SC HIV, STD, Viral Hepatitis Conference DebriefSC HIV, STD, Viral Hepatitis Conference Debrief
Challenging Pathos
The Challenges Inc SC team was honred to present several times at this year's SC HIV, STD, Viral Hepatitis conference and represent harm reduction in South Carolina. Marc, Tina, and Lysandra share their perspectives and feedback from this year's event...
49:42•26 Oct 2026
Awards, Harm Reduction and Hotel Pillows: A Candid Conference Debrief
Episode Overview
- Three separate harm reduction sessions from the Challenges Inc. team were accepted and well received at the South Carolina HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis Conference.
- Marc received a 2026 Outstanding Partner Award, which he views as recognition of syringe service work more broadly, not just individual effort.
- The team highlights how strong partnerships with organisations like AID Upstate are both difficult to maintain and essential for reaching participants.
- They criticise how HIV work in South Carolina often skips IV drug use entirely, tying this to top-down messaging and long-standing stigma.
- Funding cuts and cancelled national conferences raise concern about losing momentum, making smaller regional harm reduction gatherings feel increasingly important.
“"It's like, here's your HIV textbook, but they like ripped out the pages about IV drug use in South Carolina."”
How do different strategies aid in addiction recovery? This conference recap drops you right into the buzz of harm reduction workers fresh off the South Carolina HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis Conference, swapping stories, laughing about terrible hotel pillows, and unpacking some serious wins for drug user health. Marc sits down with Tina and Lysandra to talk through what it meant for the entire Challenges Inc. team to show up as a united front.
All three of their submissions were accepted, so you’ll hear about their sessions on mobile syringe services (cheekily titled “The Wheels on the Bus”), a revamped harm reduction 101 from Raymond, and Shay’s session on “literally meeting people where they’re at” through mail-based harm reduction. There’s a big emotional moment when Marc shares how surreal it felt to receive the 2026 Outstanding Partner Award.
He frames it less as a pat on the back and more as a sign that, “people from SSPs are like winning awards now… that’s like the field nodding its hat to us and being like, we see you.” The conversation widens out to the bigger picture: the politics of harm reduction in South Carolina, long-standing stigma around syringe service programmes, and the way state-level messaging can quietly erase IV drug use from HIV work.
They also talk funding cuts, shrinking conference attendance, and the cancellations of bigger national gatherings, raising worries about how that might sap momentum. A highlight for the team was keynote speaker Adam Thompson, sharing lived experience of HIV and IV drug use and bringing a voice they feel has been missing from this conference for years.
If you’re curious how harm reduction teams keep going in a tough political climate, how partnerships with health agencies actually work, or what it feels like to get public recognition in a state that once said their work was “illegal”, this recap gives you a grounded, honest look with plenty of humour along the way. What would it mean in your area if an SSP finally heard, “we see you”?
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