The Manual of Psychedelic Support

by Psychedelic Care Publications

The Manual of Psychedelic Support is a comprehensive guide to setting up and running compassionate care services for people having difficult drug experiences at music festivals and similar events. The Manual grew out of the work of its original creators at KosmiCare, the psychedelic care service at the iconic Boom Festival in Portugal. Whilst psychedelic care services have been in operation for decades, and have grown in number and in scope in the past few years, a general guide on how to establish and run them did not exist in the public domain, nor indeed—beyond training manuals for specific organisations—at all. We envisaged a work that would address all aspects of such a project, containing material to guide the care service leader, team leads and carer givers, and those fulfilling vital supporting roles (such as psychiatrists and nurses) through the entire gamut of preparation, training, logistics, operations, and the wrap-up of a care service.

What started off as a small project grew into something much larger, involving over fifty people from around the world. These people came from all walks of life – psychiatrists, therapists, scholars, psychonauts, artists, and many more – all united by a common love and interest. Some brought deep knowledge and rich experience gained from work with KosmiCare in Portugal, with the Burning Man organisation in the United States, and from other groups worldwide. A core principle, from the beginning of this project, was that the Manual should be independent of any external organisation, its content open to adaptation (for example, utilised in training manuals for particular care services), and never to be used directly for commercial purposes. To this end, the work has been published under a Creative Commons License, and is freely available as a PDF download.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Forewords
Introduction
1. A History of Psychedelic Care Services
2. The Principles and Ethics of Psychedelic Support
3. Legal Considerations
4. Planning and First Steps for a New Project
5. Recruiting a Team
6. Supporting Roles
7. Building and Training a Team
8. Logistics
9. The Care Space
10. Running the Service
11. Screening
12. Complementary Therapies
13. Team Welfare
14. Working with Other Organisations
15. Risk Management and Performance Improvement
16. Case Studies and Impressions
17. Online Resources and Obtaining Assistance
Final Words
Appendix A: Street Names for Commonly Encountered Psychoactives
Appendix B: Monitoring, Evaluating and Researching—Recommendations from an Academic Perspective for an Evidence-Based Approach to Psychoactive Crisis Intervention

329 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good and detailed resource on not only how to run a psychedelic care facility (such as Zendo Project), it also has basic information on adverse drug reactions of many common festival drugs as well as some guidelines for best taking care of someone having a difficult time on psychedelics. It's dry, but good reading for those serious about running a large support service.

[Gregory Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and comprehensive manual for those setting up psychedelic support services. Maybe overkill for someone just wanting to be a trip sitter.

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive, well articulated. An excellent resource

[Teo · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015.02.08–2015.03.29

Psychedelic Care Publications (2015) Manual of Psychedelic Support