Since 2018, I have been one of the leaders of Recinto Pa' la Calle, student-led harm reduction collective from Puerto Rico. I adore contributing to the holistic wellbeing of my friends in the streets. I am also passionate for educating others and exploring the impact of social determinants of health.

An understanding of harm reduction concepts is critical for developing sensible physicians. Several schools in the United States of America (USA) have implemented optional or curricular interventions to address harm reduction in undergraduate medical education. In the Caribbean, students from the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, founded an initiative based on education, reflection, and interprofessional practice. Recinto Pa’ la Calle (RPC) is a student-led collective that has connected with people experiencing homelessness (PEH) and people who use drugs (PWUD) around the island’s main medical center in San Juan since 2011. Towards 2021, RPC adopted a philosophical and practical approach to reduce the harms associated with drug use. RPC’s mission is to address the immediate needs of PEH and PWUD, bridge them to social and medical services, and educate the community on harm reduction practices. Students volunteering in RPC learn alongside their peers about poverty, homelessness, and drug use through service and reflection. RPC strives to build a safety net within the local health system for the people we support, as well as promoting an empathic approach to their experiences by health professionals. This presentation will contextualize the educational impact of RPC by comparing it with similar groups within the USA. Mainly, we aim to highlight the journey, work, and successes of RPC; a harm reduction collective that originated in a colonized island of the USA.