Quietly, while we have been immersed in adapting our work for COVID,

HRTC turned 20 in August. 

 20 years ago, Patt and Jeannie came together after years of creating harm reduction therapy in the early days of the HIV epidemic and during the explosion of homelessness in the U.S. They wanted to build a program where people could truly “COME AS YOU ARE” with no barriers to clients and no bureaucracy for staff to navigate. We built it, and they came, beyond our wildest dreams. Now we have a beautiful staff of 20, connections with hundreds of people who use drugs – from the streets where people are met with cold and stigma to the homes of people who suffer out of the public eye.

Our secret? Warmth, compassion, absolute acceptance of how people choose to live and cope, deep interest in what motivates people to use drugs, and curiosity to learn about other parts of their lives, hopes and dreams. People are not the drugs they use!

Our accomplishments in the last 20 years are so many – creating spaces for harm reduction therapy in neighborhoods all over SF, intensively training almost 50 therapists in our 2-year training program, writing books and articles, teaching and inspiring people in other cities and other parts of the world to practice harm reduction therapy. And in 2020, we are proving yet again, during COVID, that we can adapt quickly and gracefully to meet people who use drugs where they are at. Click here for more HRTC News:  December 2020 Newsletter