Advice/Experience Working in a Harm Reduction Center?

[Gratuitous Grace]

I have the opportunity to start working (perhaps on a volunteer basis at the beginning) at a harm reduction center in Brooklyn. They offer the whole spectrum of services -- from counseling to medical to education/outreach to needle exchange. Anyone here ever done that sort of thing before? (I'm assuming yes!) What can you tell me about it? Enjoyable, stressful, rewarding, depressing, etc.? I do have years of experience working with the homeless and other under-served populations in NYC, so I don't think this will be *too* unnerving(?) Thanks for any insight!

 

[Bob Loblaw]

E and C

 

[Tude]

I have never done anything like that before. It doesn't seem like you have anything to lose, so go for it! You won't know until you try.

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Yes, even if you start out as a volunteer. I started in the nonprofit industry as an unpaid intern for a semester. In fact, here it is over a year later and I still work for the same agency.

I think it will be a valuable and worthwhile experience. Do you have a bachelor's degree? These types of experiences can often lead to full-time with benefits big boy jobs. It is a way to get in the door without having the education credentials often asked for in the job listings.

There's a book called Righteous Dopefiend written by Philippe Bourgois. The author is a cultural anthropologist who spent the better part of a decade researching homeless heroin addicts on the west coast. I suggest you read it.

 

[Gratuitous Grace]

Yes, even if you start out as a volunteer. I started in the nonprofit industry as an unpaid intern for a semester. In fact, here it is over a year later and I still work for the same agency.

I think it will be a valuable and worthwhile experience. Do you have a bachelor's degree?

Yes. Actually I have a JD ... getting another advanced degree, though. Career-changer here! What you're talking about is what I had in mind, actually. Volunteering for a while or maybe doing an academic internship for a semester would be perfect.

These types of experiences can often lead to full-time with benefits big boy jobs. It is a way to get in the door without having the education credentials often asked for in the job listings.

Ah, benefits ... I remember those! LOL!

Right. It seems like most of things I'm interested in pursuing ask for an MSW or related experience. Since I don't have an MSW, related experience it must be.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts so far. I'm going to start the process!