New York City Spring 2007 Training Calendar

Note: It is strongly recommended that all participants have taken the Overview of Harm Reduction course before taking any other courses offered on this calendar.

Free AIDS Institute Trainings - Register online (AI Trainings only)

Training Site:
Harm Reduction Training Institute
22 West 27th Street, 5th Floor
New York, New York 10001
Tel: 212-683-2334

Complimentary continental breakfast served at full day and morning trainings, lite snack served at afternoon trainings.

The trainings offered in this calendar are also available on a consultant basis for your agency. If you are interested in bringing any of the workshops from this calendar (or other need-specific trainings) to your agency, please contact Rebecca Stryjewski, HRTI Training Coordinator, at 212-683-2334x18, or stryjewski@harmreduction.org for details and fees.

Discounts: • Students: half-day courses = $15; full-day courses = $25 • HRC Members: $5 off all courses

Refund and Cancellation Policies: HRTI reserves the right to cancel any training/workshop should there be an emergency, and to substitute the trainer/presenter. Should we cancel, all registrants will receive a credit for a future training. Notice of participant cancellation must be received prior to the training date. No refunds will be made under any circumstances. Credits for unattended trainings will no longer be issued.

Course Fees: Half day-$40, full day-$60

Registration Form

HRTI offers two kinds of workshops:

Training Workshops are skills-based and are designed to promote practical skills, facilitate rapid applications in direct practice, and to transfer cutting-edge technologies in working with drug users.

Educational Workshops are knowledge-based and are designed to promote new ways of understanding an issue related to drug-related harm, present new research findings on a topic area, and to enhance critical thinking about contemporary social problems.

Integrating Hepatitis C for Outreach & Peer Programs

April 11, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Narelle Ellendon, HCV Director, The Hepatitis C Harm Reduction Project, Harm Reduction Coalition
Annie Bandes, Hep C Specialist, The Hepatitis C Harm Reduction Project, Harm Reduction Coalition
Angel Torres, Engagement Counselor, Odyssey House
Course Fee: Free!
This training is designed for supervisors and trainers of peers
This training is geared towards supervisors or other staff who conduct trainings for peer educators and outreach workers who work with drug users in harm reduction programs, drug treatment, correctional health, HIV services or other community-based services. The Frontline Hepatitis Training curriculum is designed to help peers working with active or former drug users to integrate Hepatitis C into their work. This Train the Trainer will enable staff to incorporate this interactive HCV Peer Outreach training into their existing programs to enhance outreach activities provided to participants affected by Hepatitis C.

Overview of Harm Reduction

April 12, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Juanita Lopez, HRTI Trainer
Course Fee: $60.00
CASAC credits available for this course.
Harm Reduction is a set of practical strategies that reduce negative consequences of drug use and improve the quality of the client’s life. The harm reduction approach incorporates a spectrum of strategies including safer use, managed use and abstinence. This approach helps providers to effectively meet their clients “where they’re at.” Participants who attend this training will: understand the principals of harm reduction, participate in activities designed to assist them in exploring attitudes and beliefs about harm reduction, and develop practical skills and interventions that can be used in their work with substance users.

Got Syringes?

April 17, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-1:15 PM
Anna Benyo, Syringe Access Policy Coordinator, Harm Reduction Coalition
Course Fee: Free!
This training is designed for program directors and/or executive staff
Become an org nization that provides one of the most effective, scientifically proven methods of preventing HIV. Access to sterile syringes is one of the most effective, evidence-based interventions to curb the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and other blood borne illness. Syringe access programs have won the hearts and minds of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden. The New York City and State Health Departments actively support starting new syringe access programs! In this interactive training, learn how to become a community syringe access provider and incorporate a range of health services for injection drug users. Training participants will learn: the latest research on the effectiveness of syringe access programs; New York State regulations and policies on syringe access; how to furnish syringes and offer safe disposal in your organizations, including program models for housing facilities, AIDS service organizations and health clinics; where to refer clients for sterile syringes, safe disposal, and other injection drug user health resources.

African Americans & Harm Reduction

April 24, 2007 · Course Time: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
African American Capacity Building Initiative, Harm Reduction Coalition
Course Fee: Free!
The goal of this training is to provide participants with a context in which harm reduction can be applied to African American communities. At the conclusion of this training, participants will have a working definition of harm reduction and gain a basic understanding of the context in which harm reduction has been developed and implemented in the United States. Participants will also be able to outline some of the influencing factors that impact African Americans’ engagement in high-risk sexual and drug-use behaviors and discuss how they can apply harm reduction techniques and/or strategies in their agencies.

Integrando La Hepatitis C para Alcance Comunitario y Programas de Peers

26 Abril, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Paula Santiago, Harm Reduction Coalition
Course Fee: Gratis!
Este curso está diseñado por trabajadores de Alcance Comunitario y entrenadores de peers
Este entrenamiento, en español, está adaptado para supervisores y personal que facilitan entrenamientos para personas que trabajan con los usuarios de droga en programas de reducción de daños, centros de rehabilitaciones de drogas, centros de salud correccionales, y servicios del VIH u otros servicios basados en la comunidad. El curriculo del entrenamiento, Integrando La Hepatitis C para Alcance Comunitario y Programas de Peers, está diseñado para ayudar a los que trabajan con los usuarios de droga activos y los no activos, a integrar la hepatitis C dentro de su trabajo. Este concepto de entrenar al entrenador permitirá al personal incorporar el entrenamiento interactivo para los trabajadores de alcance comunitario dentros de sus programas existentes. Tambien, funcionará para realizar las actividades de los trabajodores de alcance comunitario que proporcionan a los participantes que estan afectados por la hepatitis C.

Opiate Overdose--Build Your Skills and Knowledge--Get the SKOOP!

May 1, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-1:15 PM
Sharon Stancliff, M.D., Medical Director, Harm Reduction Coalition
Course Fee: Free!
CASAC credits available for this course.
Heroin (and other opioid) overdoses are a common cause of death among users, yet these deaths are often preventable through education, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and when possible, through the administration of naloxone (Narcan). In this workshop, participants will start by learning the basics of preventing opioid overdose deaths including prevention, recognition, and action. Overdose with other substances will also be addressed. After mastering the basics, the knowledge will be expanded upon so that participants will be qualified to train heroin users at their own facilities. Models of developing overdose prevention programs in different settings will be discussed.

Bridging the Gap Between Risky Behaviors & Current Prevention Techniques

May 2, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Marcia Bisgyer, Executive Director, Safety Works
Course Fee: $60.00
The goal of this training is to provide participants with everything they need to know about prevention with at-risk populations. Providers will be brought up to speed regarding current information about blood borne pathogens and STIs, and what prevention messages providers are using to reduce harm in their clients’ lives. Current state of the art techniques for prevention and outreach will be presented through examples, group skills building and role-playing. Participants will learn about practical ways to get prevention messages out as creatively as possible in ways that work for each provider’s programs, and for various client populations.

Mental Health & Harm Reduction

May 3, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Andrew Hamid, Ph.D., ACSW, CASAC, Adjunct Professor, Columbia University School of Social Work
Course Fee: $60.00
Designed primarily for service providers without formal mental health training, this educational workshop will provide and overview of mental health issues and their related categories, symptomology, and common medications. While the workshop content is NOT intended to bestow participants with professional diagnostic capabilities, case examples highlighting realistic expectations and effective responses will be discussed, with particular attention to MICA clients in context of harm reduction.

Now Let's Begin: Harm Reduction Program Implementation

May 15, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Pam Lynch, HRTI Trainer
Course Fee: $60.00
Evidence of the efficacy of syringe exchange, overdose prevention and other harm reduction interventions continues to mount. Changes in HIV funding, and the political climate have brought glaring clarity to the importance of prevention and harm reduction programming. Harm reduction is a new approach to zero tolerance and abstinence only programming. This full day workshop provides an overview of the tools and skills necessary to incorporate harm reduction into pre-existing settings.

Evaluating Harm Reduction Programs

May 17, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Marion Riedel, Ph.D., C.S.W., Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia University School of Social Work
Course Fee: $60.00
Evaluating Harm Reduction Programs will first present basic program evaluation ideas and approaches. This training will then approach the adaptation of traditional evaluation methods to programs that use harm reduction methods. The notions of harm reduction treatment plans, evaluation tools, program design and critical evaluation components will all be discussed. Strategies for translating these principles into evaluation plans will be discussed and a small work group design will facilitate learning while participants work with peers to begin an evaluation design for their own program. This workshop will offer small group design, case examples and peer feedback as methods to incorporate new skills learned.

Religion, Spirituality & HIV Prevention

May 18, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Jagadisa-devasri Dacus, Director, AACBI, Harm Reduction Coalition
Stacey Latimer, CBA Specialist, AACBI, Harm Reduction Coalition
Course Fee: Free!
The goals of this training are to increase participants’ awareness of how their religious beliefs impact their HIV prevention work. Specifically, participants will talk about ways they can work with clients and simultaneously maintain their religious and spiritual integrity. At the conclusion of this training, participants will be able to define religion, spirituality, and religious and spiritual integrity; identify their personal values and attitudes regarding sex, sexuality, and drug use; list at least three (3) ways that service providers’ religious and spiritual beliefs can both positively and negatively impact HIV prevention work; and, develop individual strategies to maintain a balance between their religious and spiritual integrity and providing professional, client-centered HIV prevention.

Motivational Interviewing

May 31, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Marion Riedel, Ph.D., C.S.W., Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia University School of Social Work
Course Fee: $60.00
CASAC credits available for this course.
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a collaborative approach to drug use counseling that helps the client develop a schema about the positive and negative effects of drug use which facilitates readiness for treatment and drug use reduction and/or cessation. Participants will learn MI techniques such as reflective listening, delivering feedback, summarizing, decisional balancing, and developing change plans. Strategies for translating MI principals in action will be discussed (e.g. expressing empathy, developing discrepancy, avoiding argument, and dealing with resistance). This session will also focus on the use of client ambivalence in the counseling process and strategies for increasing client motivation, self-efficacy and optimism. This workshop will utilize case examples, role-plays, and peer feedback as methods to incorporate new skills learned.

Overview of Cultural Competency & Harm Reduction Practices

June 5, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Imani Henry, HRTI Trainer
Course Fee: $60.00
How do you build on what you already have as a provider or agency, and work to obtain greater funding? By understanding how marginalized communities experience barriers to care, how ethical harm reduction strategies can improve services, and by showing that you and your agency are becoming more expansive with the populations you are serving. This training will provide an overview for providers who want to diversify their outreach programs and develop their programs to work with marginalized communitites including LGBT, homeless, formerly homeless, adolescents and youth, immigrants, women, street populations, etc. Participants will discuss the systematic oppression and political movements of those communities to better understand why there is always a need to improve one’s cultural competency in the social services field.

Same-Sex Domestic Violence

June 14, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-1:15 PM
Stephen McFadden, LCSW, Private Practice and Consultation
Course Fee: $40.00
Same-sex couples experiences domestic violence at the same rate as heterosexual couples. In this training, we will discuss methods of identifying and addressing LGBT individuals and couples where domestic violence may be present. We will look at the question of what differentiates domestic violence in LGBT couples from heterosexual couples, and how issues of power and control get played out when gender is not the primary difference. The presenter will draw upon the experience of working with same-sex batterers in the Seeking Non-violent Alternatives Project (SNAP), a batterers’ intervention program, sponsored by the NYC Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.

HIV Meds & Street Drugs

June 15, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-1:15 PM
Mark Kinzly, HRTI Trainer
Course Fee: $40.00
In this current “abstinence only” culture, there has been minimal research conducted on how street drugs and HIV medications interact. This half-day course will take an honest look at how ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines can potentially have a negative interaction with HIV/AIDS medications. This course is a must for HIV/AIDS case managers!

Crystal Methamphetamine: Pharmacology, Patterns of Use & Harm Reduction Strategies

June 20, 2007 · Course Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Christopher Murray, LMSW, Counselor, LGBT Community Center
Course Fee: $60.00
CASAC credits have been applied for this course.
This training will provide an overview of the pharmacology of crystal meth (also known as “speed” and “tina.”) We will: discuss the stimulant properties of crystal meth, describe the modes of administration (snorting, smoking, “slamming”/injecting) and explore the harms associated with each of these. The effects of crystal intoxication (“tweaking”) and withdrawal effects (“crashing”) will be described in order to help providers intervene appropriately along this continuum with active users who are tweaking, dealing with paranoia, or experiencing Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (managing depression and sleep disorder). We will also discuss potential risk factors impacting the lives of active users, and learn harm reduction strategies to working with active users.