Meeting people where they are, without judgment, without conditions

Harm Reduction

The I Am Human Foundation runs harm reduction programs because we believe that everyone deserves to be safer today, regardless of what choices they made yesterday or what choices they will make tomorrow. We do not require sobriety. We do not require abstinence. We do not require people to be ready for change before we offer them care. We meet community members where they are, with the supplies, information, and support they need to stay alive and stay well.

Harm reduction is not the absence of change. It is the practice of valuing human life enough to support people through every part of their journey. The communities we serve have been told for too long that they must earn care by becoming someone other than who they are. We refuse that frame. Our harm reduction work is rooted in dignity, respect, and the radical idea that staying alive is a victory worth celebrating.

Our Harm Reduction Programs

  • Naloxone Distribution — Free naloxone (Narcan) distribution at community events, outreach sites, and partner locations. Includes training on how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose.
  • Fentanyl Test Strips and Drug Checking — Free test strips and harm reduction supplies for community members who use drugs, distributed without judgment and with information on how to use them.
  • Safer Sex and Sexual Health Supplies — Free condoms, lubricant, dental dams, PrEP information, and harm reduction supplies for sexual health, distributed at community events.
  • Hormone Safety Education — Plain-language education on the risks of unprescribed hormones and silicone injections, with a pathway to safer alternatives through prescribed care.
  • Harm Reduction Education and Training — Workshops and trainings for community members, partners, and provider organizations on harm reduction principles and practice.
  • Peer Recovery Support — Peer support from community members in recovery for community members navigating substance use, with respect for whatever recovery looks like for each person.

Who We Serve

Community members navigating substance use, sexual health, hormone use, homelessness, crisis, or any situation where being safer today is the most important goal. We prioritize Black and brown LGBTQ+ community members, people experiencing housing instability, sex workers, community members impacted by incarceration, and anyone who has been turned away from services because their choices did not match what providers wanted to see. Our harm reduction programs are open to anyone in need, without screening, without conditions, without judgment.

Harm Reduction

Why This Work

The communities we serve are losing people to overdose, to HIV, to violence, to silicone injections gone wrong, to mental health crises that no one responded to in time. Most of these losses were preventable. Most of them happened because the systems that should have offered care instead offered judgment, shame, or nothing at all. Harm reduction is how we change that equation. Every naloxone kit we hand out, every test strip, every conversation that does not require someone to be different than they are, keeps another community member alive long enough to keep going. That is the work. That is the whole work.

How to Connect

To access harm reduction supplies, request training for your organization, or get connected to harm reduction support, email info@iamhumanfoundation.org and reference harm reduction. For overdose emergencies, call 911 immediately. For ongoing crisis support related to substance use or mental health, please reach out to SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 (available 24/7, free, confidential).