Support Line FAQ

 

    • People in the midst of psychedelic experiences

    • People supporting others who are in the midst of psychedelic experiences

    • People wanting to talk about past psychedelic experiences - whether they happened days or decades ago

    • People who provided psychedelic support to others in the past (e.g., facilitators, therapists, etc.)

  • It means non-clinical emotional support by people who understand what you’re going through because they’ve been there themselves. Psychedelic support does not include medical care, medical assessments, psychotherapy, or professional care. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911. If you need medical care or treatment, please call a doctor or other professional. If you need mental health care, please contact a mental health professional.

  • No. Sometimes it’s just nice to connect with another human being, even if your trip is going just beautifully. Plus, we also support people who want to talk about past trips as well as people who provided psychedelic support to others in the past.

  • Yes! You don’t have to provide us with any personal information, including your full name, and even if you do, we don’t save it. We don’t even save phone numbers. Please see our Privacy Policy.

  • Nope! It’s all up to you. You can give us your real name, a made-up name, or no name at all.

  • We’re people who get it. We’ve been there ourselves.

    But, we’re here for non-clinical emotional support only. We’re not doctors or therapists, and we don’t provide medical advice or medical assessment. If you think that you or the people you’re with may be having a medical emergency, you should call 911.

  • Our volunteers provide non-clinical emotional support only. We want to be explicit about what the relationship is not. It is not a doctor-patient relationship, a therapist-client relationship, an attorney-client relationship, or any other type of professional relationship. This is true even if, for example, a volunteer happens to be a lawyer or a doctor or a therapist in their life outside of the context of the support line. We train our volunteers not to disclose their profession to any person with whom they communicate on the support line. No matter what the volunteer does outside of the support line, when volunteers are on the support line, they provide non-clinical emotional support only.

  • No. We provide non-clinical support only. If you are seeking medical care, medical screenings, or medical assessments, please contact a doctor or other medical professional.

  • No.

    If you believe you or someone you are with may be experiencing a medical emergency or you believe you or someone you are with are in immediate danger, you should immediately call 911.

    Fireside Project is not a suicide hotline. Callers who are intending to die by suicide, or who have a plan or the means to die by suicide are beyond the scope of the support line. Such calls are promptly transitioned to other resources, including emergency services or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988), depending on the specific circumstances. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

    If you are experiencing a clinical or long-term health issue, you should consult a medical or mental health professional. The support line is not a substitute for professional health care, mental-health treatment, psychiatric care, or therapy of any kind. We provide no professional services of any kind, including but not limited to medical care, medical assessments, medical treatment, and psychotherapy.

  • No. We provide non-clinical support only.  We do not provide medical care, psychotherapy, psychiatric care, or any other professional service.

    If you are experiencing a clinical or long-term issue, you should consult a medical or mental health professional. The support line is not a substitute for professional health care, mental health treatment, psychiatric care, or therapy. We provide no professional services of any kind, including but not limited to medical care, medical assessments, medical treatment, and psychotherapy.

  • No. We do not recommend or endorse any particular product, person, or service. We may refer you to sources of information. But it’s up to you to decide whether to rely on that information. We haven’t independently vetted or verified that information.

  • We currently only offer service to people in the United States. But we hope to expand internationally soon, starting with Canada.

  • Yes, please! It can take time to process a psychedelic experience. You can call us back as many times as you’d like. We hope to support you during your journey of integration, whether that takes weeks, months, or even years.

  • No. To protect everyone’s privacy and safety, volunteers are instructed not to communicate with callers outside the context of the support line.

  • Yes, please see our Terms of Use.

Coaching FAQ

 

  • You've made the choice to take psychedelics. That can mean you’ll be taking ketamine in a clinic or at home; you booked a retreat in the US or abroad; you’ve made a plan for a solo or guided journey; you’ll be headed to a festival like Burning Man; you’ve booked a psilocybin session in Oregon; or you plan to do psychedelics in nature, at a show, or elsewhere.

    Now the work begins.

    Psychedelics can open doors, provide insights, and reveal many things. But an open door is the starting point.

    You need to walk through it, stay safe, explore what arises, and apply what you’ve learned. That takes time, and it takes work. Having someone to walk alongside you the whole way can make all the difference.

    That’s where our coaches come in. Their focus is on you—meeting you where you are, answering your questions, supporting your growth, offering insights, sharing wisdom, celebrating your successes, offering accountability, and above all, looking out for your safety.

    If having a collaborative, co-creative companion accompany you on your journey sounds like it could be beneficial, our coaching may be a fit for you.

    All coaching is done through the lens of and for the purpose of harm reduction.

  • Your coach’s agenda is to support your agenda. The relationship you build with your coach is co-creative, collaborative, and ever-evolving, and it all depends on what you’re seeking and where you are on your path. All coaches will create a safe, non-judgmental space where all emotions, thoughts, questions, and ideas are welcome.

    Your coach will support you with whatever arises, whether that’s difficult emotions, challenging questions, or concerns about safety.

    They’ll do their best to answer your questions and they may ask some of their own. They may offer suggestions, tips, and tools based on your unique circumstances. They may share what’s worked for them or others in the past. But all of it is in service of supporting and empowering you, and keeping you safe.

    But we can't help you decide whether, where, or when to take psychedelics. All of that is your decision. All of our coaching is done for the purpose of and through the lens of harm reduction.

  • We recommend a minimum of three preparation sessions and five integration sessions.

    But it depends on you. Coaching relationships can and often do last weeks, months, or years. That’s because unpacking your journey and applying the lessons to your life is seldom simple or straightforward. When your psychedelic journey ends, the same life, the same old patterns may await you.

    Your coach is the ally in your corner, by your side as you re-engage with, re-imagine, and let go of whatever no longer serves you. Looking out for you, keeping you safe.

  • Like so many experiences in life, what you get out of a psychedelic experience depends on what you put it in.

    Preparation begins the moment you say “yes” to a psychedelic experience. Preparation can include setting an intention and making space in your life to reflect on it—why this journey and why now? It can also include doing a deep dive into where you are in your life, how you got here, where you’re going, what you’d like to let go of, and what you’d like to change.

    Preparation is a key to safety. All of our coaching is done through the lens of and for the purpose of harm reduction.

  • Integration is the process of exploring what arose during your journey and then applying what you learned to your life.

    This can happen through letting go of old habits and forming new ones. It can mean falling in love with every part of yourself, or re-imagining your life and your place in your community, your relationships, and the world. 

    Integration is also an important part of reducing the risks of your psychedelic experience. All of our coaching is done through the lens of and for the purpose of harm reduction.

  • No.

    Our coaches support people who have already decided to have a psychedelic journey or who have had one in the past.

    Their role doesn’t include helping you decide whether to have a psychedelic journey, which substance to take or at which dose, or where to go for your psychedelic journey.

  • No.

    Coaches are with you before and after, but not during, a psychedelic experience.

    You're welcome to call our free Psychedelic Support Line during your journey at 62-FIRESIDE (623-473-7433).

  • There are many, many differences! You can read about them in the chart above.

    In a nutshell, Fireside-CertifiedPsychedelic Coaching is a paid service that provides long-term, scheduled support by video to clients who are preparing for future psychedelic experiences and/or integrating past ones. Clients select their coach from a database of coaches’ photos and profiles. All coaches are employees who are Fireside-Certified, meaning they've gone through a 30-step, 300-hour process.

    By contrast, the Psychedelic Support Line offers free emotional support via one-off, inbound, unscheduled conversations by phone and text between anonymous volunteers and callers who are in the midst of psychedelic experiences or integrating past ones.

    To learn more about the differences, see this chart.

  • You may be able to pay for sessions using pre-tax dollars from your Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
    Please confirm your eligibility with a tax professional.

  • Nope. It's non-clinical support.

  • Fireside Coaching can pair well with therapy, especially if the therapist isn't familiar with psychedelics. Our coaches have all had their own psychedelic experiences and have spent over 300 hours supporting people navigating psychedelic experiences. They bring all of that knowledge, experience, and wisdom to bear to meet you wherever you are on your healing journey.

    Plus, coaching is often more future-focused and goal-oriented than therapy, and can involve identifying specific areas of your life that you'd like to change and developing strategies to help make those changes. This approach can serve as a nice complement to certain therapies, especially those that tend to be root-cause focused.

  • We appreciate your interest. Just fill out the form below and let us know when you're free. We'll do our best to make it work.

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