Wednesday, October 4th, 2023 from 12:00-1:30pm PDT

Peer-based harm reduction not only helps people through challenging experiences, it also minimizes avoidable legal and emergency medical interventions. To successfully operate at events, however, harm reduction cannot exist in a vacuum. Harm reduction services must be paired with medical services. This session will discuss lessons learned from the MAPS/lightning in a bottle trial about where the lines might be drawn between harm reduction and event medical providers, with the goal of each group supporting the other for the benefit of service providers and everyone who needs services. Join us in this forum with Steve Adelman, who is head of Adelman Law Group, PLLC and Vice President of the Event Safety Alliance, Sara Gael, who is a psychedelic therapist, educator, and mentor with expertise in MDMA-Assisted Therapy, ketamine-assisted therapy and psychedelic risk reduction, Chelsea Rose, who has a Master’s in Integral Counseling Psychology from CIIS and has a passion for harm reduction as a therapeutic and practical approach to drug use and abuse prevention, and Raymond Allen, who is General Counsel on MAPS.

Steve Adelman is head of Adelman Law Group, PLLC and Vice President of the Event Safety Alliance. His work focuses on safety and security at live events. Among his many publications, he is principal author of the American National Standards for both Crowd Management and for Event Security. Steve also testifies as a standard of care expert in lawsuits arising from event-related incidents throughout North America.

Raymond Allen is a General Counsel for all legal affairs of MAPS. Ray is particularly passionate in crafting creative solutions for MAPS to achieve its goals while also being compliant with the law and mindful of risks. Since visiting the MAPS’ house in Florida during the 1980s, Ray has been a proponent of MAPS and what psychedelics can do for humanity. Before joining MAPS, Ray was General Counsel for Burning Man Project. Ray earned his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Florida, and his juris doctor from UC Davis. Originally from New York, Ray grew up in Florida, then transplanted himself in California half his life ago.

Sara Gael is a psychedelic therapist, educator, and mentor with expertise in MDMA-Assisted Therapy, ketamine-assisted therapy and psychedelic risk reduction. She has worked at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) since 2013 where she has held multiple roles including Harm Reduction Officer and Director of Harm Reduction, overseeing the work of the Zendo Project. Since 2015, she has served as an Investigator for MAPS Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials researching the safety and efficacy of MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD and currently serves as a MAPS Educator and Associate Supervisor. She is the Lead Facilitator for the Integrative Psychiatry Institute Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Training. Sara is the appointed harm reduction advocate representative on the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Policy Review Panel and served on the board of DanceSafe from 2020-2023. Over the past decade, she has helped to train thousands of individuals on the topics of psychedelic-assisted therapy, psychedelic peer support, and personal and professional development in the psychedelic field. She believes in the potential of psychedelics as catalysts for individual, community, and collective healing.

Chelsea Rose (she/her) graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles Honors College with a B.A. in psychology in 2007, and received her master’s degree in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2012. She has a passion for harm reduction as a therapeutic and practical approach to drug use and abuse prevention. Chelsea has worked with the Zendo Project, providing psychedelic peer support at events around the world, since 2013. Chelsea also manages the reagent drug testing kit program at DanceSafe, a public health organization focused on safety in the night life community. Additionally, she supervises the Crisis Response Team in Nevada County, supporting clients who come into the emergency room in psychiatric crisis. She lives in the Sierra foothills of California with her husband, three children, and their Basenji pup named Mochi.

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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