Fireside Project’s Psychedelic Peer Support Line will offer free peer support by phone and text message to people in the midst of psychedelic experiences, people holding space for others who are in the midst of psychedelic experiences, and people integrating past psychedelic experiences.

During our 12-month pilot program, the line will be open Thursday to Sunday, from 3:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. PST and Monday from 3:00p.m. to 7:00 p.m. PST. It will eventually be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Psychedelic Peer Support Line will be staffed by compassionate, supportive volunteers from diverse backgrounds who are trained to listen deeply and from a place of non-judgment. All of our volunteers will complete a 36-hour training program where they will learn about active listening, providing support during psychedelic experiences, psychedelic integration, and providing support by text message.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service) or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. Callers can also order free publications and other information.

Connect with the Veterans Crisis Line to reach caring, qualified responders with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Many of them are Veterans themselves. No matter what you are experiencing, there is support for getting your life back on track. A trained responder will answer your call, text, or chat and ask you a few questions. You can decide how much you want to share. Feeling anxious or alone and thinking about suicide are some of the signs that a Veteran may be in crisis.

Overview

Inner Compass Initiative provides information, resources, tools, and connecting platforms ​to facilitate more informed choices regarding all things “mental health” and to support individuals and groups around the world who ​wish to leave, bypass, or build community beyond the mental health system. We are energized to make change happen and eager for you to join us. Your experiences, your story, and your voice matter— find out how you can get involved.

Our Inspiration

We believe that within each and every person lies an innate wisdom — an “inner compass”. This wisdom, when listened to, helps us to navigate the difficulties of being human. But the mental health industry, with its medicalized model of “mental illness” and “mental health”, its pharmaceuticalized and institutionalized standards of care, its massive promotional and public relations apparatus, its legalized authority, and its professionalization of help, has influenced many of us to ignore and lose touch with this inner wisdom.

Inner Compass Initiative strives to contribute towards everyone reclaiming wisdom, knowledge and power, both within us as individuals and between us in our relationships and communities. We work to support individuals to engage in curious, critical, independent self-education and inner exploration, and collectively, to help develop more interconnected, empowered and resilient grassroots communities.

Our Vision

A future of interconnected individuals and communities flourishing beyond psychiatric drugs and diagnoses.Our Guiding Principles and ValuesWe believe that most individuals’ inner crises emerge, develop and/or persist in relation to their social circumstances, and that establishing more just, equitable, creatively diverse, and environmentally sustainable societies is vitally important to everyone’s mental, spiritual and emotional well-being.

We believe that the knowledge, approaches and contributions of people who are not medical or mental health professionals — such as current and former psychiatric patients, artists, political thinkers, cultural critics, philosophers, and spiritual seekers — are too often marginalized or ignored in public discussions about meeting the spiritual, mental and emotional challenges of being human.

We believe that we all have a right to make our own choices about how to take care of ourselves, but that true choice is only possible when it’s fully informed and when we have awareness of and access to true options and alternatives.We believe that we all have a right to protect the integrity of our own minds, spirits and bodies against forced or coercive psychiatric intervention.

Our Mission

Inner Compass Initiative provides resources, tools, and connecting platforms to facilitate more informed choices regarding all things “mental health” and to support individuals and groups around the world who wish to leave behind, bypass, or build community beyond the diagnostic/pharmaceutical paradigm.