PhD Candidates Corinne Beaugard & Greer Hamilton Lead Oral History Project on Harm Reduction Movement in Massachusetts
As a public health approach addressing behavior that’s been stigmatized and often criminalized by society at large, harm reduction has generally operated outside of the mainstream – even though its mission is critical for many.
In order to preserve and disseminate the work done through the harm reduction movement in Massachusetts, Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW) PhD candidates Corinne Beaugard and Greer Hamilton have created a digital oral history project that documents the movement through interviews with individuals involved in harm reduction through grassroots organizing, political activism and direct engagement. Their work, which spans more than thirty years, encompasses a range of focuses, including early HIV/AIDS activism, syringe safety, and the intersection of drug use and incarceration.
The project team hopes that the interviews celebrate the harm reduction work that has been happening in Massachusetts since the late 20th century while educating communities and professionals about the history of the movement.
The project will serve as a resource to practitioners, educators and researchers everywhere thanks to Beaugard and Hamilton’s recently launched website, voicesofharmreduction.com, which makes the intimate one-on-one audio interviews accessible to all online.
In addition to project co-directors Beaugard and Hamilton, contributors to the project include BUSSW faculty members Linda Sprague Martinez and Deborah Chassler, Donna Beers, Gary Langis, Jess Tilley, Alexander Y. Walley and Galya Walt.
Beaugard and Hamilton presented their work at the National Harm Reduction Conference in Puerto Rico on October 15-16, 2022.
Learn more about Harm Reduction in Massachusetts: An Oral History Project on the project website.