while harm reduction is wonderful and very needed, i’m wondering what treatment options they will be referring folks out to? everyone in the recovery community is aware of the dearth of high quality treatment options available, and i often fear that focus on harm reduction gives the people who decide on programs & funding an excuse to neglect good, effective treatment, because the goal is to just keep people alive. imo just being alive is the bare minimum.

we should really have a multipronged effort to ensure the options for people who want treatment are actually good options that help people engage with recovery, instead of just Medicaid billing mills. there are loads of people who are desperate for help, but can’t access it because of a lack of availability or they’ve been burned so many times by the low quality programs in RI that they don’t trust that anyone can help them. having a safe place to use will absolutely save lives (and money/resources), but i am skeptical if that’s sufficient.

the University of Rhode Island has a Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program. the professors are therapists at the clinic, as are their advanced standing grad students. from professional experience (referring clients there) the people working there are good. it’s also incredibly cheap.