HARM REDUCTION

At CAAN, harm reduction is an essential part of our work to wholistically addressing HIV, HCV, STBBIs, mental health, and wellbeing. Harm reduction is an approach that uses practical strategies to reduce adverse health outcomes that can come from drug or alcohol use, or sex. Evidence based approaches, like Naloxone, Opioid Replacement Therapy, overdose prevention sites, outreach, and education, are just a few of the ways that people keep themselves safer. Though, we know that these strategies on their own cannot capture the complexity of our needs and realities. The roots of people’s use are intertwined with colonial encounters, intergenerational traumas, and other forms of systemic oppression. Stigma that surrounds peoples use of drugs, alcohol, or sex for pleasure or survival is one of the greatest harms that people navigate. Non-judgement, non-interference, care, respect, humility, and connection are Indigenous values. These values are also inherent in harm reduction. As such, we began to engage with our Communities, Alliances, and Networks to develop an Indigenous harm reduction bundle that embodies these connections- full of timely resources, stories, and findings from our Indigenous harm reduction research to date. UPDATES ON OUR CURRENT HARM REDUCTION RESEARCH COMING SOON!


Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network Ribbon

Research Tools & Resources

How to Write Field Notes

How to Write Field Notes

Field notes are a great way to record your observations during an event so that you don’t forget details later on. This document also includes a useful Fieldnote Template.

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Adapting the Community Readiness Model

Adapting the Community Readiness Model

CAAN and the AHA Centre are proud to have supported the “Adapting the Community Readiness Model (CRM) for HIV/AIDS Prevention, Education and Screening with Inuit Communities Developing Strategies for HIV Prevention with Community Input & Collaboration” project from the stages of grant development, data collection and piloting through to completion.

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