PRESS RELEASE: Zendo Project Seeks $70,000 to Expand Psychedelic Peer Support and Education
• Zendo Project provides compassionate support for people having difficult psychedelic experiences
• The service has helped over 4,000 guests since 2012
• Crowdfunding campaign aims to expand event services, outreach, and public education
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Brad Burge, Director of Strategic Communications, MAPS
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Just in time for the summer festival season, the Zendo Project has launched a crowdfunding campaign to provide psychedelic peer support services at Burning Man and other events this year, and to expand its public trainings and outreach. The campaign, which ends September 6, has already raised over 32% of its $70,000 goal from 109 funders in the first seven days.
The Zendo Project provides a safe space and specialized care for individuals who are having challenging psychedelic or emotional experiences. The Zendo Project helps de-escalate challenging situations, preventing unnecessary psychiatric hospitalization, arrests, and trauma. The Zendo Project also provides public education, training, and outreach to help transform difficult psychedelic experiences into valuable learning opportunities.
“The services and education the Zendo Project provides would not be possible without grassroots funding,” says Sara Gael, MAPS Director of Harm Reduction. “It’s encouraging to see more event producers recognizing the need and asking for our services, though we’re still only reaching a fraction of those we could help due to our limited resources. That’s why we’re asking for support from people who understand the importance of our services.”
Since 2012, the Zendo Project has assisted over 4,000 guests and trained approximately over 3,000 volunteers, as well as reaching over 100,000 people through videos and educational materials. Its staff and volunteers have provided services at Burning Man (Nevada), Boom Festival (Portugal), AfrikaBurn (South Africa), Sonic Bloom (Colorado), YouTopia (California), Envision Festival (Costa Rica), Lightning in a Bottle (California), High Times Cannabis Cup (Colorado), and other events worldwide.
The Zendo Project’s work has received widespread media attention in Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, Playboy, VICE, Magnetic Magazine, Motherboard, Orange County Weekly, Everfest, Dope Magazine, Refinery29, Tricycle, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) blog (“Concerts and Drugs: Is There a Way to Reduce the Dangers?”), and more.
All donations to the Zendo Project will be doubled up to $22,200 thanks to a matching grant provided by Ethan Devine; Sir Ivan with The Peaceman Foundation; DanceSafe; Tyler Norris; Nick Sullivan; Ben Williamson with Kapany Applied Research, Inc.; Joel Dietz; and an anonymous donor.
Donations will cover the costs of essential infrastructure for community-based psychedelic peer support at festivals around the world; training for volunteers, grassroots organizations, medical providers, security personnel, and event producers; and expand the Zendo Project’s capacity for outreach, allowing it to reach communities that might otherwise be unable to access these vital services.
The Zendo Project is a psychedelic peer support service provided by the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization developing medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana. Since its founding in 1986, MAPS has raised over $47* million for psychedelic and medical marijuana research, education, and harm reduction.
Watch the video and learn more: zendoproject.org.
*This release originally inaccurately reported the total raised as $43 million. The release has been edited to the correct number, $47 million.
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