About
The Massachusetts Harm Reduction Workforce Coalition (MAHRWC) is dedicated to supporting the harm reduction workforce in Massachusetts through advocacy, policy development, and workforce training. Established in 2024, the coalition was formed by a group of experienced harm reduction practitioners, frontline workers, and individuals with lived and living experience using drugs.
MAHRWC is funded by RIZE Massachusetts Foundation (RIZE), an organization committed to ending the opioid epidemic and reducing its devastating impact on people, families, and communities. RIZE provides financial and administrative support while honoring the group’s need for autonomy and self-determination.
Mission Statement
The Massachusetts Harm Reduction Workforce Coalition is on a transformative mission to uplift the health, wellness, and dignity of people who use drugs (PWUD), their families, communities, and the dedicated individuals who serve them. We are fueled by unwavering hope and a fierce commitment to advancing harm reduction across the state. Our vision extends beyond mere advocacy; we seek to empower those who are most vulnerable to the injustices of structural violence and the harsh realities of classist and racially biased drug policies. Together, we will champion a future where compassion and support replace stigma and neglect, ensuring everyone can thrive in a society that values their lives and well-being.
Principles
MAHRWC Principles of Unity
The community of dedicated individuals that comprise MAHRWC is committed to the following Principles of Unity. We aim to eliminate oppression based on race, class, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, disability status, history of drug use, history of incarceration, body size, sexual orientation, or any other social category. These principles guide our decisions as we strive to uphold our mission.
- We believe that harm reduction workers should have adequate control over their work environments and responsibilities, considering the realities of the job.
- We support the struggle to end unnecessary hierarchical social structures, including those in harm reduction workplaces.
- We believe in humble leadership where necessary.
- We acknowledge that oppression affects individuals in the workplace. We are committed to equity and inclusion in harm-reduction environments and to shifting power and resources to those most affected by structural violence and discriminatory drug policies.
- We commit to fostering a healthy organization and acknowledge that we share equal responsibility for and accountability to it.
- We affirm that individually and as an organization, we will work together with authenticity, humor, compassion, creativity, transparency, and critical thought to achieve our principles, goals, and mission.
- We affirm that harm reduction is a path to increased health and wellness for PWUD, as defined by those individuals, and is not necessarily a path to cessation of drug use or certain forms of drug use.
- We affirm that our work should be transparent and that stakeholders, including staff, the board of directors, volunteers, funders, partners, and the larger harm reduction community in Massachusetts should routinely have a voice in our services and programming.
- We believe that PWUD are the most effective in reducing the harms associated with their drug use. Our goal is to empower them and harm reduction providers to share knowledge and support. This enables them to advocate for their needs and implement strategies that promote positive changes for themselves and their communities.
- We affirm our commitment to providing harm reduction workers, especially those who use drugs, with the experienced support, capacity building, alignment support and advocacy they need to best serve people who use drugs in Massachusetts.
- We recognize that various factors such as poverty, class, racism, social isolation, past trauma, mental health challenges, and discrimination based on sex and gender affect individuals’ vulnerability to drug-related harm. These issues also impact their ability to manage such harm effectively, including their susceptibility to discriminatory enforcement of drug policies based on race and class.
- We affirm that we are committed to the provision and advocacy of evidence-based services responsive to the climates from which they emerge.
- We believe that each person has the right to make decisions about what to do with their own body and that individuals, not “experts”, are best equipped to make decisions about their lives.
- We accept that, for better and for worse, licit and illicit drug use is a part of our world and we choose to work to minimize the harmful effects of drugs rather than simply ignoring or condemning them.
- We believe that health care is a human right.
- We recognize that adequate services and the conditions necessary for their development cannot be attained without fundamental changes in our society’s economic, political, and social structures.
- We support the struggle to end the criminal-industrial complex and transformative justice practices.
MAHRWC Principles of Unity
- We believe that harm reduction workers should have adequate control over their work environments and responsibilities, considering the realities of the job.
- We support the struggle to end unnecessary hierarchical social structures, including those in harm reduction workplaces.
- We believe in humble leadership where necessary.
- We acknowledge that oppression affects individuals in the workplace. We are committed to equity and inclusion in harm-reduction environments and to shifting power and resources to those most affected by structural violence and discriminatory drug policies.
- We commit to fostering a healthy organization and acknowledge that we share equal responsibility for and accountability to it.
- We affirm that individually and as an organization, we will work together with authenticity, humor, compassion, creativity, transparency, and critical thought to achieve our principles, goals, and mission.
- We affirm that harm reduction is a path to increased health and wellness for PWUD, as defined by those individuals, and is not necessarily a path to cessation of drug use or certain forms of drug use.
- We affirm that our work should be transparent and that stakeholders, including staff, the board of directors, volunteers, funders, partners, and the larger harm reduction community in Massachusetts should routinely have a voice in our services and programming.
- We believe that PWUD are the most effective in reducing the harms associated with their drug use. Our goal is to empower them and harm reduction providers to share knowledge and support. This enables them to advocate for their needs and implement strategies that promote positive changes for themselves and their communities.
- We affirm our commitment to providing harm reduction workers, especially those who use drugs, with the experienced support, capacity building, alignment support and advocacy they need to best serve people who use drugs in Massachusetts.
- We recognize that various factors such as poverty, class, racism, social isolation, past trauma, mental health challenges, and discrimination based on sex and gender affect individuals’ vulnerability to drug-related harm. These issues also impact their ability to manage such harm effectively, including their susceptibility to discriminatory enforcement of drug policies based on race and class.
- We affirm that we are committed to the provision and advocacy of evidence-based services responsive to the climates from which they emerge.
- We believe that each person has the right to make decisions about what to do with their own body and that individuals, not “experts”, are best equipped to make decisions about their lives.
- We accept that, for better and for worse, licit and illicit drug use is a part of our world and we choose to work to minimize the harmful effects of drugs rather than simply ignoring or condemning them.
- We believe that health care is a human right.
- We recognize that adequate services and the conditions necessary for their development cannot be attained without fundamental changes in our society’s economic, political, and social structures.
- We support the struggle to end the criminal-industrial complex and transformative justice practices.
Core Team
Gary Langis has been involved in the harm reduction movement since the late 1980s when he volunteered as part of an independent group providing underground needle exchange on the North Shore. He has developed well-respected, cutting-edge, harm reduction-focused HIV prevention programs. In 1997, Gary co-founded the New England Prevention Alliance (NEPA), which provides syringe exchange and naloxone distribution to underserved communities. Gary has also provided technical assistance to communities through programs funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, SAMSHA, and NIDA.
Teena has been involved in Massachusetts harm reduction for the last six years. She spent time working at Cambridge Needle Exchange, ONESTOP Harm Reduction Center in Gloucester, and AHOPE Needle Exchange in Boston before starting her current role at Smoke Works, an organization that provides injection alternatives to harm reduction programs across the country.
Advisory Committee
Jess has well over 20 years 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. She moved to Western MA in 2012 after leaving her position as overdose prevention coordinator/site manager of the Cambridge needle exchange at AIDS Action Coalition. Despite the existence of fixed syringe access programs in Western MA, she is keenly aware of underserved and unserved populations of drug users, specifically marginally housed and homeless youth, sex workers, and Latino and African American communities, many of whom are distrustful of institutionalized health care.
Kenneth is an accomplished assistant director of AHOPE Needle Exchange. He is driven by a passion for harm reduction that stems from his work with at-risk youth. His lived experience has instilled in him a deep understanding of the challenges of racism, classism, and substance use, inspiring him to become a leader in the field.
Mary Wheeler is one of the founding members of NOMAD (Not One More Anonymous Death). She began as a volunteer outreach worker in Boston in 1999. Since then, Mary has worked for both Boston and Cambridge syringe exchanges and, in 2005, began working in Lynn, MA. Mary currently works as a program manager for the Healthy Streets Outreach Program in Lynn, MA, which provides drug user health programming North of Boston.
Kim Powers is the founder and executive director of Access HOPE, a mobile outreach harm reduction program on Cape Cod. Access HOPE provides free and confidential syringe access, naloxone (nasal & IM), drug checking, and supervised overdose prevention.