MOOC Harm Reduction Services
Learn the professional and methodological competences for working with drug users and sex workers according to the principles of human rights in a free online course.
Did you ever ask yourself how the perspective of substance users and sex workers differs from your own? How drug consumption rooms work or how sex work can be practiced in a self-determined manner? These and other questions will be explored in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) «Harm Reduction Services for Drug Users and Sex Workers» – a free, publicly available online learning course.
The MOOC focuses on social and medical services that respect the human rights and personal autonomy of drug users and sex workers. Switzerland has pioneering institutions in this field and several years of methodological experience. The course shares this knowledge by providing professional insights into practice, presenting concrete facilities and allowing participants to work on real projects. It is aimed to social and medical professionals working with drug users and sex workers worldwide.
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are publicly available free online learning courses at university-level. They aim at unlimited participation for students all over the world and are open to anyone with internet access.
Your Benefits
You will be empowered to work with drug users and sex workers according to human rights principles.
You will learn professional and methodological skills for working with target groups.
You will recognize the life situation and living environment of the addressees and support them in their strategies for coping with life.
Target Group
The course is intended for professionals from social and medical professions who work with drug users or sex workers and students of such professions who are interested in low-threshold target group-oriented work.
"Social work is not just about providing direct support to clients who face various obstacles. Stigma, poverty, discrimination – these are all issues that social workers have to address in other ways. Therefore social work is also political.”
Sofia Fuchs, Instructor
Content
- Resilience, capability and vulnerability of substance users and sex workers
- Objective living conditions, subjective life world, and live coping skills of substance users and sex workers
- Harm Reduction programs such as drug checking, drug consumption rooms, heroin prescription, sex boxes outreach work
- Peer-to-Peer interventions and empowerment
Methods
- Interviews with substance users, sex workers, peer workers, social workers and nurses
- Change of perspective
- Reflection and discussion
- Literature and tutorial videos
- Presentation of Harm Reduction facilities
Your Instructors
- Sofia Fuchs, Social Worker at FIZ Counseling Center and Support Services for Migrant Women and Victims of Trafficking in Women, Zurich
- Michael Herzig, Lecturer at Institute of Management and Social Policy, ZHAW
- Katja Stolz, Master’s degree course at School of Social Work, ZHAW
"The way we treat drug users and sex workers – and marginalized people in general – defines what kind of community we build; it defines who we are as a society.”
Michael Herzig, Instructor
Registration
Contact
If you have any questions concerning the online course, please feel free to contact us: