Three new initiatives launched to strengthen harm reduction in Europe

The European project NextGen Harm Reduction: Tackling the Challenge of Emerging Psychoactive Drugs (NEHRD) is reaching its final stage with the launch of three new resources designed to support professionals, organisations and communities in developing more up-to-date harm reduction responses adapted to emerging patterns and contexts of drug use.

A Practical Guide to Harm Reduction Strategies for New Psychoactive Substances, a Policy Brief focused on the Portuguese context, and an online training platform also available in Portuguese bring together knowledge, tools and recommendations developed over two years of research, training and collaborative work with professionals and people who use drugs across several European countries.

A practical guide to support frontline work

The Practical Guide to Harm Reduction Strategies for New Psychoactive Substances was developed to support professionals working across different harm reduction settings.

Organised into 17 modules, it brings together concise guidance, examples of practices and links to additional resources on topics including drug checking, opioid agonist treatment, naloxone distribution, peer involvement, chemsex, online services, drug consumption rooms, needle and syringe programmes, integrated services, tackling stigma and the sustainability of harm reduction responses.

Designed as a practical and flexible tool, it can be used as a day-to-day reference, as part of training activities or as supporting material for teams.

Read the Practical Guide here.

Rethinking Portuguese responses to changing patterns of drug use

The Policy Brief “Responding to new patterns of drug use without leaving anyone behind: local challenges for harm reduction”, launched and presented during the RAIO-X IN Mouraria event, brings the main lessons learned from the project into the Portuguese context.

Rather than looking at the emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in isolation, the document draws attention to broader changes in patterns and contexts of drug use and the associated social vulnerabilities.

Among the priorities identified are flexible and community-based services, stable funding, continuous training for professionals, the involvement of people who use drugs in designing responses, and the development of digital responses integrated with existing services.

The document aims to contribute to reflection on policies and local responses capable of keeping pace with these changes without weakening essential harm reduction services.

Read the Policy Brief here.

Online harm reduction training, also available in Portuguese

The NextGen Harm Reduction platform provides an online course aimed at professionals and organisations working in harm reduction, health, social intervention, education and community work, which was presented to the organizations and the community in May.

Available in five languages, including Portuguese, the platform also provides an accessible capacity-building resource for professionals and organisations in Portuguese-speaking countries.

The course covers six areas:

1. Introduction to the course;
2. Fundamentals of Harm Reduction;
3. Understanding New Psychoactive Substances;
4. Harm Reduction Practices and Services;
5. Professional Conduct and Communication;
6. Building Enabling Environments: The Role of Policies and Laws in Harm Reduction.

In addition to completing the full course, the content can be consulted independently to review concepts, clarify questions, support decision-making and identify strategies that can be applied in practice.

The platform also includes additional resources that can support training activities and internal capacity-building processes within organisations.

Explore the platform and start the training:
www.nextgenharmreduction.com/pt

Two years of building knowledge with professionals and communities

The three resources are the result of broader work carried out through NextGen Harm Reduction between October 2024 and September 2026, combining research, cross-country exchange of practices, training, and the participation of professionals and people who use drugs.

GAT coordinated the research component on harm reduction policies, practices and needs related to NPS across eight European countries. This included focus groups and interviews with experts, knowledge-sharing workshops and study visits involving project partners in Lisbon and Belgrade.

The project also developed a new harm reduction training curriculum, which was subsequently transformed into the NextGen Harm Reduction digital platform and tested with professionals in participating countries, including through sessions held in Lisbon and Porto.

Another component focused directly on the experiences of people who use NPS, through surveys, focus groups and interviews. Based on this work, partners developed and tested digital outreach strategies and online support services adapted to their respective national contexts. In Portugal, this included responses aimed at people in chemsex contexts and people who use NPS.

Co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme, NHERD - NextGen Harm Reduction: Tackling the Challenge of Emerging Psychoactive Drug (NHERD) was coordinated by ARAS – Romanian Association Against AIDS, Romania, in partnership with Re Generation, Serbia, HOPS – Healthy Options Project Skopje, North Macedonia, and GAT, Portugal.

The project formally ends on 30 September 2026, but the knowledge, training and tools it has produced will remain available to professionals and organisations.

As substances, patterns of drug use and people’s needs continue to change, the challenge remains: ensuring that harm reduction responses are able to change with them - while remaining accessible, informed and close to the communities they serve.