New publications—Syringe Service Program
Over the past year, I worked with Drs. Angela Bazzi and Raagini Jawa to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Syringe Service Programs (SSPs) staff well-being. SSPs provide essential harm reduction and prevention services for people who inject drugs. We found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, SSPs underwent unprecedented shifts in operational procedures (e.g., closures of physical sites, staff redeployment into pandemic response efforts). Anxiety regarding SARS-CoV-2 transmission and rapid expansion of services to meet increasing client needs (e.g., food distribution, COVID-19 testing) led to staff overexertion and high staff turnover. Overall, SSPs are an essential public health workforce who are at risk of burnout in prolonged public health emergencies and may benefit from enhanced occupational supports. We are excited to share our findings in our article titled “We were building the plane as we were flying it, and we somehow made it to the other end”: syringe service program staff experiences and well-being during the COVID 19 pandemic, in the Harm Reduction Journal.
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