Overdose Awareness Day is Aug 31 but people are dying every day. Donate to Save Lives
About Gary Harm Reduction
Gary Harm Reduction is a grassroots organization founded in 2020, providing low-barrier Narcan; advocacy for substance users and people in recovery; and education on overdose prevention for all of Northwest Indiana (NWI). This group is entirely volunteer-led and consists of people with lived experience. As the adage goes, "Nihil de nobis, sine nobis" Nothing about us without us.
GHR is run by volunteers using their own transportation, money, time and connections to get Narcan and overdose prevention education into the hands of those who need it. We have distributed over 5,000 Narcan kits and have self-reports of 100 overdoses reversed by using the supplies distributed by our volunteers.
What is Harm Reduction Anyway?
Harm reduction refers to policies, programs and practices that aim to minimize the negative health, social and legal impacts associated with drug use, drug policies and drug laws.
Harm reduction is grounded in justice and human rights and focuses on working with people without judgement, coercion, discrimination, or requiring that people stop using drugs as a precondition of support.
Harm reduction incorporates a spectrum of strategies that includes safer use, managed use, abstinence, meeting people who use drugs “where they’re at,” and addressing conditions of use along with the use itself.
Ultimately, harm reduction prevents injection-related disease transmission, improves the lives of people who use drugs and, most importantly reduces opioid overdose deaths.
Meet the Founder of GHR: Kristen Martin
Kristen Martin, is Founder and Executive Director of Gary Harm Reduction and graduate of Indiana University Masters Program in Social Work. She is in recovery from opioid use disorder and most of the people she loves are drug users, also in recovery or are no longer with us having lost the battle against their disease.
Kristen moved back to Gary, Indiana after college and was appalled by the lack of harm reduction services available in Lake County and the greater northwest Indiana region. She reached out to social service providers to find Narcan for her patients and loved ones but found that there was no way to easily access this life saving medication, especially for active drug users. Determined to create change, she founded Gary Harm Reduction.
Help Us Save Lives
Your support and contribution will enable us to provide education, resources and NARCAN to those in need.
