The community fit of a residential center with a harm reduction perspective
Background: In March 2022, a residential resource for homeless drug users was opened in the city of Barcelona. The objective of this resource was to offer a space for social and health care to cover the basic needs of this population from a harm reduction approach and a gender perspective. The resource included two supervised consumption spaces, one injected and the other inhaled, and a Managed Alcohol Program. The opening of such a center required pre- and post-opening work to ensure good community inclusion. The aim of this communication is to describe the plan that was designed to achieve this purpose.
Methods: Two months before the opening, a plan was designed that included three types of actions: 1) those related to public services that should ensure and facilitate coexistence relations; 2) those related to neighbors, other facilities, and professionals; and 3) those related to professionals and residents of the center. This plan was agreed with all the public services responsible for its implementation.
Results: A communication plan was designed that included the identification of key agents, bilateral meetings, and the organization of a press conference. An fast circuit was designed for the communication of incidents between professionals as well as between neighbors and public services. An informative triptych was designed for neighbors, visits were made to their homes to explain the resource and resolve doubts, and an open day was organized for neighbors and shopkeepers. The organization of a periodic monitoring committee was established to gather needs related to the center, organized by the district, and made up of municipal technicians and neighborhood and nearby facilities representatives. An anti-rumor narrative was performed and was disseminated to all the professionals of the surrounding services. Three rounds a day of canvassing of the center's surroundings by the center's educators were established. Finally, the importance of working with users on environmental care and participation in community spaces was established. Although prior to the opening of the center there was serious reticence from the neighbors, the design and implementation of a plan with specific actions to facilitate the center's good community roots and to avoid or prevent foreseeable situations was the key to the fact that a few months after its opening there were practically no incidents and the neighbors’ resistance had diminished.
Conclusions: The opening of drug resources with a harm reduction perspective requires special care to ensure a good fit with the community. This can be achieved with the design and implementation of a plan that includes professionals, neighbors, and other facilities in the environment and that includes them not only before the opening but also in the necessary follow-up afterwards.
