— EspaÑola Office | Harm Reduction
Meeting people where they are with life-saving services and dignity
Providing syringe exchange, naloxone, overdose prevention, case navigation, STI testing, drug testing, and essential support services across rural northern
New Mexico. We do so without judgment, barriers, or prerequisites.
Meeting needs in Northern New Mexico
Northern New Mexico has long faced high rates of poverty, substance use, and overdose deaths in communities that are isolated and difficult to serve. People who use drugs face stigma, criminalization, and barriers to basic care; barriers that cost lives.
Harm reduction recognizes that people use substances for complex reasons, and that meeting immediate needs—clean syringes, naloxone, food, human connection—keeps people alive and opens pathways to care. Our program exists because every life matters, and because survival is the first step toward any other kind of change.
Our team meets people in their communities through mobile outreach and at our Española office, offering everything from life-saving naloxone to food, navigation assistance, drug checking, STI testing, and connection to care.
Anyone who needs us
We provide access to safer use supplies, naloxone and overdose reversal training, drug checking, and STI testing. By connecting folks to navigation services through a holistic wellness approach, we require no prerequisites, no judgment, and no demands to change; just dignity, respect and anonimity to anyone who needs our services.
People who use drugs (PWUD) in Rio Arriba County, northern Santa Fe County, and the Taos county.
Friends and family of people who use drugs seeking support and resources.
Organizations, community and participants seeking overdose prevention education and free naloxone (Narcan).
Navigation to services:
• Compassionate support to help you connect with the resources and care you choose.
• Drug checking and confidential STI testing
To expand our reach, we offer mobile services as capacity allows for participants who are unable to visit our facility.
Wellness & Healing Practices: Accudetox and earseeding to cut cravings, support stress relief, grounding, and physical well-being.
Because every life matters
Northern New Mexico has long faced high rates of poverty, substance use, and overdose deaths in communities that are isolated and difficult to serve.
Stigma and barriers cost lives
People who use drugs face stigma, criminalization, and barriers to basic care that cost lives. Harm reduction recognizes that people use substances for complex reasons, and that meeting immediate needs keeps people alive because every human being has intrinsic value, right now, exactly as they are.
Isolated communities need mobile services
Many communities across Rio Arriba County, northern Santa Fe County, and Taos are geographically isolated with limited transportation and few local services. While we can't be everywhere, when capacity allows, we go to isolated communities where people need the same services we offer at our facility.
Pathways Back to Care is a holistic way to look at Harm Reduction
It starts with a simple belief: everyone deserves a welcoming, trusted path to health, stability, and community. By building on the Harm Reduction model of the relationships and trust, we make every connection, whether for food, wellness, peer support, safe use supplies or health care - a doorway to the support people need to thrive.
We fill critical gaps
Since 2005, we have operated as one of the largest syringe service programs in New Mexico. Across rural landscapes and underserved areas, we build lifelines of trust. By providing low-barrier harm reduction resources, holistic wellness practices, and flexible mobile outreach, we meet critical needs in our community.
Six ways to access services
From our Española office to mobile outreach across Northern New Mexico, here is how we provide care.
Española Office
(Open 5 Days a Week)
A welcoming, low-barrier space where community members can access a full range of services.
- – Syringe exchange and safer-use supplies
- – Free naloxone and overdose prevention
education - – Hygiene kits, wound care, and condoms
- – Fentanyl, xylazine and Medetomidine test strips
- – Snacks, food, and STI testing
- – Navigation assistance with programs and
services
Mobile Outreach
Our mobile team delivers services directly to people across Rio Arriba County, northern Santa Fe County, and Taos County.
- – Syringe exchange
- – Safe use supplies
- – Overdose prevention education and naloxone
- – Referrals to care
- – Snacks and food
- – Drug Checking
- – STI testing
Drug Checking Program
Our confidential drug checking program offers drug analysis for people who use drugs, providing more clarity on what they are using. All services are private and non-judgmental.
Auricular Acupuncture (AcuDetox)
A gentle, evidence-informed therapy rooted in traditional Chinese medicine. AcuDetox stimulates specific points on the outer ear, promoting balance, relieving pain, reducing stress and anxiety, and supporting sleep.
We also offer ear seeding as part of this service. Ask at the service window or call for scheduling.
Navigation Assistance
We help people connect with essential resources, replace lost identification documents, and complete complex benefit applications. We support people in navigating treatment options.
Overdose Prevention & Naloxone Distribution
Free overdose prevention services including naloxone (Narcan) distribution and easy, accessible training. Available both online and in person, for individuals, families, and organizations.
Evidence-based, human-centered care
We meet people where they are, literally and figuratively
Our mobile outreach brings services to communities, removing transportation barriers. People come back because they are treated like human beings.
Low-barrier access saves lives
We do not require sobriety, treatment enrollment, or documentation. We provide what people need to stay safer right now. Survival creates possibility for everything else.
Harm reduction is evidence-based
Syringe exchange prevents HIV, Hepatitis C, and other infectious diseases. Naloxone reverses overdoses. These interventions are proven to save lives.
Connection interrupts isolation
For many people who use drugs, our staff are the only people who treat them with dignity. That human connection builds trust and creates pathways to other forms of support.
We address immediate needs
People cannot think about long-term goals when they are hungry or lack identification. By providing food, navigation, and basic supplies, we remove barriers and create stability.
The numbers behind the work
Since 2005, The Mountain Center's Harm Reduction program has served rural northern Santa Fe, Taos, and Rio Arriba counties. We have grown into one of the largest syringe exchange and naloxone provider in Northern New Mexico, and one of the largest programs of its kind nationwide.
These numbers represent lives saved and people connected to care in some of New Mexico's most underserved communities.
In their own words
"Thank you for treating me like a human being. I am struggling, and a friendly face is rare in my life."— Program Participant
"It gives me peace to know that the last faces she saw were those of kindness. Thank you for making her feel like a person."— Client's Grieving Mother
Learn more and provide support
Statewide & National Resources
nmhivguide.orgInfo on HIV, HCV, or other STI testing, treatment, and care across New MexicoHarm Reduction CoalitionEducational materials and advocacy resourcesHarm Reduction in the News
The Washington Post Magazine (November 2021)Coverage of our harm reduction work in northern New MexicoSanta Fe Reporter (March 2022)Local coverage of program impact and community responseLet's Talk New Mexico Podcast (March 2022)In-depth conversation about harm reduction in New MexicoWe are here to help
Reach out directly to our team. We respond promptly and without judgment.