“Meet people where they are” is a saying/phrase/mantra in the harm reduction community. This mantra encompasses everything that I love about the harm reduction movement and philosophy. If you haven’t heard the term harm reduction before, it is a philosophy that:

• Reduces harm associated with high-risk behaviors to improve quality of life.
• Involves many programs, policies, and practices.
• Celebrates the value of incremental gains.
• Embraces dignity, compassion, and hope.
• Looks different for each individual. 

In this edition of our newsletter, we are highlighting the work we are doing around the overdose crisis. If you would like to learn more about this work, please attend one of our clergy breakfasts or check out the “Go Unbind Him” Sunday School Guide. We look forward to working together to end the overdose crisis and enact a more compassionate response to substance use.

- Elizabeth Brewington, Overdose Response Program Coordinator 

Olive Branch Ministry is a faith-based harm reduction agency covering nine counties in the foothills and piedmont of North Carolina. The ministry was founded by Michelle Mathis and her wife, Karen Lowe, in 2009. Michelle and Karen began this ministry as a safe, nonjudgmental community welcome to all. This work has been a key focus of their lives, but they began it while still holding full-time jobs --  in Michelle's words, they "worked nine to five to pay for their five to nine." We spoke with Michelle to learn more about how this calling became their full-time work: 

“In the fall of 2017, I heard a story on NPR coming home from work one day about an overdose response team working out of Rhode Island called Anchor ED [Emergency Department]. It was a direct-response team so if someone overdosed, there were peer supports who went to the emergency room and sat with that individual and worked to give them linked care --  'care' being harm reduction or abstinence-based, whatever the person needed.

I emailed my bosses that night and went to them the next day -- I worked in hospital administration -- and said, ‘I think we can do this, what do you think?’ They knew my passion for harm reduction, and the hospital was beginning to address the overdose crisis, so they said, ‘Get a group together and let’s meet.’ So we formed a group, we met, we planned, and in January, we got everything taken care of and worked out, and the local LME [Local Management Entity] offered Olive Branch the contract to start the Overdose Response Team. My wife and I talked about it, and we decided it’s what we wanted to do, so I quit my job and started at Olive Branch full-time. Three to four months later there was another contract offered that allowed my wife to come work for us full-time, so she quit her job and now we have been doing this full-time since 2018.”

Michelle is not only the co-founder and  executive director of Olive Branch Ministry, but also chair of the NC Harm Reduction Coalition Board, and serves on the Leadership Advisory Team for National Faith in Harm Reduction. Although Michelle is directly involved in this work through Olive Branch's syringe exchange and outreach work, she mentioned that involvement is different for everyone:

"We have a program called Hooking for Hope making hats and scarves for people experiencing homelessness, and making medical bags for people at nursing homes to hang on their wheelchair and carry around with them. We got to talking one night about doing it for naloxone [an overdose reversal drug].

The ladies in this group [Hooking for Hope] are in their sixties, seventies, and eighties, and don’t have any desire to interact with people who use drugs, but they were willing to make the bags for us because they knew it was lifesaving. That shows the importance of meeting people where they are, not just people who use drugs, but also people who want to help, and understanding that not everyone who wants to be involved will want to be at the same level. Every time we see the ladies with Hooking for Hope, they’ll ask us how things are going and if the bags they made are saving lives. They learned about the overdose crisis and naloxone in a way that they feel safe, and that’s one of the biggest conversations we have with faith communities. We don’t expect you to run a syringe-access program out of your church, but there are things you can do to participate in harm reduction as an organization of faith that will make your congregation comfortable while still making a difference.”