Peer Workforce & Harm Reduction Summit (Open Day)

Azzy-Mae is a 33 year old neurodivergent transfeminine non-binary person living, working, and organizing in the Greater Boston area. She is a PWUD/PWID (person who uses drugs / person who injects drugs), and she has been actively studying and consuming psychoactive substances for 18+ years. Additionally, prior to working in public health, Azzy-Mae engaged in the illicit substance trade for 9+ years, where she provided a great deal of ad-hoc drug education, harm reduction education, and psychedelic first-aid.

Azzy-Mae has been working in public health for 8 years. Having left a 12 year career in culinary arts to help open the first syringe exchange in her hometown of Gloucester in 2016, she continued to work on the North Shore until 2019 when she shifted to doing outreach work in Boston. Recently, Azzy-Mae managed a harm reduction program for trans/GNC folks as well as cis women; most of whom are experiencing houselessness, engaged in sex work, or consuming substances. Currently Azzy-Mae manages a Mobile Prevention program focusing on street-level harm reduction outreach and HIV/HCV/STI testing.

Azzy-Mae sits on a statewide harm reduction advisory council, a public health data community advisory board, and does independent training and consulting for organizations and the general public. Azzy-Mae engages in a lot of off-hours public-facing low-threshold education through various social media platforms, primarily linkedin and instagram.

Outside of work, Azzy-Mae has engaged in political activism locally and nationally. Azzy-mae is a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) Boston branch, the Eastern Massachusetts Branch Representative of the New England Users Union, and has been involved in or provided support for organizations involved in PWUD liberation, Black liberation, Indigenous sovereignty, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, disability justice, immigrant justice, housing + houselessness, labor, and LGBTQ+ liberation struggles.

Mat Southwell was one of the first generation of harm reduction workers in the UK. He founded the pioneering community-led harm reduction agency the Healthy Options Team in 1991. HOT was an NHS team staffed by people who use drugs and more traditional health workers in diverse East London. In 2001, Mat fronted a BBC TV documentary speaking for people who use drugs. He has since been involved in drug user organising from the local to the global. He has worked with a wider team of community experts who drafted the UNODC UNAIDS and WHO Technical Guide on HIV Prevention Care and Support of People who Use Stimulant Drugs (2019) and has since championed the recommended 8 interventions including stimulant pipe distribution