“Humanize, not criminalize” is more than just a motto for Heather Lusk’s community outreach program.

The executive director of the CHOW (Community Health Outreach Work) Project knows that it’s easier to step over a drug addict passed out on the street than it is to overlook a close family member with a debilitating problem.

“These issues (like addiction, homelessness) could affect most of us. … Let’s treat everybody like they’re ohana — our brothers, sister, our aunties or uncles, because we’re really all in this together. That’s a much more compassionate place to move forward from,” says Lusk, who will be recognized for her work by Helping Hands Hawaii at its annual fundraising dinner March 2 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

“Heather communicates, acts, and serves in ways that mirror the core values we have at Helping Hands Hawaii. She works with us and the community to support some of the most vulnerable individuals … who struggle with mental illness and/or addiction and are also challenged by poverty,” said Executive Director Jan Harada in an announcement. Also honored will be the Rotary District 5000, which has contributed thousands of volunteer hours, supplies and money through over 50 clubs statewide.

CHOW started out solely as a syringe-exchange program to prevent the spread of AIDS in 1989, but since Lusk took charge in 2011, it has expanded services to cover viral hepatitis, drug overdose, housing, behavioral health, incarceration and wound care for the homeless. “I felt we weren’t addressing the whole person,” she said.

This year CHOW is starting a program called LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) to help people with drug addiction or mental health problems who commit “low-level” offenses by diverting them to social workers instead of to jail. In Seattle, where LEAD originated in 2011, “they’ve had amazing outcomes, with a 58 percent reduction in recidivism … all because they got a chance to make changes instead of being caught in the cycle of incarceration,” Lusk said.

A pilot program, costing $200,000, is being proposed in Gov. David Ige’s budget to the Legislature, Lusk said. Helping Hands and 22 other social service agencies have already signed on as partners.

CHOW has adopted a “harm reduction” philosophy, the same approach behind the nationwide Housing First model. The idea is to provide stability by giving immediate help with few conditions, unlike many traditional programs that only accept clients who have overcome addiction, for example.

It’s fine to express concern about the harmful activity a client is engaged in, but it’s important to be nonjudgmental and respectful, and to give individualized treatment, Lusk said.

Harada said Helping Hands has worked closely with Lusk’s group and Catholic Charities the past three years on the Hawaii Pathways Project, with a Housing First grant, to focus on sheltering those with mental illness and substance abuse problems. “You need a roof over your head before you can even begin the process” of working on their other problems, she added.