A front-line community organization that’s offered life-saving harm reduction services for nearly 30 years has just opened its doors at a new location.
“Clients can come right into the counter, not have to go through other programs or other services to access us, and I think that’s really important for them to come in, see friendly faces right away, see kind of the familiar signage, and pictures that were on the wall at the old place, which really was home for a long time,” said Jo Parker, the program co-ordinator at Mainline Needle Exchange.
Mainline Needle Exchange has operated out of a small space on Cornwallis Street in Halifax for the past 25 years but it wasn’t just the increased demand for its services that fuelled its need to relocate.
“Every time it rained we had to get the buckets out and put them underneath to catch the drippings. We stopped putting new ceilings up because the water leaked through,” said John Arenburg, Mainline Needle Exchange’s relief worker.
Mainline is a health promotion program offered through the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre and when that facility moved to a new temporary location, it offered the front end of its space to the harm reduction organization.
“One of the really great things about the new space is that we were given this separate entrance,” Parker said.
Tucked under the overpass at 5367 Cogswell St., the private entrance offers increased accessibility for people with mobility challenges, along with supportive resources that span far beyond sterile supplies for safer drug use.
“We help them with everyday problems that they have. If they’re homeless we help them maybe get on income assistance, and advocate for them to get apartments. If we can’t do it, we find an organization that can do it,” Arenburg said.
Mainline’s doors are open seven days a week, along with outreach provided by peer support navigators.
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