Fireside Project’s Psychedelic Peer Support Line Goes Live Today

Media contact: Brad Burge

Starting today, anyone having a challenging psychedelic experience, helping a friend navigate a psychedelic experience, or wanting help making sense of a past psychedelic experience can call or text Fireside Project at 6-2FIRESIDE (623-473-7433) for free, confidential support from trained volunteers.

During the 12-month pilot program, the Psychedelic Peer Support Line will be available Thursday-Sunday from 3:00 PM to 3:00 AM PST, and Monday from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM PST. Eventually, the line will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The service is currently only available in the U.S., with plans to expand the service internationally in the future.

Today, Fireside Project will hold an opening ceremony at 3:00 PM PST. The ceremony will be led by Fireside Project Co-Founder and Cultivator of Beloved Community, Hanifa Nayo Washington, along with other voices from the psychedelic movement, as well as Fireside Project Advisory Board members, staff, and volunteers. Following the ceremony, the support line will be open until 8:00 p.m. PST.

“We are deeply honored to offer this vital risk reduction service at such a critical moment in the psychedelic renaissance,” says Fireside Project’s Co-Founder and Executive Director Joshua White. “Starting now, peer support will only ever be a phone call or text message away.”

The Psychedelic Peer Support Line is staffed by compassionate, supportive volunteers from diverse backgrounds who are trained to listen deeply and from a place of non-judgment. Volunteering for the Psychedelic Peer Support provides an unparalleled opportunity for people to contribute to the fast-growing psychedelic community. Volunteering can also serve as a springboard to a career in psychedelic therapy, peer support, integration, and other forms of healing.

“Fireside's peer-support training is dynamic, comprehensive, and cutting-edge, with a strong focus on equity, inclusion, and safety,” says Dr. Angela Carter, Psychedelic Peer Support Line Shift Supervisor and member of Oregon’s Psilocybin Advisory Board. “This essential support service will be invaluable not only to the psychedelic community, but also to medical, mental health, and emergency service providers as we take on some of the efforts of community psychosocial care. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to provide a safe, supportive service for people seeking healing and self-exploration through psychedelics.”

In March 2021, Fireside Project completed two 36-hour trainings for the 31 volunteers who will initially staff the line. 215 applicants from 14 countries applied to participate in the training, which was designed by Fireside Project Co-Founder and Support Line Director Adam Rubin. Volunteers learned skills such as active listening, self-care, how to provide support during psychedelic experiences, and how to assist with psychedelic integration. Volunteers also engaged in dialogue and experiential exercises intended to support them in their inner work around acknowledging and undoing internalized harm from systems of oppression.

 “Facilitating liberated spaces for our staff and volunteers to participate in reflective and healing practices together is essential to cultivating a culture of belonging,” says Hanifa Nayo Washington, Co-Founder and Cultivator of Beloved Community of Fireside Project. “No doubt, the impact of this collective inner work will ripple out into the larger psychedelic and transformational healing movements.”

The training included presentations by Fireside Project staff as well as Chelsea Rose Pires (MAPS/Zendo Project), former TripSit.me volunteer and Psychedelic Peer Support Line Shift Supervisor Aaron Toop, and The Ancestor Project, co-led by Charlotte James and Undrea Wright, who is also serving as a Psychedelic Peer Support Line Shift Supervisor.

Founded in 2020, Fireside Project is a fiscally sponsored non-profit organization whose mission is to help people minimize the risks and fulfill the potential of their psychedelic experiences in ways such as providing compassionate, accessible, and culturally responsive peer support, educating the public, and furthering psychedelic research, while embracing practices that increase equity, power sharing, and belonging within the psychedelic movement.

Learn more about Fireside Project on the web at firesideproject.org, Instagram (@firesideproject), Facebook (@thefiresideproject), LinkedIn (@firesideproject), and Twitter (@GlowFireside).

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