每日大瓜

Starting Where the Client Is: An Introduction to Harm Reduction Practice with People Who Use Drugs

FRIDAY, July 18, 2025
10:00 am 鈥� 12:00 pm (eastern time)
Live Webinar on Zoom
(You will need to register to receive login information)

Registration: 2 CEU Credit Hours
General:  Through July 8, $50; July 9-July 17, $60
Wurzweiler Alumni and Current WSSW Field Instructors: Through July 8, $40; July 9-July 17, $50
All Current Students: $15
Registration closes on 07/17/25 at 5:00 Eastern Time (EST)

This program will provide an overview of harm reduction practices to assist people who use drugs. Dr. Sheila Vakharia will provide a brief history of the harm reduction movement, followed by an introduction to the key foundational values and tenets of harm reduction. She will introduce the Drug, Set, and Setting Model of understanding diverse patterns of substance use as an alternative to moralistic and disease models of addiction. 

The discussion will promote the elements of the harm reduction approach 鈥� one that provides for individualized, client-centered, and trauma-informed care for people who use drugs and those with substance use disorders.

Learning Objectives

As a result of this program, participants will be better able to:

1. Describe the history and origins of the harm reduction movement.
2. Identify the foundational harm reduction tenets and principles.
3. Understand person-first alternatives to commonly used stigmatizing terms in substance use treatment and healthcare.
4. Apply the Drug, Set, and Setting Model for understanding substance use.

Presenter 

Sheila P. Vakharia, PhD MSW, is the Deputy Director of Research and Academic Engagement for the Drug Policy Alliance, which addresses the harms of drug use and drug criminalization through policy solutions, organizing, and public education. Dr. Vakharia promotes community education on drug policy issues, builds relationships with drug researchers, and helps to advance policy-relevant research.

 Before joining DPA, Dr. Vakharia was an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Long Island University and worked as a clinical social worker in both abstinence-only and harm reduction settings. Dr. Vakharia鈥檚 research interests include harm reduction therapy, drug policy reform, drug stigma, overdose prevention, and social work education. 

She is the author of . She is also on the Board of Directors of Filter magazine.

Podcast

Rabbis, chaplains, and social workers are often called on to provide spiritual care near life鈥檚 end. Whether in response to serious illness, advanced cognitive or physical decline in old age, or unexpected, tragic violence, health care professionals and clergy need to respond compassionately and effectively with families facing spiritual, emotional, and existential crises. Clips from Wurzweiler School of Social Work鈥檚 鈥淪pirituality Near the End of Life鈥� Conference in July 2019 include leading clergy, chaplains, and social workers offering their knowledge, skills, and wisdom to assist professionals seeking to better integrate spiritual care into their professional and community work.

Episode 1

Episode 2