LEAD: A Model Based in Harm Reduction

This ninety-minute presentation and discussion with a panel of officers, case managers, and service providers will focus on the LEAD model and its approach to reduce harm.  LEAD’s goal is to reduce harm to individuals and to the community, and this is achieved through field based engagement and relationship building.  Harm reduction involves a range of support services and strategies to enhance the knowledge, skills, resources, and supports for individuals, families and communities to be safer and healthier.

LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, also known as Let Everyone Advance with Dignity) is designed to enhance public safety and equity by diverting people with issues related to behavioral health and poverty that bring them into contact with law enforcement from arrest and into collaborative systems of response and care with long-term case management. First implemented in Seattle in 2011, LEAD is now being replicated in dozens of jurisdictions across the United States and around the world, including in communities in Washington State; it is also the basis of the state’s Recovery Navigator Program (RNP) and Arrest and Jail Alternatives program (AJA).

This presentation will outline the principles of harm reduction; discuss the implications of harm reduction for both policy and practice; situate harm reduction in efforts to advance health, safety, and equity; detail why harm reduction is important; and offer perspectives and insights from diverse practitioners who are using harm reduction practices in their jurisdictions.