What we’re about
Description
(Prospective members, please read our guidelines below — please also note that we screen out folks who don't live near Birmingham to protect members' confidentiality and prevent spam).
This group is for 1) education about psychedelics and 2) discussion, emotional support, and integration of members' experiences of psychedelics and plant medicine, which includes psilocybin ("magic mushrooms"), ayahuasca, MDMA, LSD, etc. These substances are being increasingly used in therapeutic settings to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and various addictions. They are also often used recreationally or as spiritual aids. Because of the War on Drugs and the moral panic of the 1960's over LSD, many people are reluctant to seek spiritual guidance or community support, though the experiences they have may be profound and meaningful. This group is intended to be a judgment-free venue for discussion of personal experience and a resource for novices or the curious.
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Membership
To protect the privacy of group members and to prevent spam, we screen prospective members who are not local or who have limited information on their profiles; but we welcome ambassadors from other groups in other regions!
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Guidelines
These guidelines are composed from notes from our meeting on November 8, 2019.
• Purpose: To provide a community of support and education for those who are exploring psychedelic, entheogenic, or plant medicine, or those who are integrating their experiences.
• Qualifiers: This is a support group of amateurs speaking from our personal experience. We are not sharing information as professionals. We are not dispensing medical or legal advice. We are not doing psychotherapy.
• Safety and harm reduction: We want to protect the physical, mental, and social safety of participants. We recognize that simply participating in the group can be risky for some people, legally and socially. We may share “how-to” information with the usual caveats (no medical or legal advice). To protect participants’ privacy, during meetings and online, we will not exchange money, psychedelic substances, or information about who may be growing or producing medicine. Solicitation is not allowed. We recognize different risk tolerances for different people. We acknowledge that careless use of certain substances can do harm, and advocate harm reduction and peer or professional support for those using psychedelics and plant medicines.
• Confidentiality: We agree that we will keep conversations and information shared in the group confidential. We will not share personal details of participants.
• Respect: We recognize that participants have different world views and traditions, and that they approach the subject of psychedelics, mental health, and spirituality from different modalities. We have diverse ways of framing our experiences, and do not need to convert anyone to our way of thinking.
