TW: Discussion of harm reduction, drug addiction, alcoholism, and self-harm--but know it's all about the recovery from each. If that's not something you're comfortable with hearing/watching, we have other episodes you can listen to! This week on the podcast Kody and Kit tackle addiction and recovery through a harm reduction lens. Harm reduction refers to policies, programs and practices that aim to minimize the negative health, social and legal impacts associated with drug use, drug policies and drug laws in addition to other forms of addiction. Harm reduction is about meeting people where they are at, because this is the real world and recovery is different for everyone. Kody talks about his experience being addicted to drugs, and Kit talks about her struggles with alcoholism and self-harm. It then shifts to how harm reduction plays a role in both Kody and Kit's lives and how recovery has been a big deal for both of them. This is an open conversation that is a tough one to have, but talking about these things is important.

So join Kody (a schizophrenia advocate) and Kit (a schizoaffective disorder advocate) as they talk about addiction, recovery, and harm reduction and what that's meant for each of them.

Sources for this episode and resources to learn more: Kit's statistics about supervised consumption facilities came from this: Ramprashad, A., Burnett, G. M., & Welsh, C. (2022). Harm Reduction: Not Dirty Words Any More. The Psychiatric clinics of North America, 45(3), 529–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2022.04.005A more general paper on how harm reduction is used in drug addiction and alcoholism to facilitate recovery: Chan, C. A., Canver, B., McNeil, R., & Sue, K. L. (2022). Harm Reduction in Health Care Settings. The Medical clinics of North America, 106(1), 201–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mcna.2021.09.002A FANTASTIC document on the state of harm reduction on a global scale. This one is really, really, cool and puts into perspective where we are as a society with the concept of harm reduction when it comes to addiction and recovery. Lots of statistics and colorful visuals. https://hri.global/flagship-research/the-global-state-of-harm-reduction/the-global-state-of-harm-reduction-2024/ Happy reading!