Fireside Project: The World's First Psychedelic Hotline with Joshua White and Hanifa Nayo Washington

This week's episode of the Plant Medicine podcast focuses on the new Fireside Project. Joining to discuss the launch of this peer-to-peer psychedelic hotline are the founder and director Joshua White and cultivator of beloved community Hanifa Nayo Washington. Joshua is a trial lawyer with experience both as a hotline crisis counselor and as a psychedelic peer support volunteer at the Zendo Project. Hanifa is a certified Usui/Holy Fire Reiki Master Practitioner with over twenty years of experience developing community-serving initiatives. Together with the rest of the Fireside Project team, they are working towards the April 14th launch of the world's first psychedelic hotline.

Fireside Project aims to offer broad support for people using psychedelic substances, with volunteers able to both assist during difficult experiences and offer integration assistance after the fact. Users will also be able to choose between a phone call, texting, or a live chat to connect with a volunteer, allowing individuals in the midst of a vulnerable experience the ability to choose whatever form of communication they find most comfortable.

In addition to this crucial support, Fireside Project also hopes to contribute to the psychedelic movement by imagining a more equitable future. Through efforts to recruit a diverse group of volunteers from groups often under-represented in the psychedelic community, Fireside Project hopes to contribute to building a new generation of diverse healers. This is the impetus behind the Fireside Equity Fund, which provides scholarships to volunteers who wish to pursue careers in psychedelic healing.

Fireside Project launches April 14th, 2021 and the number is 1-833-2FIRESIDE. in the meantime, they are recruiting volunteers. If you are interested in being a volunteer, there are A&A sessions on December 9th at 5 p.m. PST and January 9th at 10:00 a.m. PST- register at https://firesideproject.org.

In this episode:

• What services the Fireside Project will provide
• How Fireside Project will make psychedelic integration more accessible
• What it means to "cultivate beloved community"
• How Fireside Project will promote diversity within the psychedelic movement
• How to become a volunteer for Fireside Project.

Quotes:

"Volunteering at the Fireside Project...will provide an opportunity to have a much longer-term experience helping people with their psychedelic experiences." [10:30]

"We open up this opportunity for continued support, continued deepening, by following up the next week." [12:49]

"It's just simply so beautiful to be with someone during such a moment of deep need and to provide support for them." [23:28]

"And maybe you're having a beautiful psychedelic experience and your heart is just bursting to connect with someone, please reach out to us in that circumstance as well." [27:34]

"Our hope is to compassionately hold someone in a space so that they can figure out the meaning of the medicine and so that they can feel empowered and comfortable." [33:06]

Links:

Fireside Project Website Psychedelic Medicine Association Porangui