Harm Reduction Therapy Center – San Francisco

Awesom.\n E staff laid back good food breakfast. Normally Monday through Thursday Fridays typically some kind of pasta or meat dish crows, especially awesome. If you need to talk treats to take with you, candy or chips,… Play Sura practice with Pizza the other day. Just all around awesome community can charge your phone at bathroom, no shower coffee tea, art. Section where you can paint and draw your underneath some computers Couches, where you can take a nap, big chairs comfy, limit, refrigerator sink, and let's not forget the dog bowl with water and treats for your pup.

Absolutely hate that they send their crew out here every Friday around 11 AM. They have people making so much noise in front of my home. I work and don’t get off until the early morning. I’m interrupted every Friday… because they have these folks out here in line and are not managing noise control. They are right in front of my home making a whole bunch of noise. I’ve asked them multiple times to quiet down. I tried calling this place and no one ever answers the phone because it always goes straight to voicemail. You leave a voicemail and no one ever calls you back. Get it together!

if you're at the shelter nearby, this is a nice space to hang out in for a bit (10am-1pm, weekdays, except tuesday), just to get your mind away and focus on moving on. Great music, coffee, tea, etc. to start the day off… good. The first worker i met is truly caring: Nathan. i think it's intended for drug addicts ("harm reduction"), but i think anyone who needs to use the space would be allowed. i also got a dmv id voucher here! they also give out food to homeless folks in nearby parks. Unfortunately, when i went it was candy and unhealthy food. yikes! :( i have no clue about their actual intended services tho...

This establishment is handing out needles to those with addictions, and only enabling them to remain sick. It’s a disgusting operation, and how these people aren’t being charged for all the littering of disposed… needles, near parks and playgrounds or the deaths of anyone who overdoses is beyond me..

HRTC are my heroes. They’re excellent at what they do, make you a better person and professional, and somehow are simultaneously also one of the coolest and nerdiest crews in the city. Diana’s advice still echoes in my… mind and heart.

The Harm Reduction Therapy Center (now the Center for Harm Reduction Therapy) is a great resource for psychological and therapy services for people who struggle with their relationship to substances, and/or mental… health challenges, difficult family dynamics, low self-esteem, and the complex social stresses that can arise with involvement in drug use or other stigmatized behaviors. Individual therapy, psychotherapist-facilitated groups, and interpersonal therapy programs are all on offer at HRTC, and the pool of therapists who practice under the Center’s auspices is a group of incredibly compassionate, talented, and client-centered professionals, all of them trained in and honoring the principles of harm reduction, and with special expertise in this area. Founders Jeannie Little and Patt Denning are pioneers internationally in the development of the theory and practice of harm reduction psychotherapy, having published several books on the subject that have helped usher in a novel movement based in, and advancing, traditional psychotherapy. HRTC therapists’ client-supportive, asset-emphasizing approach incorporates into a traditional psychotherapy framework elements such as low-barrier access to treatment, a non-punitive environment, inclusivity, and non-judgment. Many people with problematic drug and alcohol issues respond favorably to these key components; particularly folks who have tried other intractive treatment approaches to be useless, and even harmful. Those clients who receive services at the Center for Harm Reduction Therapy and who have past experience with other substance-use recovery programs often describe negative experiences with the more typical, abstinence-only options. They may cite such programs as being undesirable, inaccessible, alienating, culturally mismatched, insulting of their intelligence, generally unsafe, etc. And the standard for professional practice in the field of psychology mandates exclusion of active-phase drug users. The critical thinking and cultural humility that harm reduction (as a school of thought) espouses are also indispensable elements of harm reduction psychotherapy, as they allow for better connections intellectually between therapist and client, and therapists can engage clients’ participation in establishing individualized markers of progress, and share in the project of building of visions, and of how success is defined. I highly recommended this agency and its practitioners.