! We’ll ask you for this information in a later step.

Don’t rush through this stage! If you have relationship building to do, reading/studying/learning, or connections to make with local harm reduction teams, it’s ok to stay at this stage for a while. It will pay off in the long-term. Build a strong foundation spiritually, relationally, politically. Bring the whole team along, even if one or two of you have a longer history with harm reduction.

Step 2

As a team, talk through and commit to the shared Foundations. Ensure everyone is on board.

While communities within the Alliance are encouraged to be shaped by the context of their local harm reduction needs and strategies, all of us share in these three basic commitments in order to form a foundation of solidarity and transparency.

- Theologically Based: Our faith compels us to work and advocate for social change and justice through public policy and law.
- Led by People who use drugs (PWUD) and People who do sex work (PWDSW): Centers the dignity, humanity, and wisdom of PWUD/sex workers and amplifies their voices and leadership to achieve healing and social justice.
- Harm Reduction Centered: Recognizes individual and community health and wholeness—not necessarily cessation of all drug use—as markers of success.
- Challenges Stigma: Seeks to eradicate the stigmatization of people with lived experience of substance use, substance use disorder, and sex work.
- Evidence-Based: Understands substance use as a complex phenomenon encompassing a continuum of behaviors, promotes reality-based and culturally competent drug education, and supports scientific strategies for reducing health risks associated with substance use.
- Intersectional, Justice-Rooted: Understands that poverty, class, racism, trauma, sex and gender-based discrimination and other social inequities affect people’s vulnerability to drug related harm (i.e. overdose, HIV/HCV, incarceration), as well as their access to healing and justice resources.
- Respects Multiple Pathways to Healing: Acknowledges that healing encompasses an individual’s whole life, including mind, body, spirit, and community, values self-determination, and supports people in crafting their own unique paths to positive change.
(These principles were originally published in the ‘Spirit of Harm Reduction Toolkit’ which you can view here.
In recognition of the many systems of oppression active in anti-drug and anti-sex work laws and stigmas, and in recognition of the communities from which Harm Reduction emerged, we root our work in lineages of political movement. Centering an analysis of race, class, gender, and sexuality in and through a Harm Reduction lens.
Check out Next Distro for resources in your state
https://nextdistro.org/naloxone

Step 3

If applicable, Talk to leadership in your larger institution.

This step applies to those who are beginning this process as a small team in the midst of a larger institutional body such as a church, a synagogue, a temple, etc. Once you have a solid base of mutual understanding about the task your team is taking up, seek out transparency and support from the larger community’s leadership. What are the typical channels for starting a new group? Who do you need to talk with? Who would you like support from? Aim to begin this process with as much collective support as is available by being transparent, relational, and invitational. The goal is setting things up for long-term transformation within the community. Be intentional about how this step is practiced.

Bring your notes and resources with you to the meeting. This might include things like:

Faith in Harm Reduction resources
Why it matters that your community align with harm reduction
What is the process?
What are some of the spiritual values you feel are reflected by this work?
Share your team’s statement

Be prepared to share your short-term and long-term intentions of your team. Is it to practice harm reduction as a team, a sunday school class, a small section of the faith community? Do you intend to grow the entire community in the direction of harm reduction? Do you hope to see the whole institution get on board and if so, on what timeline?

Step 4

Take some time to discern.

Based on your conversations with leadership, discern your next steps. Whether you received whole-hearted support or significant resistance, return to the conversation as a team about how you would like to move forward. Decide together whether this is the right move and right time for the group and the work you hope to accomplish.

Step 5

- Fill out the membership form, including crafting your annual plan.
- Learn more about the annual plan here.
- Submit your materials here.
  
  Congrats on all the hard work you’ve put in getting to this point. We look forward to welcoming you.

Step 6

Renew and recommit annually.

Becoming a part of the alliance is an evolving covenant. Each year, the team - or eventually the whole community - assesses its commitments.

Submit your annual plan in order to maintain your team’s membership in the alliance. Teams are encouraged to add at least 2-3 goals for deepening into harm reduction practices. Minimum requirements are to maintain commitments to the Foundations. You can view our list of actions here.

In your annual report, you will share what you have implemented in the past year (six months updates are welcome). Your profile will be updated accordingly to accurately reflect your community’s current practices and commitments with badges that enable public transparency.

Step 7

Give and receive support.

When you submit your annual report, you’ll have the opportunity to share notes, stories, tips, etc. If you’re struggling with how to implement one of your goals, look for other communities who have already received that badge.

We aim to build an archive of wisdom and experience through collective reports as well as build a mutually supportive network. This is hard work! Let’s hold each other up. Thank you for being a part of us.