Julianna Keipp ‘23

I helped to conduct outreach at Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP)'s Safe Syringe Program sites, where people who inject drugs are able to safely dispose of their used syringes with us and receive free sterile syringes in exchange. This is part of numerous harm reduction services I helped facilitate, along with handing out life-saving Naloxone and hygiene kits to unhoused populations. After conducting outreach, I uploaded relevant paperwork into online databases for organizational needs and funding from the county.

I was definitely able to be exposed to the field of work I have been attracted to idealistically, but had never seen in practice. I found myself able to translate concepts I had learned about in my courses into physical settings that helped real clients, which was exciting. However, there was a tricky balance to strike where I had to do this without tokenizing the clients themselves. In coursework, I tend to see individuals as pieces in a bigger theory.

But in practice, I had to see them as individual people with their own lives and struggles. I gained more direction as to what work I want to do in the future and which populations I'd like to focus on in my career.