Psy-Care Aotearoa

KIA ORA KOUTOU,
Welcome to our laughably delayed summer wrap-up! Clare here, on behalf of myself, Penny, Ashlyn and Charlie. I think we all got even busier than last year, if that’s possible? However, our Psy-Care season went incredibly well overall. The harm reduction kaupapa is also thriving – read more below on some of the other mahi that has been happening around Aotearoa.

ON THE WHOLESOME TOILET GRAFFITI FRONT
For those who are familiar with the wooden toilet stalls at Twisted Frequency, you probably have a favourite piece of toilet graffiti (or is that just me?). This appeared during this year’s Twisted and gave us all some much-needed warm fuzzies after some particularly tiring days. This is what makes it all worth it for us, whānau ❤

THE NUMBERS ARE IN!
This season we cared for at least 160 people across six events. It’s awesome to see so many people accessing our service! Many of the folks who come and see us get the reset they need to rejoin the party.
It’s also been really positive to see proportionally lower numbers of people in care at a couple of our regular events, suggesting people are really internalising the safer partying kaupapa and not needing our support as often.

CAN YOU SHARE OUR GIVEALITTLE CAMPAIGN?  
The infamous Cobb Valley winds did a number on two of our tents this summer, including one that was brand new (to us), so we’re looking to replace them – anyone have an old-style one-room canvas tent with an awning, by any chance? We also have ongoing costs that need covering, like storage for our gear. So, we’re running a Givealittle campaign over the quiet winter months. If you have any spare dollars to put towards it, that’s fantastic! If you don’t, absolutely ka pai as well. Either way, if you can give it a share around your networks, we’d be very appreciative. Here’s the link –
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/psycare-nz

HARM REDUCTION ACROSS AOTEAROA The last six months or so has seen an absolute explosion of growth in the harm reduction scene across the motu! We’ve absolutely loved seeing it, and Psy-Care has been in the thick of a lot of it. This has included

• more collaboration with the services we work with most often – the Fest-Aid medic team, Ngā Kaitiaki Festival Guardians, and our favourite security team. While we have always collaborated on-site, we’re striving to have more kōrero throughout the off season about our practices in preparation for next season.
• an ongoing project that has brought together event organisers, care providers, and harm reduction specialists across Aotearoa. This network was born out of the Safe Spaces hui that two of our coordinators attended last year, which in turn came out of the mahi of Holly Bennett, a harm reduction practitioner and academic. The goal of the network is to create standardised and accessible guidance for event care services, so more events or individuals can establish care teams and make their events safer. Watch this space for updates!
• an increasing demand for care teams at urban events. Two of our coodinators (Clare and Penny) and a number of our volunteers have been on duty at indoor gigs in Pōneke and Ōtautahi, monitoring the crowds and supporting those who need it. While this mahi is not directly under Psy-Care’s banner, it has been fantastic to see that kaupapa extended to these gigs. It has also meant skill-sharing with Ngā Kaitiaki Festival Guardians on intervention and consent-based mahi, so our teams on duty have a broader skillset. A huge shout out goes out to Ghost Media in Pōneke and Synchronicity Events in Ōtautahi for prioritising crowd care at their events.
  
  This May also saw the launch of the Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, a new network of individuals and organisations promoting harm reduction and advocating for drug law reform. Psy-Care is not directly involved in this, but we wanted to give them a shoutout as well as we 100% back their mahi!

NOMALI ‘DUBCORE’ OUT NOW – 50% OF PROFITS GOING TO PSY-CARE ❤
Long-time festival feature and high-quality human Nomali has released an album of their original tracks, and being the utter babe that they are, are donating 50% of the profits to us. Here’s what they have to say about the album:
“New Zealand’s underground hosts a deep camaraderie between the minimal bass and psychedelic trance communities. Rolling basslines, progressive polyrhythms, and a love of Soundsystem culture bring the two cultures together time and time again in a melting pot of hypnotic beats.
Dubcore is an attempt to capture this culture and honour my roots on both sides.”
You can buy the album here through Bandcamp. Ngā mihi nunui Nomali!

SOME PHOTOS FROM LAST SEASON

Photos of the Psy-Care space taken at Twisted Frequency this summer by one of our amazing volunteers, Marina (credit: marinavalle.art). We don’t remember to take photos often – shoutout to Synchronicity, Rolling Hertz, Burning Horse, Yatra and Bullerfest, the other events we attended!

WHAT’S IT LIKE VOLUNTEERING WITH PSY-CARE? We asked a couple of our crew to share a little write-up about their experiences volunteering with us for the first time this summer. Here’s what they had to say.

Niki Selz
I first learned about Harm Reduction in 2012 at an underground rave in the US. There was a booth being run by a group very similar to Psy-Care, known as DanceSafe. Over the years DanceSafe’s work and Harm Reduction in general have become a real passion of mine and I usually find myself hanging around the Harm Reduction folks at raves, festivals, and parties. This is exactly what I was doing at Rolling Hertz when I was asked if I’d like to volunteer with Psy-Care at the next festival they were working, Burning Horse. Saying yes to this opportunity was probably the best decision I made during my time traveling in Aotearoa. Getting to work alongside Penny and Clare was a gift in itself, they are both such lovely humans. The team of volunteers at Burning Horse was such an inspiring group with so many different backgrounds and experiences that lead them to wanting to volunteer with Psy-Care. Over the course of the festival, I had a wide range of experiences interacting with guests. I connected with individuals who just really needed someone to witness them and hear them while they battled their own minds, I sat with folks who wanted a chill place to have a chat, and I helped with some simple first aid. I am so grateful I was able to give back to the festival scene and to learn some beautiful lessons about friendship, vulnerability, and community along the way.

From left to right: Psy-Care crew Myra, Clare and Niki at the end of Burning Horse 2024.

Scott Brewer
Last year I made the decision to join Psy-Care over summer and it was the best choice I made all year.  I’m an artist and DJ. I have a lot of experience within the music scene – running gigs, performing and being a punter. I already had an idea of the impact of Psy-Care prior, but you really don’t know how good it is until you’re within Psy-Care (either being cared for, or as a carer). Being able to see how many potentially really challenging trips and questionable harm reduction practices were mitigated or minimised was really insane. Sometimes it would be an anxious first tripper, all the way to someone getting too excited with a floor bag, and being able to help people have the best time was very meaningful.  One of the by-products of volunteering was meeting like-minded people who have similar values to you. I met some of the most amazing people through this service. If you’re considering volunteering I strongly recommend it. Psy-Care provides food, coffee or tea to ensure volunteers are at the top of their game, and it will give you an experience you’ll never forget.

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Okay, not gonna lie, these write-ups were above and beyond what we hoped for in terms of heartwarming content – tears may have been brought to eyes during their reading! Huge shout-out to Niki and Scott for putting some time into reporting back, on top of volunteering in the first place.

Thanks for reading, all! As always, get in touch if you want to get involved at an event or have any questions, and come say hi if you see us around 🙂

Ngā mihi,
Clare (and Ashlyn, Charlie and Penny)