We are faith leaders, drug user union organizers, and other harm reductionists who are passionate about mobilizing spirit and community for justice and liberation.

 

OUR BOARD

Click on the arrow beside our names to learn a little about us.

  • My name is Jamie Bailey and I am a Chinese and Indigenous Mexican first generation

    American woman in recovery from substance use and mental health issues. What this means to

    me is that I have lived experience as a person who used drugs for many years to cope with

    intergenerational and complex trauma as well as systemic racism and oppression that limited the

    options I had available to me to treat mental health issues. As a person living with mental health

    issues I also have lived experience with involuntary hospitalization which gives me a unique

    insight into the experience of individuals living with co-occuring mental health and substance

    use issues. Drugs were the most readily available resource I had to deal with the myriad of

    symptoms I was experiencing. My lived experience affords me valuable insight into the

    complexities of drug use especially among BIPOC and possible solutions to reduce the harm

    associated with drug use as well as how to support and uplift the voices of people who use drugs

    who are interested in making changes to their lives that promote self-direction, safety, and the

    pursuit of their own self-identified goals in order to achieve recovery as they define it. I was

    born and raised in El Paso, TX located on the border of the United States and Mexico and one of

    the busiest drug corridors in the United States.

    I am a co-chair and co-founder of the El Paso Harm Reduction Alliance. We are a group

    of harm reductionists, people who use drugs, and other stakeholders who strive to improve the

    material conditions and promote the human rights of people who use substances by working to

    reduce the harms caused by substance use to individuals and the communities in which they live.

    As an alliance we perform street outreach, host compassionate care fairs where individuals can

    receive wound care and other health services, pass out harm reduction kits and train individuals,

    communities and agencies in overdose prevention and Narcan administration. We also educate

    the public on a number of issues specific to harm reduction. We value and invite in the voices of

    people with living experience who use drugs in order to inform how best to meet their needs and

    support them in living healthy and meaningful lives while maintaining their safety, rights, and

    dignity.

  • Terrell Jones is the Advocacy and Community Engagement Manager at Onpoint NYC. Terrell is a passionate advocate, activist, and inspiration for drug users, sex workers, the homeless, and other marginalized communities. Terrell Jones is a former drug user who, like many other people of color, was incarcerated because of his drug use. Determined to change the racist drug laws in New York State, stigma associated with drug use and that often resulted in his being denied job and housing opportunities, Terrell became an advocate for drug policy reform, an activist to advance harm reduction throughout New York City and New York State, and a vocal supporter of giving people a second chance. Terrell has now been in the harm reduction field for over 19 years and worked his way up from participant, to peer educator, to staff, and now to the management team. In his current role at Onpoint, he often collaborates with the Drug Policy Alliance, Faith in Harm Reduction and VOCAL NY. Terrell is also Se Co-Director of the Peer Network of New York where he emphasizes the professional and personal development of peers working in the field of harm reduction. Terrell's work has brought him around the country giving talks and advocating for harm reduction policies and practices to be used to assist drug users, sex workers, and other individuals impacted by the war on drugs. Terrell represents Onpoint NYC on the New York City Mayor's Taskforce for Opiates and Prescription Drugs Overdose. He also helped organize People of Color Tour of Harm Reduction in Fall 2016 where City Council members and other Legislators from New York City and New York State visited syringe exchanges around the city and attended panels on the history and importance of harm reduction. He has become the face of harm reduction.

  • Jaime Loera has been in long term recovery from substance use disorder for close to 3 decades and has been instrumental in the development and implementation of recovery strategies for non-profit entities, as well as private adolescent and adult treatment centers. During his time as a disciplined practitioner of 12 Step recovery, Jaime has had the opportunity to influence changes in the treatment landscape and make organizations aware of their limitations. Jaime holds a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and calls Texas his home. He is a dedicated father of three beautiful daughters who are limitless sources of inspiration and joy in his life.

  • Tamara Oyola-Santiago, MA, MPH, MCHES,  is a harm reductionist and  public health educator. Areas of life work include harm reduction services grounded in social justice in Puerto Rico and New York City, HIV/AIDS decriminalization, self-determination, restorative practices, and LGTBQIAGNC health. She is co-founder of Bronx Móvil, a fully bilingual (Spanish/English) anti-racist mutual aid collective and mobile harm reduction and syringe services organization. She is also part of the What Would an HIV Doula Do collective, a community of people joined in response to the ongoing AIDS Crisis, and Director of Wellness and Health Promotion, the public health branch of the New School’s Student Health Services. Tamara is also part of the Board of OnPoint NYC, the organization that opened the first USA sanctioned Overdose Prevention Centers. 

 

  • Marilyn Reyes (she/her), born and raised in The Bronx, is a mother, grandmother, activist, public health worker, and so much more. Fueled by her experiences and her desire to improve job prospects for people coming home from incarceration, Marilyn has worked for Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY), a statewide grassroots membership organization that builds power among low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration, and homelessness in order to create healthy and just communities. She served as a Peer Educator with New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE), a non-profit organization devoted to promoting the health, safety, and well-being of marginalized, low-income persons who use drugs or engage in sex work, their loved ones, and their communities. Marilyn is also Co-Director for the Peer Network of New York (PNNY) and a member of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. Marilyn's work uplifts her own experiences but also the experiences of so many women who have had their lives upended by the failed war on drugs and mass incarceration. 

  • Christine has dedicated the majority of her career in movement since 2007 to harm reduction, leading with as much authenticity, curiosity, & compassion as possible while wearing many hats, but always with a soft spot for policy with sharp colleagues & facilitating training for openminded learners. These days, she's (still) after collective liberation, muttering to herself over the news, & pretending that dodging menopause is a thing, while she & her partner laugh at & love on their two tiny, weird, & wonderful pups.

  • Jess has nearly three decades of experience as a harm reduction practitioner, advocate, and organizer and is the executive director of NEUU (The New England Users Union). Respected by the harm reduction community worldwide, she is in high demand as a trainer and consultant. In 2012 after leaving her position as overdose prevention coordinator of the Cambridge Needle Exchange, Jess co-founded HRH413, specifically to meet the needs of underserved and unserved populations of Black and Brown PWUD and/or trade sex in Western Ma, many of whom are distrustful of traditional fixed site SSPs. Her goal is to end the racist and classist war on people who use drugs.

 

OUR TEAM

  • Rev. Erica M. Poellot, MSW, MDiv (she/her) is the founder and Executive Director of Faith in Harm Reduction and serves as the Minister of Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention Ministries for the National United Church of Christ. As a faith leader engaged in a long-term healing process from substance use disorder, Erica founded Faith in Harm Reduction to co-create a justice movement which connects people who use drugs, their loved ones, and communities of faith through the development of harm reduction centered spiritual resources, ritual support, and spiritual care. With joint MDiv/MSW degrees from Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University in NYC, Erica is based at Judson Memorial Church in NYC. Erica also serves on the Board of Directors for Safehouse Philadelphia and the Peer Network of New York.

  • Louie Jones (he/him) is a Foundational Black American (FBA) who is formerly incarcerated, formerly unhoused, formerly a heroin user for nearly 4 decades and lives with HIV. As a member of ACT UP Housing committee, he became the founding member of STANDUP HARLEM, HIV/AIDS Supportive Community providing a communal alternative to systemic dependency, challenging stigma and creating a place called home. Mr. Jones is a member of New City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN) and along with a grant given to Jason Ferrell and assistance from the Harm Reduction community, founded VOCAL-NY USERS UNION. He also completed The New York State Chaplaincy Taskforce training and is Commissioned by FIHR as Chaplain in Faith and Drug Users Community Health, Spiritual Care, Crisis Care, and a ministry of Social Justice.

  • Rev. Moss Benedetto (they/ze) is a trans queer interspiritual minister and faith-practice leader dedicated to facilitating radical interdependence in all its forms. They currently serve in Campus Ministry and as Faculty at Pratt Institute, and in Community Ministry at Judson Memorial Church.

    Elæ brings a background in direct-action community organizing and mutual-aid system building, social-action-oriented art and media production, peer-to-peer learning, and spiritual collective direction to Faith in Harm Reduction. Their work there is primarily focused on stewarding the Community Ministry Fellowship Program and advancing community-centered spiritual care.

    For over two decades, Elæ has bridged public-facing scholarship, academic teaching, and nonprofit leadership with a commitment to not only mobilizing but modeling and scaling tools for anticarceral, abolitionist, and restorative-justice-driven liberation movements.

    As a third-generation working-class New Yorker with lived experience in both sex-work and substance-use communities, Elæ’s work is shaped by direct, embodied knowledge of the systems Faith in Harm Reduction seeks to transform. Having witnessed — and endured — the profound losses created by the absence of sacred, affirming support in these communities, they are deeply committed to the ongoing reimagining of widely accessible spiritual space, care, ritual, and practice. Elæ believes deeply in the r/evolutionary promise of the Church of Faith in Harm Reduction for all who have been harmed, stigmatized, pathologized, or alienated by religion and the state.

 

  • Carolina López (she/her) is a Nonprofit Operations and Management Consultant with over 20 years of executive-level experience supporting mission-driven organizations through growth, transition, and transformation. 

    Carolina’s work is deeply shaped by her history in the Harm Reduction movement, including her leadership as Executive Director of New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE), home to the largest syringe exchange on the East Coast and precursor to OnPoint NYC, the first Overdose Prevention Center in the U.S., and as Deputy Director of Administration and Finance at the National Harm Reduction Coalition, a national advocacy and capacity-building organization promoting the wellbeing and dignity of people and communities affected by drug use.

    Carolina believes the faith community has a powerful role to play in changing the narrative around drug use and people who use drugs—especially when it recognizes the sacredness and worth inherent in every person and ensures that everyone has access to spiritual community and connection without judgment or exclusion.

  • M Jade Kaiser (they/them) is the co-founder and co-director of enfleshed, a collaborative effort to create and facilitate resources of spiritual nourishment for the labors of collective liberation. M's work focuses on the roles of spirituality and religion in healing and justice efforts at the interpersonal, collective, and systemic levels. Integrating over a decade of activism and organizing within and outside of religious contexts, they are passionate about co-creating sustainability, joy, and genuine community in movement spaces.