Big news! I'm transitioning out of the ED role at Fireside Project, and remaining as Board Chair, Coach, and Research Director
An open letter to my community
Dear Beautiful Community,
I’m writing to share some big news with you: I will be transitioning out of my role as Executive Director of Fireside Project, and will continue to play integral roles in my beloved organization as Board Chair, as a Fireside-Certified™ Psychedelic Coach, and as Research Director overseeing our ongoing study with Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital evaluating the efficacy of our coaching program. I will remain as ED until we have hired and trained my successor. That search begins now! More on it below.
I love this organization more than words could express, and I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished since I started Fireside Project in that pandemic-stricken summer of 2020. Since then, I’ve had thousands of conversations about Fireside Project. By orders of magnitude, the most common adjective people use to describe our creation is: “beautiful.” To have played a role in creating something that inspires such a description in a world ravaged by cynicism and division causes me to feel that hope is still possible.
Fireside Project set out to solve a few structural problems in the psychedelic field: a lack of robust support options during and after psychedelic experiences, a dearth of experiential training, and a lack of diversity. We have made massive strides towards addressing these problems. Thanks to our Psychedelic Support Line, all Americans have free, in-the-moment access to support during and after their psychedelic experiences. Our mighty volunteers have supported over 25,000 callers, and we have published a ground-breaking study demonstrating our harm-reduction impact. We’ve trained over 700 aspiring practitioners, over half of whom have been from marginalized communities, and we’ve empowered callers with the choice to speak with a volunteer sharing their lived experience. Our Fireside-Certified™ Psychedelic Coaching program is setting the industry standard for psychedelic coaching, becoming the first to train, hire as employees, and provide ongoing supervision to our coaches. Thanks to this rigor, our coaches provide superb care to our clients from the moment they say yes to a journey until their integration feels complete.
This may beg the question: why am I shifting my role? The first is that I love coaching, and I don’t get to do as much of it as I’d like while I run Fireside. So I’m going to continue as a Fireside Project coach and broaden my personal coaching practice, which includes psychedelic coaching and will expand to include executive coaching and life coaching. The second is that I love helping organizations fulfill their impact in the world. I’ll continue to do this for Fireside Project in my role as Board chair, and I’ll launch a consulting practice to support other organizations, groups, and individuals. Finally, I have some other projects up my sleeve that I’m not ready to share publicly just yet.
As I begin the process of finding a new ED, I’m pleased to report that the health of Fireside Project is strong. We have assembled an amazing core team of skilled, compassionate, make-it-happen folks who are devoted to Fireside’s mission. We have brought together a generous group of philanthropic supporters who have empowered and inspired us to continue to grow and thrive. Plus, the foundation for our two services—the support line and coaching—is rock solid. What remains is to continue to scale and grow them. Most importantly, we have a thriving community of devoted supporters—i.e., all of YOU—who love us, who spread the word about our services, and who continue to entrust us with one of the greatest honors in this world: to support you as you navigate your psychedelic experiences.
We now begin the process of looking for a new ED. We are not a rush. Our priority is to go through a robust, diligent process to find the right person. Our ideal candidate is a seasoned, heart-centered leader with significant management and fundraising experience who is passionate about our mission, excited to continue to scale our core services, and eager to continue moving our organization towards financial self-sustainability. If you’re interested or you know someone who might be, I invite you to read the job description and apply here.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for your love, trust, and support on this beautiful journey. Though much of the world is in chaos, and the future of the psychedelic field is uncertain, what I do know is this: Fireside Project’s services are needed now more than ever. As Board Chair, I remain committed to helping this beautiful organization – our beautiful organization – fulfill its mission.
With love,
Joshua
