ID: HR19-545

Presenting author: Sarah Hiley

Presenting author biography:

Sarah has worked in Harm Reduction for 17 years, having accidently fallen into it when working in homeless services . She's worked in UK, New Zealand and Australia and is the only person to have worked in all Supervised Injecting facilities in the Southern Hemisphere (addit there are only two)

Observations on how injecting drug use is influenced

Sarah Hiley, Marianne Jauncey, Nico Clark, Kasey Elmore, David Pemberton

Issue – The act of injecting is a very individualistic process. However what are the influences that shape who injects, what is injected or how it is injected?

Setting – The Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) in Melbourne, Australia is a recently opened supervised Injecting Facility (SIF). The Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) is a well-established SIF of seventeen years. Both are based in Australia but are about 880 kilometres apart from each other. Both are in unique positions to be able to ask people about their injecting drug use, to observe processes of injection and identify trends and styles that are unique to the area they are based in. Although both have similar client profiles there are distinct differences in the who, the what and the how of injecting.

Project – This presentation is a reflection by a worker who has joined the recently opened Melbourne SIF having worked at the Sydney SIF for ten years. The presentation examines the similarities in the injecting profiles as well as looking at the differences and what factors may have influenced these differences. This will include availability, resources and the cultural make up of areas. The presentation will also outline how each SIF tailor their harm reduction approaches to the specific differences experienced in their services.

Outcome – Merely opening a Supervised Injecting facility in an area is not enough. Staff need to understand the specific needs of people who inject drugs in that area and tailor their service to support and respond to the people who use the service. Taking time to understand the needs and how to respond appropriately is the first step.