Crisis Support - Music Festival Victims in Israel

Funds for this campaign will be sent to The Beloved Garden as a fiscal sponsor for this program.

When we are overwhelmed by a significant tragedy that we feel helpless in and without hope, sometimes we see a path of supporting those in need that is within our means and might be ours to do. While we can’t “fix” the bigger problems, sometimes we are given an opportunity to play a small part in a collective healing.

I think our community has been given one of those rare opportunities to help in a meaningful way. We have a direct line to support a large community of trauma therapists and guides who are helping the victims of the terrorist attack in Israel and on the participants of the Supernova music festival where 260 people just lost their lives to senseless violence.

The Center for Medicinal Mindfulness has trained students who work across the world to bring psychedelic plant medicines to those who need real healing. Shaun Lacob, graduate of our program, colleague, friend and ally, has been providing Cannabis-Assisted Psychedelic Therapy experiences for trauma resolution over the last several years at his Kibbutz in central Israel inside a functional bomb shelter. Right now it is being used to shelter families in need.

A few pictures of the space are all I have to share in this context, but he told me once that sometimes he does a ceremony with his clients of closing its massive door “so even terrorists can’t harm you here.” That image has taken on a deeper meaning to me now.

The recent terrorist attack on Israel and the festival was beyond tragic and horrific. Shaun has started his own healing center and is part of a community that has organized a team of over 100 volunteer crisis intervention, trauma resolution and psychedelic integration therapists to support the festival community that was devastated in this attack. As of this writing, 260 of the roughly 3,000 festival goers were murdered and many were taken hostage. Right now, many who experienced and lived through it are in great need for crisis intervention support.

According to Shaun, “people who know the scene estimate that 70% of the attendees were either on psychedelics or shortly after them at the dawn attack.”

The team is already receiving a call a minute on the hotline they set up.

Shaun is a medicine warrior on the ground supporting folks in this volatile region and he and his community are in need of our support. As war intensifies in the region, wreaking havoc and exposing intergenerational wounds, he and his community are working tirelessly to provide real healing.

Clarissa Pinkola-Estes, elder and poet once wrote:

Over the edge of the world you go,

into the abyss. You march in time.

And put the best medicine in the worst of the wounds.

Abre la Puerta, open the door.

In this regard, the community of the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness would like to support this effort in helping those who were injured and their families to heal from this tragedy. This is what is in our means to do - crisis intervention now, and maybe group healing sessions later. We can’t shut these doors forever.

Please consider making a donation. Please help spread the word.

Sincerely,

Daniel McQueen, Executive Director

Center for Medicinal Mindfulness

Additional Details for GoFundMe Fraud Protection Purposes

All donations are collected through the Medicinal Mindfulness Foundation non-profit for tax deduction purposes, and everything minus the gofundme fees will be sent directly to The Beloved Garden, as our fiscal sponsor, to provide individual and group counseling services for victims and their families of this attack.

Some of the raised funds will be used to support the therapists in their own healing work through group process sessions by paying for the space rental and other supplies. We plan to host a series of breathwork sessions to support the resolution of trauma and vicarious trauma for the therapists and the communities affected by the crisis in Israel. Helping the counselors stay resourced so they can keep supporting the community during this crisis is our primary objective.