Community Consultation and Indigenous Practices to Inform Harm Reduction Education
Practical “How-to” Considerations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18357/cjpe.2026.40.1.22Keywords:
harm reduction education, community consultation, Indigenous approaches to evaluation, people with lived and living experience (PWLLE), culturally safe evaluation, healthcare educationAbstract
This practice note outlines a learning journey in which the principle “nothing about us without us” emerged as a guiding value in the development of harm reduction education. Initially, Indigenous stakeholders were not involved in the design of the community consultation; however, their later engagement significantly shaped the project. Our experience highlights how initial uncertainty around culturally appropriate consultation strategies can complicate implementation. By addressing and learning from these challenges, educational developers can better support training that prioritizes the needs of people with lived and living experiences (PWLLE) with substance use and that centers them as ultimate program beneficiaries. This practice note highlights our community consultation process, which ultimately involved Indigenous knowledge keepers and PWLLE with substance use, and how it informed the development of harm reduction education for healthcare providers. Lessons learned and incidental benefits are discussed.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Brianna Groot, Jannica Hoskins, Brandi Abele, Katelyn Halpape
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