The principles for psychedelic support (otherwise known as ‘trip sitting’) that are promoted by international groups like MAPS Zendo Project and Kosmicare Association, as well as PRISM. Psychedelic support in music event settings is different from psychedelic assisted psychotherapy (PAP) in many ways. For example, with PAP a sitter is with a person when they set an intention and take a psychedelic. But for PRISM, trip sitters a person comes into care once they’re under the influence, present in need of support, and polydrug use or other needs commonly influence the trajectory of the experience. Expanding on this latter example, a varied approach to trip sitting may be applied by PRISM from one event setting to another. Different resources are available when trip sitting at a multi-day regional camping event, compared to a single-day event in a metropolitan area.
This presentation draws on PRISM’s Care Intervention service delivery data from recent years at multi-day regional camping events where a challenging psychedelic experience was the main reason for the presentation, highlighting the kind of interventions commonly applied by PRISM trip sitters working in such an environment. Examples include encouraging the person in care to remove their shoes and stand on the earth, which seems a highly effective intervention to alleviate anxiety during a psychedelic experience.
