I have been trying to get access to a Street Team in Lisbon, to observe how they work in relation to the network of support services of which they are a part. Street Teams make contact with drug users and risk groups to undertake harm reduction interventions, like syringe exchanges, medications and HIV prevention kits, advice, support, counselling, nursing care. Street Teams also have social (re)integration functions (help with employment, housing, family contacts). They provide for basic needs (food, clothes, blankets, hygiene); give advice on safer use of drugs and work to prevent the spread of infectious diseases (e.g. condoms distribution); offer screening and referrals to health and social services and to psychosocial support.
The philosophy underlying the objectives of the Street Teams underlies the whole of the national strategy for dealing with addiction: harm reduction and damage minimisation. The priority is to decrease the negative consequences of drug misuse for the person themselves and for others. Addressing the most immediate objectives is seen as the first and most realistic step. The national strategy has holistic and empowering objectives: by accepting the individual unconditionally, a relationship is created that allows the individual to think and to make her/his own choices.
I have seen Street Teams out at night in the Lisbon streets and I am hoping to be able to join one of them before I leave Portugal. So far my attempts have been unsuccessful, but I am not giving up yet.
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The philosophy underlying the objectives of the Street Teams underlies the whole of the national strategy for dealing with addiction: harm reduction and damage minimisation. The priority is to decrease the negative consequences of drug misuse for the person themselves and for others. Addressing the most immediate objectives is seen as the first and most realistic step. The national strategy has holistic and empowering objectives: by accepting the individual unconditionally, a relationship is created that allows the individual to think and to make her/his own choices.
I have seen Street Teams out at night in the Lisbon streets and I am hoping to be able to join one of them before I leave Portugal. So far my attempts have been unsuccessful, but I am not giving up yet.
.