Ryan White Title I

Pasos Positivos (Positive Steps)-Ryan White Title I

Pasos Positivos, or Positive Steps is a bilingual harm reduction, recovery readiness and relapse prevention program for homeless persons living with HIV/AIDS who are at any point in the continuum of substance abuse.

The program serves homeless persons living in Casita Esperanza, an innovative transitional housing program, in the surrounding emergency SROs where DASIS places homeless clients and to a limited extent, in local shelters. The program provides outreach to these locations and seeks to engage potential clients in substance abuse counseling and treatment. It also seeks to engage clients by assisting them with concrete needs which impact on their substance abuse issues as well as their ability and motivation to enter services. These include assisting them in upgrading their housing situations (from shelter to SRO, to transitional residence to permanent or supportive housing), providing food, condoms and toiletries, and assisting them with obtaining entitlements, primary care and supportive services.

Substance abuse approaches include harm reduction education, acupuncture, HIV education and treatment information, recovery readiness groups and counseling, relapse prevention groups for those already in recovery, 12-step meetings on site and placement in detoxification, inpatient and outpatient treatment programs. The interplay between health, HIV status, successful medical intervention and substance abuse issues is stressed at all levels of the program.