THE psychedelia ISSUE
SELF-CARE SPOTLIGHT
CALL/TEXT 62-FIRESIDE (623-473-7433) firesideproject.org | @firesideproject
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A CALL FOR COMPASSION
LEAFMAGAZINES.COM
The Fireside Project believes no psychedelic explorer should have to travel alone. THE UNITED STATES is currently in the midst of Based in San Francisco, Fireside is the first-evanother psychedelic revolution. Already this past er support line for people navigating current or year, cities across six states have worked to depast psychedelic experiences. Through compascriminalize mushrooms. Ketamine is currently besion and education, their organization aims to ing studied as a treatment to combat depression destigmatize psychedelic experiences and ensure at Yale. 2020 saw Oregonians legalize psilocybin that those under the influence of entheogens have for therapeutic purposes, and in 2019 city council access to private, judgment-free dialogue. members in Oakland voted to decriminalize ayaFounders Joshua White and Hanifa Washington huasca. Alongside all of this, the internet is filled created Fireside in 2021 with the shared belief with articles discussing the benefits of microdosing that “no one in the world should have to feel – all sitting next to photos displaying trippy conalone with a psychedelic experience.” At the time, fections and brightly-colored capsules. both White (a former Deputy City With such an ease of attitude and Attorney with the San Francisaccess surrounding psychedelics, the co City Attorney’s office) and Fireside is the question increasingly becomes: What Washington (a community activist first-ever support and reiki healer) noticed that as happens after the dose? When I started line for people taking hallucinogens, we usually had a cities and states decriminalized navigating designated partner or guide – someone psychedelics, there was little in more experienced who could offer a rethe way of education or support. current or past minder that you were on a drug and that They recognized the potential psychedelic everything was coming from your mind, implications of this explosion of experiences. and would sit with you afterward and talk people trying psychedelics for the about what had just happened. But with first time while simultaneously “... the new wave of psychedelic revolution comes in the midst of a mental health crisis exacerbated a new age solution to this notion – The Fireside by the Covid-19 pandemic.” While psychedelic Project – where if you’re having a bad or powersubstances can offer radical forms of healing and fully introspective trip and need someone like that stimulation, they can also carry heavy consequences to speak with, they’re here to help. – especially for those unfamiliar with them.
aug. 2022
Fireside’s volunteer staff creates an environment of risk reduction where individuals can feel safe talking about how a trip is affecting them. These volunteers undergo rigorous training in the basics of psychedelic chemistry, active listening, providing support by text message, and how to properly talk with someone before and after their experience. Washington says this training is crucial to their harm-reduction strategy, as it “helps people understand what’s happening with someone when they’re in a psychedelic state.” Since launching in April of last year, the hotline has provided compassionate support to over 1,000 people working through ongoing, recent or past experiences. Volunteers can be reached from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., seven days a week, via calls, texts or the Fireside app (available in the Android and Apple app stores), and all communications are anonymous. BIPOC, transgender, and veteran callers even have the option to process with someone who shares that aspect of their identity. Fireside Project does not offer medical assessments, recommendations or psychotherapy; they do, however, offer a safe space to ask the underlying questions that frequently spring up around these adventures of the mind – as well as hope for those in need of guidance during one of the most vulnerable or frightening moments of their life.
STORY by MATT JACKSON @ACTIONMATTJACKSON for LEAF NATION
