Nutrition should be part of harm reduction
We have thought-provoking contributions on wellbeing in this issue – mental and physical – including our cover story (p6) in which the team demonstrate that addressing nutritional deficiency should be a regular part of harm reduction. It’s also clear that there’s much to learn in relating nutritional need to the body’s responses to specific substances. We’re likely to try to eat more healthily, take supplements, cut down on sugar, ‘bad’ fats and ultra-processed food – so why shouldn’t we do the same for clients? It’s been a while since we published a regular nutrition column – can you help us carry on the conversation?
Meanwhile, the scale of women’s homelessness is mind-blowing and something we cannot ignore (page 14), especially as we strive to level up the treatment offering. A woman living rough might be expected to live half the life span of a woman with a roof over her head – and that’s a million miles from OK. As we contemplate images of women in streets and in doorways we have to remember that this is the visible face of a largely hidden problem – on a scale we can’t even be sure of. Yet there are many things we can start to do here, now, and in partnerships to change this.
Read the October issue as an online magazine (you can also download it as a PDF from the online magazine)
Claire Brown, editor