2025 Wisconsin Harm Reduction Conference

July 16-17, 2025: Wisconsin Dells and virtual

Registration open and rates lowered, lodging available

Registration is now open, and rates have been lowered for both virtual and in person attendance for the 2025 Wisconsin Harm Reduction Conference.

Register for the conference

The conference will run from:

• 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 
• 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 17, 2025

Lodging

There is a room block available at the Chula Vista for in-person attendees. Please contact the Chula Vista directly to reserve your room.

The rate is $98/night. Please plan your travel and overnight stays accordingly. To reserve a room under the room block, please mention the booking ID for the Harm Reduction Conference that came with your registration confirmation. Contact Chula Vista at 855-360-6691. If you have questions about this process, contact citee-events@uwm.edu.

Keynote speakers

We are excited to announce this year’s keynote speakers.

Ricky Bluthenthal, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor, associate dean for Social Justice and interim chair of the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Bluthenthal’s research has established the effectiveness of syringe exchange programs, tested novel interventions and strategies to reduce HIV risk and improve HIV testing among injection drug users and men who have sex with men, documented how community conditions contribute to health disparities, and examined health policy implementation. His current studies include an observational cohort study of how cannabis legalization impacts use patterns and health outcomes of cannabis and opioids among people who inject drugs and a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a single session intervention to reduce injection initiation risk behaviors among established people who inject drugs.

Philomena Kebec, J.D., is a Bloomberg Fellow with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Kebec belongs to the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, where she is working on building systems and supports for harm reduction and overdose prevention, Tribal healthcare optimization, small business growth and financing and improving community access to local and traditional foods. Kebec is an attorney and judge licensed to practice law in Tribal and state courts and has over a decade of experience providing legal and policy services to Tribal nations.

Joy Rucker is a co-founder of the Black Harm Reduction Network (BHRN). Rucker has worked at the intersections of substance use, HIV, houselessness, and mental health issues for several decades. Rucker first started her intersectional work doing outreach to people who injected and/or inject drugs in Massachusetts and becoming one of the first National Harm Reduction Coalition (NHRC) trainers. She continues to focus on the progress that needs to be made, particularly by, with, and for Black folks to save lives and create a world where Black people who use drugs and all Black people are free from the harms of interconnected oppressive systems and beliefs.

Agenda

A more detailed agenda with information on breakout sessions will be coming later in February.

Conference objectives

• Provide safe spaces for the exchange of ideas and cutting-edge practices that reduce harms associated with drug use.
• Create networking opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds committed to program and policy change and reform.
• Promote the delivery of harm reduction services in Wisconsin and Tribal nations that engage people who use drugs to support connection, safety, and improved quality of life.
• Provide the opportunity to discuss the benefits of harm reduction, best practices, resources, policies, and areas needing development and support.

Who should attend

• Syringe service programs (SSPs) providers
• Local and Tribal health and health and human services department staff, including, directors, nurses, harm reduction staff, health educators, and peer support specialists
• Health care professionals, including, substance use disorders counselors, community health care workers, mental health professionals, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and physicians
• Public health and health care students and fellows
• Overdose fatality review (OFR) members
• First responders, including, law enforcement, EMS, fire department, mobile response teams
• AIDS, HIV, and viral hepatitis care workers
• Local government and Tribal elected officials, including, county and judge executives, mayors, presidents, council Tribal members

Join us to connect some of the brightest minds in harm reduction, including those serving and working in the field every day, those with lived and living experiences, and those who are new to harm reduction.

Additional information

As more information becomes available, it will be posted to this webpage.

Wisconsin's first harm reduction conference was held in 2023. Want to learn more about the 2023 conference? Check out the video created to share some highlights from this conference.

Questions can be directed to citee-events@uwm.edu.

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