Utilising social media to expand the reach of harm reduction messaging amongst peer networks

Young people who use drugs in late-night venues are an often-overlooked cohort that does not access traditional health and harm reduction services. The Peer Advocacy Response and Training Initiative (PARTi Project) utilizes Instagram as a platform to inform, empower and educate young people via our ‘Sesh.ed’ page. Sesh.ed provides effective drug-specific harm reduction information and safer partying tips while expanding the reach of state government ‘drug alerts’ to a large peer network.
Sesh.ed is viewed as a safe space where young people access and share information with their peers. This is evident by the diverse forms of engagement peers have with the page relating to their own drug experiences and reporting information about potentially high-risk drugs circulating within the market. Our online engagement with this community highlights the importance of peer online harm reduction services amongst young people.

Presenters

Liam Neale Peer Harm Reduction Practitioner, Star Health

Liam is a peer harm reduction worker at StarHealth, where he works on the PARTi Project, at the NSP and runs the sesh.ed Instagram page. Liam’s passion for harm reduction began through volunteering with the DanceWize program, and through drug-law reform advocacy with SSDP.

Lucien Keene Peer Harm Reduction Practitioner Star Health

Lucien is a peer harm reduction practitioner at Star Health. He has worked in many different roles in Harm Reduction including Mobile Health Outreach, Needle and Syringe programs, Pharmacotherapy Case management and for the PARTi project where he co-ran their Instagram page Sesh.Ed.

 

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