On Wednesday, September 7 from 3-5pm ET, AIDS United will be hosting a webinar to discuss staff burnout at syringe service programs (SSPs), including better practices for employee development and retention. Specifically, we will host a brief panel including program staff from Charm City Care Connection (Baltimore, MD), Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction (Eureka, CA), and SPARC Center at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, MD). This portion of the webinar will discuss better practices for reducing stigma in a drug user health workplace, including addressing staff burnout and trauma-informed workplace practices, especially among peers.

After the short panel discussion and Q&A, we will break out into small groups to discuss the information we learned from panelists as well as strategies utilized by attendees. This will be a space for people to bring up any specific concerns or issues they face in operating their SSP, while having peers to brainstorm innovative methods of supporting staff. AIDS United will develop a community resource summarizing these discussions following the webinar.

Questions to consider during breakout groups will include:
-What ways does your organization support your staff during times of crisis?
-How do you honor and uplift drug use and safety amongst your staff?
-What resources would be helpful for your organization to address staff burnout and COVID fatigue?

Please reach out to Annie Benjamin at abenjamin@aidsunited.org with any questions.