The Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team
The Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team are health care providers who believe that health is political, and aspire to remove barriers to clinical care.
About us
HAMSMaRT (Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team) emerged from grassroots, street-based work in Hamilton. The organization grew out of Keeping Six, a community collective formed by six individuals with lived experience who came together to support one another and their neighbours.
In its earliest days, the work began as a community lunch and art space, where people could gather, build relationships, and support each other in an environment grounded in dignity and mutual care. These informal spaces created the foundation for a broader model of community-led health and harm reduction.
Over time, partnerships between community members, peer workers, and healthcare providers helped shape what would become HAMSMaRT—an initiative designed to deliver low-barrier, community-centered medical care to people who are often excluded from traditional healthcare systems.
Today, HAMSMaRT continues to work closely with Keeping Six and other community partners to provide outreach, clinical services, and advocacy for people who are unhoused or who use drugs.
Although the organization has developed programs, clinical services, and partnerships over time, it intentionally maintains a non-hierarchical, community-grounded structure that reflects its grassroots origins. The organization has moved locations throughout its development, but its core commitment remains the same: care that is rooted in community, harm reduction, and solidarity.
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About us
Keeping Six began with a group of people with lived experience of drug use and/or homelessness. They came together to protect one another and support others in their community who were struggling with substance use or homelessness.
Guided by the simple but powerful principle “I watch your back, you watch my back,” they stood in solidarity, refusing to let anyone face hardship alone. The phrase 'Keeping Six' embodies this idea. From this deep commitment to mutual care, dignity, and collective survival, HAMSMaRT (Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team) was born in 2016 through a collaboration with Keeping Six.
K6 peers recognized a critical community need for healthcare that is compassionate, equitable, and truly accessible. Drawing on lived experience and relationships built on trust, they connected and collaborated with community physicians who shared their commitment to health equity. These physicians were already working to address systemic barriers through initiatives such as safer supply and immediately recognized the importance of creating a space rooted in dignity, respect, and harm reduction. HAMSMaRT was originally founded by Dr. Tim O'Shea and Dr. Christian Kraeker.
Today, HAMSMaRT and Keeping Six remain closely connected and deeply intertwined. Physicians and other healthcare providers continue to see clients through HAMSMaRT, working alongside peer workers who lead advocacy, art, and community support initiatives. Together, they are building a model of care grounded in lived experience, trust, and a shared commitment to more equitable healthcare for all.
- Harm Reduction
- Reciprocal Learning
- Centering the Social determinants of Health
- Building the community we want to live in
- Community-Centered Care
Our Principles
Pillars of Work
Community Organizing
Research
Clinical care & Frontline work
Health & Social
Worker Education
Our Mission
To address the social determinents of health through integrated community centred care, education, research, and community organizing
Healthcare that is a liberatory force for patients, practitioners, and communities alike
Our Vision
THANK YOU
Thank You to our donors, partners, supporters and funders who helped to make all of this work possible! We would also like to recognize our many community donors, volunteers and supporters who made our work possible :)