Fireside Project Support Line
Free, confidential peer support by call or text at 62-FIRESIDE (623-473-7433), daily 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Pacific. U.S. only. Their free TripCheck service calls you during a planned journey.
Visit Fireside ProjectIntegration Coaching
Expanded States: A Library for Integration
A curated library for people exploring expanded states of consciousness, with a focus on psychedelics. Podcasts, videos and standout articles, organized by theme.
Introduction to consciousness
How I think about integration
An expanded state can open something in us that ordinary life doesn't. What happens next is where the change takes root.
For me, integration is two things at once: listening to what the body is still carrying, and finding the story that helps the experience make sense. These resources are here to support both.
Psychedelics are legal in some places and illegal in many others. Even where they are legal, they are not appropriate or safe for everyone. Nothing on this page recommends using any substance. These resources are for people already exploring this territory, to help them make more informed, thoughtful and supported choices.
Safety First
This page is for education and harm reduction. It is not medical, psychological or legal advice, and it does not encourage anyone to use substances. Many (if not all) psychedelics remain illegal in many places.
I am a coach, not a therapist or medical provider. I do not provide, source or refer to substances or unlicensed practitioners.
If you take medication or have a personal or family history of mental illness, talk with a qualified clinician first, as you may be at risk of serious complications.
If you are taking psychedelics, please be thoughtful about your preparation, your support during the experience and your integration afterward.
In an emergency, call 911. If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 988.
Start here
Safety and support
If you're in a hard moment right now, reach out to a real person first. Everything else can wait. In an emergency, call 911. If you're thinking about suicide, call or text 988.
Zendo Project
A harm reduction program with plenty of tools. Its materials on supporting someone through a difficult experience are among the best available.
Visit Zendo ProjectTripSit Drug Combinations Chart
A widely used reference for risky combinations. Bring it to your doctor if you take any medication, especially antidepressants, lithium or heart medication.
See the chartMindset and environment
Set and setting
What you bring (your mindset, intentions and history) and where you are (the place, the people, the culture around you) shape an experience as much as any substance, whether at a retreat, a ceremony or a clinical trial.
Guidelines for Safety (Johnson et al.)
Johnson, Richards & Griffiths, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2008. The Johns Hopkins team's foundational paper on screening, preparation and setting. Readable for anyone.
American Trip by Ido Hartogsohn
MIT Press, 2020. A book, but worth it: it shows how culture itself is part of the setting. His podcast interviews offer a shorter version.
Fireside Project Safety Resources
Plain-language guidance from the people who answer the support line.
Visit Fireside ProjectFollow the evidence without the hype
Psychedelic science research
The science is promising and still young: Compass Pathways' psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression is under FDA review (as of September 2026), and no classic psychedelic is approved yet.
How to Change Your Mind
Netflix series, 2022. Michael Pollan's four-part series on LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and mescaline. The most accessible starting point.
Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research
The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, one of the field's founding research centers. Lists current studies and publications.
Psychedelics Today Podcast
A long-running show on research, therapy, policy and culture.
"The Trip Treatment"
Michael Pollan, The New Yorker, 2015. The essay that brought the research revival to a mainstream audience.
A co-guide
Music
In clinical settings, music is treated almost as a co-guide. It gives the experience shape, carries emotion and helps people return.
Inside the Hopkins Psilocybin Playlist
How psychologist Bill Richards built the roughly 7-hour, mostly classical playlist used in Hopkins studies, and why. A version is on Spotify.
The Birth of the Playlist
From Hub, Johns Hopkins: the playlist's origins in 1960s research, and how NYU and the Usona Institute adapted it.
Mendel Kaelen on Music
Psychedelics Today, January 2021. The founder of Wavepaths on music as part of the psychedelic environment.
Fireside Project Music Resources
Playlists curated by the support-line team.
The soil and the harvest
Preparation and integration
Preparation is the soil; integration is the harvest. Integration is simply making sense of an experience and letting it change how you live. It can take days or years.
MAPS Psychedelic Integration Workbook
A free guide built on the Synthesized Model of Integration (Bathje, Majeski & Kudowor, 2022), across six domains: mind, body, spirit, relationships, lifestyle and nature.
Psychedelic Integration (Bathje et al.)
Frontiers in Psychology, 2022. The open-access article behind that model, and the clearest definition of integration in the literature.
Psychedelic Integration by Marc Aixàlà
A 2022 book with 11 metaphors for understanding integration. Also available as an audiobook.
The Psychedelic Therapy Workbook
By Elizabeth Nielson & Ingmar Gorman (New Harbinger, 2025). A practical workbook built on their harm reduction and integration method.
Curious about integration coaching?
Reach out to talk about listening to what your body is still carrying and finding the story that helps your experience make sense.