We asked questions like "How did it feel to be off heroin for two whole days? How did you do that? How did you spend your time? Did you know you could do that?" This processing seemed to have many positive impacts on the way women framed their harm reduction experiments and their picture of themselves. We also celebrated women's announcements about abstinence. For instance, one woman told us it was her 10th anniversary of being off heroin and her 3rd month of being off crack. She had been coming to the Learning Centre since it started but none of us knew this. This information made her a valuable resource and role model for other women.

Over the two years of the research project, this question lead us to many places. When women first come to the Learning Centre, they may or may not tell us what they want to learn. When women arrive with a clearly stated need, it is usually:

• I want to learn how to type
• How do you use a computer?
• I have to fill this out for my worker
• I want to get my GED
• Do you have any information on diabetes?
• I need paper to make a poster for this event
• Do you have any books to read?
• I want to apply for disability

When women come for immediate help, it is usually a functional literacy need. It is only through participation and a slow conversation that the potential of the Learning Centre becomes clear to an individual woman. Then we may hear about her dreams.