A voluntary organisation that provides psychological care to festivalgoers across the country has issued an appeal for funding and for event promoters to make attendees’ welfare a priority.
Using a core team of nurses, doctors and psychotherapists, Psycare’s services include 24-hour welfare support, specialised drug crisis intervention, mental health assistance and harm reduction education.
While the service, which was established in 2021, helps take the burden off medics at festivals, “all volunteers are properly trained in the signs that someone might need a medic instead”, said volunteer Deirdre Mullins, speaking at the Psycare tent at Another Love Story festival at Killyon Manor in Co Meath last weekend.
Psycare had made it a compulsory part of its service agreement that it was sited “right next door to medics”, she said.
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Inside the tent was a dimly lit, relaxing space with soft cushions and blankets to help people wind down, and a station to make cups of tea and chat to volunteers. Users of the service may have been overcome with drugs, had news of a bereavement or suffered some other issue.
Outside, there was an infographic about the risks associated with various drug combinations, ranging from moderate risk to higher risk, to “help people reduce the harm”, said Ms Mullins. “That gets a lot of people stopping by and having conversations. It’s all about awareness”.
This was Psycare’s third year at Another Love Story, volunteer Declan Hammond said. “But most festivals aren’t even aware there’s such a thing available.”
At a festival like Another Love Story, there was “a more mature crowd”, so there was not the same need as bigger festivals with younger crowds.
Volunteers report that at some other festivals, dozens of people arrived at the Psycare tent in the first hours seeking help after drinking or taking drugs for hours on the journey to the site.
“Festivals who are aware of the need for this kind of thing work with us every year, but many of the bigger festivals will tell us they have no budget for it,” Mr Hammond said.
Due to the rising costs of running a festival these days, “when organisers are telling us what they’re willing to spend money on, some have told us that welfare is lower in the order of priorities”, volunteer Paul Kinsella said.
The cost of providing Psycare at a festival was “very minimal”, he said, adding that all of the 150 trained to work with Psycare did so on a voluntary basis.
“This organisation is running entirely on the goodwill of the people involved, but that’s not going to be sustainable long term. We’re barely covering our own costs,” he said, adding that he hoped to make councils and the Garda see that a welfare service was necessary and should be part of licensing provisions for events. “It should be the same as medical or security. It’s just as important.”
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