National Needle Exchange Forum

If you are in the UK and you work in a needle & syringe programme (NSP) then you should already know about the NNEF, in fact you should be a member (membership is of course free).

The NNEF aims to support anyone involved in NSPs (including the people who use them). So how do they do this, and what ways are they using for keeping in touch with their members?

 Who are the NNEF

The NNEF is a members organization made up of workers and other people involved in NSPs, membership is free and we hold meetings a couple of times a year. I say we of course because I'm also a member of the forum. We are a non-profit group and everyone involved in the actual running of the forum donates their time for free. 

The membership of the forum is mainly based in England (as Scotland, Wales and Ireland all have their own forums) although there is a certain amount of crossover in membership.

Communication with members

In the past I have heard some criticism that the forum doesn't communicate with it's membership enough between meetings, as a reaction to this the NNEF has decided to set up its own Twitter account and Facebook page. The Twitter account will obviously join in with the growing network of harm reduction/drugs based Twitter users (if you want to start using Twitter but are unsure how please read my Guide to Twitter for drugs workers).

The Facebook page contains useful links and has the ability for members to join discussions, ask questions and share best practice.We are of course hoping that this will make the forum more useful for all it's members. Other ways of increasing communicating with members will be discussed at our next AGM.

Next meeting

All NNEF meetings are free of charge to all members

Our next meeting is this coming Friday (19th March 2010) in Southampton and its looking like a great meeting. We have great speakers lined up for you as well as our AGM. Topics being covered are:

• engaging peer exchangers
• encouraging route transitions
• providing a full range of paraphernalia
• providing auricular acupuncture
• pro-actively reducing drug-related litter
• supporting recovery and abstinence

You can download the event flyer here, and register for the event for free here.

Remember to follow the NNEF on both Twitter and Facebook, as well as checking out the many resources on the NNEF website website.