Sharon Stancliff & Bill Matthews, HRC Staff 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 essentials of preventing opioid overdose deaths including prevention, recognition, and action. Participants will receive a certificate as a Trained Overdose Responder, and become qualified to train heroin or opioid users and colleagues at their own facilities on how to prevent an overdose. Participants will learn how to implement a NYS DOH-approved program with support from the Harm Reduction Coalition. * People that have been abstinent from opioids for a period of time due to events such as incarceration are at high risk of overdose

Doreen Bermudez, HRC Consultant Sponsored by ACRIA & SAGE Adults 50 and over account for 27% of the U.S. population with HIV. The HIV epidemic is graying as a result of advances in treatment, and lack of adequate information directed to older adults. SAGE, in collaboration with the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA), offers a free, first-in-the-nation, HIV training for staff and peer leaders working with older adults, including community centers, health care settings, senior centers, libraries, and other locations. This free, ½ day training will cover: issues of stigma, how to talk to older adults about sex, understanding HIV treatment, & HIV prevention.

Narelle Ellendon, HRC Staff & Emma Roberts, HRC Consultant Syringe access is a vital intervention for people who inject drugs in order to prevent infection of HIV and Hepatitis. One of the most significant barriers for drug users accessing syringe services, carrying sufficient sterile syringes to meet their injecting needs, and returning used syringes to appropriate disposal facilities is fear of poor interactions with law enforcement. This training is for service providers who work with people that inject drugs to explore strategies and resources to improve relationships with law enforcement. This interactive workshop will explore the issues for injecting drug users, service providers, and police. We will discuss how we can support participants to successfully advocate for themselves when approached by police officers and how we can build collaborative relationships with law enforcement.

Working in Harm Reduction is not without its stresses, because of intense client contact, unusual working conditions, on-the-job pressures, grief and loss, and other reasons. Being able to give to ourselves, and then to each other as co-workers, is essential in engendering emotional and mental health. In this workshop we identify good sources of renewal, and learn self-hypnosis as a tool for change. Group hypnosis is also offered, with great suggestions for relaxation, self-appreciation, and renewal. Through lecture, discussion, small group work, and exercises we explore methods for avoiding burnout in the first place, bouncing back from burnout, building stress-reduction into our workday and into our leisure time. We explore interactions which could have gone better from our work-life, and actually bring healing energy to our own past, letting it move forward nourishing us in the present and setting new healthy patterns for the future. At the end of this workshop we will feel that we've had a nice vacation, in a way, and things will get easier for us.

Laura McTighe, HRC Consultant HIV and imprisonment are connected – in the lives of the one-in-four people with HIV who will pass through correctional facilities this year, and in the very fabric of our communities. This day-long training is designed for service providers and advocates who have found themselves at the complex intersection of HIV and imprisonment, and want to deepen their skills for working towards community healing in a time of mass imprisonment. Through an interactive presentation of the history of imprisonment and the AIDS epidemic in the United States, we will explore 1) the spectrum of HIV prevention, treatment and care behind the walls; 2) the specific policies that restrict individuals’ abilities to get the support they need upon release from prison; and 3) practical steps for nurturing individuals’ resilience and resistance as they recover from imprisonment and build towards long-term stability.

Sam Rivera, HRC Consultant This training will outline issues surrounding the process of re-entry by providing information and tools on how to support men and women who are transitioning from prison to local communities. This training will focus on many areas of concern for direct service providers such as health, employment, substance use, programs and services. Part of the training will also discuss criminal justice issues as they pertain to former prisoners’ criminal justice involvement and parole. In addition, participants will examine concerns associated with family life, attitudes, and expectations of individuals and communities in former prisoners’ lives.