Mat Southwell is an experienced drugs practitioner and manager. He founded the Healthy Options Team (HOT), a pioneering community harm reduction team, before going onto manage NHS drug services in East London and the City. Mat came out publicly as a drug user in a BBC documentary in 1999. Over the last 2 decades, Mat has organised and developed a number of different drug user groups and networks at a local, national and global level. Mat sat on the Board of UNAIDS for 3 years as a civil society representative and he is now the IDPC's Drugs/HIV Consultant focusing on advocacy with the UNODC HIV Team and Geneva-based UN bodies.