Step by step

Preparing for work with children and young people who inject drugs.

Globally, the protection and care of children and young people who inject drugs receives little attention. It is a controversial and often misunderstood issue and one that is severely underfunded. Young people report experiencing significant barriers to accessing harm reduction services when they are under 18 due to a number of factors, including staff attitudes and organisational policies and practices.

This resource is intended for harm reduction service providers with limited experience of working with children and young people who inject drugs. It sets out a process that you can go through quickly, with little cost, to prepare for work with children and young people who are under 18. It is designed to help your organisation and staff to feel safe in commencing this work, and to support you in thinking through the challenging situations and decisions that you face. In some cases, it may lead you to decide that you are not yet ready to go ahead with this work.

This tool is a product of a partnership between Harm Reduction International (HRI), Youth Rise, International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Save the Children

Sbs fact

Step by step: Policy document template

Download this document to fill in as you work through the guide.

This article was written as the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, before we changed our name to Frontline AIDS.