Get to know the work of Drogenberatung e.V. Bielefeld | Interview with Jan-Gert Hein

Drogenberatung e.V. Bielefeld joined Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network as a Member and Focal Point supporting the data collection for the Civil Society Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe in 2023. Below we bring an interview with Jan-Gert Hein, a member of the board of directors, to introduce the work of the organisation and why they find it relevant to be part of our Network.

Could you tell me about the work of your organisation?

The Drogenberatung has been running for about 50 years already. We are running several facilities that offer services for people who use drugs. We have different advice centres in Bielefeld and also in a town in a more rural area around Bielefeld called Detmold.  Besides these, we run a drug consumption room (DCR) that is connected to an advice centre and a doctor’s office that offers opiate substitution. In one of our advice centres in Bielefeld, we have an office for prevention work as well. We also have an advice centre that works on a more structural level and is focused on gambling addiction in North Rhine-Westphalia.

What harm reduction activities do you carry out?  

The biggest one is the DCR we are running where we have about 40,000 consumption processes per year. We also do street work where we offer syringe exchange programs and deliver harm reduction material to people who want our help. In terms of harm reduction, we are also running a very low-threshold hepatitis C detection program. People can get a PCR test for hepatitis in our DCR, and know if they are hepatitis C positive and if it needs to be treated.

What populations do you focus on? 

Our main focus is on people who use drugs, not only in the Bielefeld area but also in Detmold. We also work in several prisons around here, there is also a big group of clients we are focusing on. Most of them are currently using drugs or are relatives of people who use drugs. We also work with people who used drugs before but quit.

Would you tell us more about the work that you do in prisons?

In Germany, prisons have to offer advice to people from outside of prisons, they have to work together with drug advice centres and organisations like ours. We work in several prisons with different structures. Some of them are closed, but some of them have an open structure. Inside the prisons, we offer general advice. We inform people about harm reduction services outside of prison, but also of methods they can use inside the prison.

Another basic thing we do is to help people get into therapy. In Germany, there’s a law that offers the option to do therapy instead of staying in prison if a person commits a crime because of an addiction. That needs to be clarified by the court. If that happens, people have the option to do therapy and leave prison. We help people to get out of prison and into therapy.

Are there any other interventions that are not directly harm reduction-related that you would like to highlight? 

I think the biggest standout in our facility, the Drogenhilfezentrum (drug aid help centre) is that we combine different aspects of our work there. We combine treatment with the doctor’s office and care options for people with the possibility to get food, drinks, relax and rest. Besides that, we offer a drug consumption room and an option to seek advice. So we have an inclusive offer that people can use.

When we look around in Germany, we see that this concept works out, to have it all in one place so people don’t have to visit different facilities to get the help they need. Combining these key factors, treatment, care, and advice, is a very effective way to promote health for people who use drugs and especially for people who are experiencing homelessness. That’s what makes us kind of unique, and we have very good experiences with having everything in one place.

Is there any aspect you are especially proud of and would like to share about?

The Drogenberatung itself has been running, as I said, for about 50 years already. We started with opiate substitution in the 80s and we have a really good network in Bielefeld that is run by the Drogenberatung. I think what makes us special is that we are a really good networker. We have networks with prisons, with doctors, with people from almost every community. That is something we really benefit from as an organisation.

We have a really good network around Germany as well, we also keep in contact with other organizations which are not in or around Bielefeld. That’s how we got in contact with the European Harm Reduction Network, for instance.

Why do you find it relevant to be part of the Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network?

Our motivation to join the network was that we noticed that networking is everything, especially in fields of work where you don’t have that many organizations or structures you can rely on. I think that is something that the harm reduction network provides, to seek information and talk to people who have the same struggles as you do. That is something I look forward to.

I’m excited about meeting everyone else and getting in contact because it’s on us. In Germany, we have a far-right party that did well in state elections last year and we see that our work is getting politically and therefore financially under pressure. I think that is something that a good network can help you to endure.

What does harm reduction mean to you?

Harm reduction is the basic pillar of our work because if we can’t reduce harm, people endanger themselves. Harm reduction is the first thing that needs to happen for people to get more options. Harm reduction is the first step, not only when we look at the population in Bielefeld, but also if we look into prisons and other settings. It is the first step of everything.

Recording – City Report Launch | Civil Society Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe

The video is the recording of the report launch webinar that took place on Tuesday, 9th April 2024.

The City Reports are the final segment of Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN)’s Civil Society-led Monitoring of Harm Reduction 2023 Data Report. These concise harm reduction ‘case studies’ highlight either innovative practices or urgent issues demanding immediate attention in five different European cities. The reports will serve as advocacy tools to engage decision makers at all levels, either by showcasing best practices or as an urgent call to action.

Panellists:

 

Following a new format, Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network’s Civil Society-led Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe 2023 Data Report is launched in 6 volumes: Hepatitis C Care, Essential Harm Reduction Services, New Drug Trends, Mental Health of Harm Reduction Staff, TEDI Reports and City Reports (Warsaw, Bălţi, Esch-sur-Alzette, London, Amsterdam). The Executive Summary can be accessed here.

Recording – Roundup Webinar | Civil Society Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe

 

The video is the recording of the webinar organised to celebrate the core publications for the C-EHRN Civil Society-led Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe that took place on the 7th of March.

The event brought together four volumes of the 2023 Data Report:


Moderator: Rafaela Rigoni (C-EHRN)

Speakers:
Iga Jeziorska (C-EHRN) – Essential Harm Reduction Services
Tuukka Tammi (THL) – Eliminating Hepatitis C in Europe
Daan van der Gouwe (Trimbos) – New Drug Trends
Guy Jones (TEDI) – Drug Checking Observations and European Drug Checking Trends via TEDI

 
Following a new format, Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network’s Civil Society-led Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe 2023 Data Report is launched in 6 volumes: Hepatitis C Care, Essential Harm Reduction Services, New Drug Trends, Mental Health of Harm Reduction Staff, TEDI Reports and City Reports (Warsaw, Bălţi, Esch-sur-Alzette, London, Amsterdam). The Executive Summary can be accessed here.

Essential Harm Reduction Services: Report on policy implementation for people who use drugs

In 2023, C-EHRN and its members assessed the state of essential harm reduction services in European cities for the fourth time as part of the Civil Society-led Monitoring of Harm Reduction In Europe, with 35 cities responding to our survey in 30 countries. You can now download the resulting publication, Essential Harm Reduction Services: Report on Policy Implementation for People Who Use Drugs, and read the interview with Iga Jeziorska, C-EHRN’s Senior Research Officer and the primary author below.

Which type of harm reduction services are most lacking in the cities that contributed to the report?

The ones that are not that well established are those not related to the prevention of infectious diseases as closely as needle and syringe programmes and are not aiming to minimise injecting use like opioid substitution treatment does. Namely, drug consumption rooms and drug checking are lacking in Europe overall the most. This underdevelopment of DRCs and drug checking may become a serious problem, especially in the context of the opioid crisis that we might be facing very soon.

Another problematic issue is harm reduction services in prison. Except for opioid agonist treatment (OAT), this is also an area where there are very big gaps in the service provision in terms of harm reduction. OAT is officially available in prison in most cities, but that doesn’t mean that it is easily accessible everywhere. We know that in Budapest, Hungary, for example, it is theoretically available, but there are no records of people using the service, and definitely not because there are no people who use opioids in prisons.

What would you highlight regarding the barriers in the outreach of harm reduction services based on the findings?

Funding, lack of political will and lack of or insufficient involvement of people who use drugs in services were reported as the main barriers to reaching out to specific subgroups of people who use drugs. Of course, all of these aspects are related to one another. Funding is an evergreen topic which is always there, and the lack of or insufficient funding is a direct consequence of the lack of political will. If there was political support for harm reduction, there would have been funding as well.

 

Are there any main differences in the availability, accessibility and quality of the services between the cities of the focal points?

On the one hand, we have opioid agonist treatment, needle distribution programs and all of the infectious diseases-related services, such as testing and treatment. These are well-developed in general in terms of availability, accessibility and quality.

On the other hand, there are some more innovative services that maybe, as I said before, are not that much connected, at least in the minds of the general public and the policymakers, with direct prevention of infectious diseases. These services that go beyond the ‘traditional’ harm reduction and focus primarily (but not exclusively) on overdose prevention are the drug consumption rooms (DCRs) and drug checking. These are in general more available in Western European countries. Snorting kits, kits for smoking, and fentanyl strips are also less available and accessible.

There are no DCRs in Central-Eastern Europe and Western Balkans. They are quite well developed as a network in Germany, Switzerland, Spain and maybe two other countries. In some countries, such as Greece or Portugal, there are one or two services. Drug checking is similar. There is a clear division between Central-Eastern Europe and Western Balkans on the one hand and Western Europe on the other,  in terms of service scope, service accessibility, low versus high threshold of various services, and the very service existence in the first place.

Harm reduction is chronically underfunded everywhere, but that means something different in the West and in Eastern-Central Europe and Western Balkans. In the East and Southeast, underfunded means that an insufficient number of services are operating or – in extreme cases – they are not funded for several months in a year because there are gaps between grants. Underfunded in the West seems to mean mostly that services don’t have enough funds to develop the offer, scale up activities and broaden their scope. We can also see that in the West, in general, services are more integrated into the health and social care systems, and in the East, they are more standing alone. One of the worrying phenomena that we observed this year, however, is the extremely low availability and accessibility of social integration services, such as housing, income generation and employment, and legal support. Furthermore, for the two latter types of services, we’ve observed significant deterioration in availability over the last couple of years.

We also know from the previous Monitoring edition that there are divisions between the urban and rural areas. Services are focused and concentrated in big cities, and they are lacking in the countryside. The question is also to what extent they are needed in the rural areas, as we also know that the concentration of people who use drugs is also in bigger cities. Some level of services is necessary in rural areas, but what level of availability and accessibility is necessary is something that would require additional assessment.

 

How do you think that harm reduction organizations can use the report? 

We are trying to follow the requests of the Focal Points in terms of the focus and to make our assessments address the topics that are important to people at any given moment.

When it comes to using the report in advocacy efforts, harm reduction organisations can use it to highlight cities and countries that can serve as good practice examples, like Bern or Amsterdam, with holistic, integrated services. The report is a general overview of the situation in Europe, and it can serve as a starting point in orienting oneself in what’s happening in different cities.

In the context of talking to policymakers, the report – in conjunction, for example, with the European Drug Strategy, which calls for scaling up harm reduction services – can help to showcase the gaps in harm reduction services at the city level compared to what is declared by a country or a city in official policy documents. This can potentially be quite a powerful tool in helping organisations in their advocacy efforts.

 

What do you think is the added value of civil society-led monitoring in comparison with other types of monitoring done by major agencies?

One of the added values is trust and the hands-on experience of our Focal Points, and the related kind and detail of the information collected. Civil society organisations are close to people who use drugs, and people who use drugs trust them enough to share honest information. For example, from the point of view of drug checking, this means that we can have very detailed information on how people use drugs, what drugs they use, in what contexts, etc. This is in sharp contrast, for example, to wastewater analysis that can tell us how much cocaine is in the wastewater but cannot provide information about the people who used it and the circumstances, if they used it at all.

For our monitoring, we collect data in a way that is contextualised. This is quite different from data collected, for example, by the national Reitox focal points that focus on the existence of services and perhaps the number of services.

On the other hand, when we ask to what extent particular types of services are available to specific communities and to what extent they are accessible, we implicitly include the element of the needs. That is this contextualisation of data that I mentioned, which includes additional information. For example, seven services existing in one city can mean something completely different than the same number of services in another city because the needs are different, and this is what we address with our monitoring. This is one of the main values of C-EHRN monitoring compared to other data.

Another point is focus on the city level. Most data is collected by European agencies and country governments is collected at the national level. Our data is collected at the city level, which is important primarily because the implementation of drug policies is done mostly at the local level in European countries.

We are also quite timely with our data. We are now at the beginning of 2024, and we are reporting on the data between 2022 and June 2023, a bit over one year of delay in reporting. This is also something that makes us different, less bureaucracy and resulting quicker data processing give us the possibility of being quicker with our reporting.

 

Would you pick one graph that you find significant and explain why it is relevant?

All of them are significant in their own way. What I would suggest is Figure 9 on service delivery for ageing people who use drugs, a category that we introduced last year.  Ageing people who use drugs are becoming a more and more significant group among the clients of harm reduction services all over Europe. The people for whom the first harm reduction services were established in the 1980s are ageing, and there is an increasingly recognised need for developing and adjusting services to their needs, which significantly differ from those of the other subgroups, and there hasn’t been sufficient focus on them so far.

Another question that we asked last year for the first time is the extent of involvement of people who use drugs in service governance, service implementation and evaluation. There are very few cities where people with living and lived experience are involved in the governance of services. They are involved in implementation and, to some lesser extent, in evaluation but not really in the governance of organisations and services. This is something that we need to keep monitoring. The debate about community involvement, community empowerment and community-led services is very lively across the continent, but we are still not there yet in terms of practice of harm reduction services functioning. We should keep a close eye on this and possibly combine the monitoring with capacity-building efforts to improve the involvement of people with lived and living experiences in services.

 

Following a new format, Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network’s Civil Society-led Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe 2023 Data Report is launched in 6 volumes: Hepatitis C Care, Essential Harm Reduction Services, New Drug Trends, Mental Health of Harm Reduction Staff, TEDI Reports and City Reports (Warsaw, Bălţi, Esch-sur-Alzette, London, Amsterdam). The Executive Summary can be accessed here.

SEMID-EU: Migration and access to (Harm Reduction) Services

Several risk factors expose migrants in Europe to high-risk drug use. These include traumatic experiences, disengagement with society, unemployment and poverty. Services and municipalities throughout the European Union are faced with the urgent challenge to address these migrants’ needs.

A better understanding of the needs of vulnerable migrants who use drugs could improve local responses throughout Europe. In the SEMID-EU project, coordinated by Mainline, seven partners across Europe worked to improve the (harm reduction) services access for migrants. This project focuses on filling knowledge and practice gaps in drug use and migration in Europe, aiming to improve the wellbeing of vulnerable migrants who use drugs by improving knowledge and understanding among policymakers and practitioners and strengthening capacities of healthcare and support services working with these groups.

C-EHRN created several resources for this project, including a Policy Brief and several Fact Sheets, which you can download below.
Find out more about the other activities and results of the project here.

SEMID-EU’s Findings on Migration, Homelessness and Drug Use in Amsterdam

On the 9th of November, a meeting organised by two SEMID-EU project partners, C-EHRN and Mainline, took place in Villa Buitenlust, Amsterdam with relevant local actors in the field of migration, homelessness and drug use. This gathering sought to address the multifaceted challenges encountered by migrants who use drugs and experience homelessness throughout Europe, with a specific focus on Amsterdam. The event aimed to share the findings and materials of the SEMID-EU project and prompt discussion on the situation in Amsterdam.

SEMID-EU is a project specifically designed to fill gaps in knowledge and practice on drug use in migrant populations. By gaining a better understanding of the needs of migrants who use drugs in Europe, it aims to improve policies and responses that affect these groups to increase their access to high-quality healthcare, drug treatment, harm reduction and (re)integration services. The focus of SEMID-EU has been on marginalised migrants, for whom institutional, structural, social and personal barriers stand in the way of the fulfilment of their basic human rights.

The key results at an Amsterdam level underlined the importance of collaboration between relevant stakeholders to support services for migrants who use drugs. In Amsterdam, homelessness is a big problem intra-European and Spanish-speaking migrants who use drugs are dealing with. Research conducted in SEMID-EU reveals the significant advantages individuals experience through drug consumption rooms, shelters and support services aimed at fulfilling their fundamental needs. However, the capacity of these services is sometimes too limited. For example, the occasional shelter does help but does not tackle the uncertainty and stress of homelessness. Without a safe and stable environment to sleep, long-term substance dependency aid (when requested) is impossible. Migrants who use drugs struggle to access (social) housing, employment, and healthcare services, and the need for insurance to access healthcare that depends on formal residence is an especially big issue.

Among the group of Maghreb Arabic-speaking refugees, there is a reported lack of support services available to help with procedures of migration, laws, drugs and drug dependency services, financial support and mental health services. However, the most prominent support services needed are mental health services, necessary to cope with the trauma that originated in their countries of origin and at refugee camps and are too often not offered.

Low-threshold (harm reduction) services serve as crucial connections for migrants who use drugs, acting as a gateway to other essential healthcare and support services. Nevertheless, these services need greater support from funding bodies due to their frequent capacity constraints. Within the discussion, there was a clear emphasis on the necessity for national cohesion in the Netherlands to adopt human-rights-centred responses to homelessness, ensuring adequate housing solutions for individuals in need.

Plenty of resources that can support the expansion of availability and quality of services for migrants who use drugs are going to be made available soon on both Mainline’s and Correlation’s websites. Of these, the following are already available:

SEMID-EU is coordinated by Mainline, an organisation based in Amsterdam whose mission is to improve the health and social position of people who use drugs, without primarily aiming to reduce drug use and out of respect for the freedom of choice and possibilities of the individual.

Other partners involved in the SEMID-EU project are Ghent University, ISGlobal – Barcelona Institute of Global Health, Positive Voice, Fixpunkt e.V., Gaïa Paris and C-EHRN.

One Year of War in Ukraine

One year ago, Russia launched Europe’s biggest war since WWII. The toll of human suffering has been staggering – thousands have been killed, and more than 8 million Ukrainians fled abroad. Its social, econonomic and health effects have been felt in nearly everyone’s life.

However, conflicts don’t impact all people equally. War and violence exacerbate structural inequalities and discrimination. This last year, people who use drugs and other marginalised communities in Europe have disproportionately experienced its negative consequences. Equally, harm reduction organisations have been put to the test.

On this day, we remember and mourn all the victims of Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine and pay tribute to Ukrainian’s resilience and courage. Equally, we join governments, institutions, organisations and individuals across the world in demanding the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russia from the territory of Ukraine.

Until this moment comes, we will continue to #StandWithUkraine and work with our members, partners and friends to ensure that the health, safety and livelihood needs of people who use drugs and other underserved communities are met.

Equality & Human Rights | The Core of Harm Reduction

Today is Human Rights Day. Every year on 10 December, Human Rights is observed worldwide, “to proclaim the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being.” As announced by the UN, the 2021 theme of the Day is EQUALITY – Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights.

COVID-19 has started to be referred to as the inequality virus in recent times. Since the beginning of the pandemic, pre-existing inequalities have been exposed and exacerbated. As a response, international awareness days this year have emphasised the political, social, cultural and economic importance of upholding equity and human rights with renewed strength. An example of this has been the focus of the recently endorsed international World AIDS Day. In alignment with the 2030 Agenda, which is rich in slowly-but-surely approaching elimination goals, including AIDS, HIV, and deep-rooted forms of discrimination.

Today’s Human Rights Day is a crucial and opportune moment for human rights and drug policy reform movements for at least two reasons. On the one hand, it affirms that the war on drugs continues to sustain abusive policing, over-incarceration, coercion and punishment globally. On the other, it highlights the profoundly unequal outcomes of such repressive drug policies.

To mark Human Rights Day, the IDPC has shared its open letter to Ms Ghada Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, with a call to reform drug policies that entrench inequality. The letter “issues a strong statement on International Human Rights Day, calling on states to change the drug laws, policies and practices that violate health and human rights, and entrench inequality.” Please read the letter and ask your organisation to sign.

However, before you decide to sign such a letter, perhaps you would like to inform yourself more in-depth about current discussions on decriminalisation policies? During the 5th European Harm Reduction Conference 2021, EHRC21, we had a lively session titled “Drug policy: decriminalisation – the next logical step for Europe?” in which we discussed what you might be asking yourself now. What are the arguments for decriminalisation? If criminalisation can improve public health and human rights drastically, what are some of the complex and challenging questions that remain? You can watch it here. 

Also, remember to check the session titled “Mainstreaming Human Rights & Evidence-based Law Enforcement”. This EHRC21 session could also be a valuable look-back since in here essential discussions took place regarding the role that law enforcement agencies ought to have in addressing the needs of people who use drugs. Please watch it here. 

Today also marks the end of the #16DayActivism Challenge, which started on the International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women. The joint action by the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) and the Women and Harm Reduction International Network (WHRIN), addressing violence, stigma, and discrimination against women who use drugs, shares its concluding remarks today, on Human Rights Day. Please read them here. 

Finally, today we are also launching the C-EHRN Podcast Series. To kick off our long-awaited podcast series’ idea, we held roundtable sessions during the EHRC21, talking to harm reductionists on several topics. We happily and excitedly present you with the first episode of the series about Human Rights.

For this session, we had four guests; Irena Molnar of ReGeneration, Machteld Busz of MainLINE, Sabrina Sanchez of ESWA and Aura Roig of Metzineres; four strong women representing the core of their work with boldness, kindness, sincerity and fire.
“We are the ones that avoid talking about human rights. Instead, we legitimise our services from a social control point of view. We need to break this cycle and indicate that we do our work for the health and well-being of the people.” said Aura Roig. 

Would you agree? Do we tend to forget that everything we do is in the name of equal human rights?
Listen to the podcast here and share your opinion with us.

Harm Reduction @Work: What a blast #EHRC21 was!

One of the participants shared her feelings after #EHRC21 with the phrase; the better the high, the bigger the comedown. We have waited long enough to have such a get-together, and it was a blast.

The Conference had a record number of participants. Over 400 people from 43 countries, including people from outside Europe such as the USA, Russia, Canada, and Lebanon, gathered in Prague from the 10th to the 12th of November. Overcoming the difficulties posed by the COVID19 pandemic, harm reductionists remained upbeat until the last minute. Even participants from afar continents like Australia, Africa, South America and Central Asia were hoping they could travel, until the very last minute. Staying positive is a trait we all share in the field of Harm Reduction, after all. To enable a wider audience, we also live-streamed some of the sessions with over 150 viewers.

The sessions were chaired by 28 representatives of organisations from across Europe. There were 116 speakers covering extensively urgent and current topics in the human rights movement of people who use drugs, sex workers, people experiencing homelessness and other marginalised communities. Just to name some. The biggest downer during the Conference was having to choose what to attend during parallel sessions because everything was equally exciting. 

Apologies for all the statistics but is this not absolutely incredible that the Conference thrived in such a fashion? So here comes a toast to all harm reductionists in the world.

You rock! Harm Reduction goes on!

..

Could you not attend for whatever reason?
See below ideas on how you can do a thorough follow-up:

The online discussions during the conference can be tracked down in social media with the hashtags #HRAtWork and #EHRC21, in case of arousal of curiosity 🙂

We are now busy uploading all shareable online. In the meantime, HERE are images from the Conference and HERE is the video teaser from the Conference done by the amazing Drug Reporter foundation.

Last, but not least important, either subscribe to our newsletter to not miss out on the news or follow us on social media via @CorrelationNet.

We would like to wholeheartedly thank all the Conference partners, chairs partners, speakers and participants for their time, energy and support in making the #EHRC21 memorable. Together, we will move the unmovable.

Zachte Landing Project: More than a return ticket and a farewell

We talked to Ewa Wielgat about the “Zachte Landing” Project and the T6 shelter, funded by the City of Amsterdam. Ewa is one of the social workers at AMOC, a drop-in centre managed by De Regenboog Groep.

T6 is a 24/7 shelter for people experiencing homelessness, some of whom are EU migrants. In the T6 shelter, clients can stay up to one year, which allows them to stabilise, recover from the stressful life on the streets and get themselves organised. Later, “Zachte Landing” completes the cycle by assisting EU migrants, without legal documents, insurance and work, with a safe and trustful passage to life in their home country if they are willing to return.

Their many clients deal with a broad range of problems (e.g. (mental) health problems, homelessness, extensive drug or alcohol use, lack of social contacts in the home country). Therefore, they need on-site support services, including medical or drug treatment, housing, mental health services and work integration.

Current Project partners are situated in Poland and Romania, as most of the clients at AMOC come from these countries. Ewa and her colleague are case managers, assisting the clients in their language. In addition, the case managers develop different steps and support services in cooperation with their partners in the respective countries.
Ewa says that they have already supported the return of several clients to their home country. They stay in contact and follow up on their development from here.

“Zachte Landing” builds on the idea that people can take responsibility for their lives. However, it also acknowledges the need for a stable and safe environment (e.g. housing, treatment) to motivate the clients in their decision-making.
The service provided by “Zachte Landing” certainly is more than buying a return ticket and sending clients to the unknown but guaranteeing them an assuring start and with care, support and empathy, boosting their confidence to try.
Although the project will end soon, Ewa is optimistic. The preliminary results of the project are promising. The integrated harm reduction approach works are empowering and show the positive impact of a stable and safe environment for the well-being of individuals and the recovery of people in vulnerable situations.

Projects such as “Zachte Landing” put the individual in the centre and treat them with respect and dignity. Something which everyone deserves. We hope to hear more about such projects and initiatives.

Please feel free to contact C-EHRN with your news.
We would happily support your efforts at our best.