🎯Community Building Strategy

The Foundation of Your Community

Developing Vision and Mission

Creating a clear and compelling vision and mission is foundational for any psychedelic society. Your vision defines the big-picture aspiration—the future you want to create—while your mission describes how your society will work toward achieving it.

You might be tempted to think that all psychedelic societies should have the same vision and mission. While there will definitely be overlap among societies, it is important to recognize that every city and country is unique and as such, the cultural backdrop for your society will impact the specific impact your society intends to have.

Developing a clear vision and mission is critical as they provide a roadmap for your society's growth and help attract community members who resonate with your purpose.

Steps to Develop Your Vision and Mission:

We’ve come up with the following steps which can be helpful if you are still looking to develop your vision and mission…

1. Clarify the Problem You Want to Solve:

   1. Ask: What gap or challenge in the psychedelic space does your society aim to address? What makes your society unique? How can our society be of service to our wider community here in ____?

      • Examples:

        • Providing harm reduction education.

        • Building a support network for integration.

        • Advocating for psychedelic policy reform.

        • Providing access to ceremony in different forms

        • Serving as a bridge between clients and practitioners

2. Dream Big, Then Focus Small:

   1. Your vision can be expansive, but your mission should focus on actionable steps.

   2. Example Vision: "A world where psychedelics are safely and ethically integrated into healing practices."

   3. Example Mission: "To educate and empower individuals through workshops, peer support groups, and community events."

3. Engage Stakeholders:

   1. Host brainstorming sessions with founding members or key stakeholders to co-create your vision and mission. If you truly want to create a society with community at the core, it’s encouraged to try and involve community members at as early of a stage in development as you can. When people are included in the development process for a community, they are much more likely to feel affinity and belonging towards that community.

   2. Ensure that your initial mission and vision statements resonate with the broader community first, and then see if you can specify the sentiment a bit more by aligning it with people who are closer to you and your geography.

   3. Given that the legal status of psychedelics is different in almost every city in the world, legality is one such factor that can impact the resonance of your mission and vision. For example, if your society is in a city or country that has very restricted policies around psychedelics, your mission and vision might be different that another society that has been established for five or more years.

4. Don’t Be Everything to Everyone

   1. It can be tempting to try and create a community that caters to all individuals… after all, it is likely that your vision involves creating a world where psychedelics are safely accessible to everyone.

   2. Due to limitations with resource allocation, cultural differences, legal differences and a variety of other factors, the truth is, you simply can’t create a community that is for everyone. In other words, you can’t necessarily create a community that feels safe for everyone. It’s tempting to believe that you can and should do this but the reality is, we need a variety of different communities to support different types of people.

   3. Seth Godin said it perfectly when he said…

      1. “If there is no structure, there is no community. Your job is to put up boundaries. Your job is to create barriers. Your job is to filter the molecules from one another to create the kind of energy that people want to enrol. It’s a bouncer that makes a nightclub work” - Seth Godin

5. Make It Public:

   1. Declare your vision and mission boldly on your website, social media, and at events. This can be a scary thing to do but remember… transparency fosters accountability and attracts like-minded individuals. The value you will get in voicing your intention and destination will attract more abundance and support to your initiative.

   2. Remember that nothing is set in stone in the early days of starting a society. Whether it’s your mission, vision, domain name, founding members, first community partner, first sponsor, community platform or anything else… these things can all be changed later on down the road. Now, it is important to be strategic and try your best to get as many of these things right the first time round… but just remember that things can and should change as you adapt to the feedback, concerns and ambitions of the people that you are serving with your community.

6. Evaluate and Refine Over Time:

   1. As your society evolves, periodically revisit your vision and mission to ensure they reflect your current focus.

   2. It might sound obvious but community building involves the community! If you are creating something with a top down.

Key Tips:

• Keep It Concise: Your vision and mission should be easy to understand and remember.

• Anchor in Values: Ensure they align with the principles that guide your community. If you have not created this yet, stay tuned for tips around this.

• Inspire Action: Use language that motivates people to join and contribute.

• Stay Focussed: Don’t be everything to everyone… at least not right away.

Developing Community Archetypes

Identifying your ideal community members—your "community archetypes"—is crucial for building a cohesive, engaged society. Understanding who you want to attract helps you tailor your activities, messaging, and resources to meet their needs and interests. While we have included this lesson after Mission & Vision, you might consider returning to your mission and vision after you complete these.

Steps to Develop Community Archetypes:

1. Start with Broad Categories:

   1. Consider the key groups your society might attract, such as:

      1. Seekers: Individuals exploring psychedelics for personal growth

      2. Integrators: People focused on post-experience integration.

      3. Preppers: People focused on preparing for a psychedelic experience

      4. Advocates: Those passionate about policy change and public education.

      5. Practitioners: Therapists, facilitators, or guides in the psychedelic space.

2. Dive Deeper with Personas:

   1. Create detailed profiles for each archetype, including:

      1. Demographics: Age, location, profession.

      2. Psychographics: Interests, values, goals.

      3. Challenges: What obstacles are they facing that your society can help address?

      4. Example:

         1. The Seeker

            1. Age: 28-45.

            2. Goals: Learn about psychedelics, connect with like-minded individuals, prepare for safe experiences.

            3. Challenges: Lack of trustworthy information, feelings of isolation. Inability to speak to loved ones or friends about interests.

3. Engage in Direct Research:

   1. Conduct surveys or interviews with potential members to validate your archetypes.

   2. Ask open-ended questions to learn about their needs and aspirations.

   3. Quantitative surveys can be very helpful here but if you are just starting out, don’t underestimate the value of simple conversations with friends and those that have invested initial time or money in your society or idea. You don’t have to have a ton of data to get key insights here… sometimes simply talking to 2-3 early adopters is all you need to get yourself set on the right track.

4. Design for Inclusion and Accessibility:

   1. While defining your archetypes, ensure that your society remains welcoming to those who may not fit into specific categories. There is a delicate balance here. As we mentioned, you can’t possibly be everything to everyone but with that said, it is important to ensure your community is inclusive.

   2. Anyone should be able to join your community and be met with compassion and an open heart.

5. Tailor Your Offerings:

   1. Use your archetypes to guide decisions on events, content, and communication.

      1. Example: If "Advocates" are a key group, host workshops on effective activism or policy reform.

      2. Example: If "Integrators" are a key group, host integration circles where people can discuss their psychedelic journeys and insights in a safe and supportive setting

Key Tips:

• Stay Flexible: Community needs evolve, so revisit your archetypes periodically.

• Look for Overlaps: Focus on shared interests among archetypes to foster connections across groups.

• Celebrate Diversity: Each archetype brings unique strengths that contribute to the vibrancy of your society.

Utilizing The Crawl Method

During your community design process, there is a useful framework called The CRAWL method which was created by DAYBREAKER co-founder Radha Agrawal.

The Crawl Method is a powerful framework to help you thoughtfully design the foundation of your community. By addressing each component—Constraints, Rituals, Aesthetics, Why + What, and Language—you help to further create a cohesive identity that fosters connection, engagement, and sustainability. Let’s summarize the different components of this process…

C – Constraints

Define the boundaries of your community to maintain focus and clarity.

• What is your community not about?

  • We have spoken quite a bit so far about defining what your community should be doing… but an equally, if not more, useful process to undertake is getting a clear picture of what your community is not about.

• What types of behavior, activities, or topics are outside your scope?

• Example: A psychedelic integration group may exclude discussions promoting unsafe practices or sales of substances.

R – Rituals

Establish meaningful practices that bring your community together and reinforce its culture.

• What recurring events, habits, or traditions will your community have?

• Example: Monthly integration circles, opening meetings with a grounding meditation, or celebrating member milestones.

A – Aesthetics

Shape the visual and sensory identity of your community to reflect its essence.

• What colors, imagery, or design elements represent your values?

• Example: A nature-focused society may use earthy tones, forest imagery, and a minimalist design to evoke connection and simplicity.

W – Why + What

Clarify your purpose…

• Why does this community exist?

• Why does it matter to your members?

• Why are people there

• Why this particular experience?

• Example: Why host an integration group? Because people need a safe, nonjudgmental space to process their experiences and foster personal growth.

L – Language

Develop a consistent and welcoming communication style.

• What tone, words, and phrases embody your community's culture?

• Example: Use inclusive, empathetic language to ensure members feel heard and valued. Avoid jargon that could alienate newcomers.

• By using the CRAWL method, you ensure that every aspect of your community is intentional and aligned with your vision. This approach fosters a strong sense of identity and belonging among your members, setting your society up for long-term success.

Developing Your Initial Offerings

It can be a bit daunting if you are at the start of your community building journey. The truth is, there is an infinite amount of things that you could do, but the key is focussing small first on a set of key offerings and then growing over time. When developing your initial offerings as a community, it can be helpful to look at what has worked well for other societies and then use that as a starting point - keeping in mind that every part of the world is going to have a different cultural backdrop and every community is going to have slightly different needs.

Importance of Consistency:

One of the most important things to focus on as soon as you can is consistency.

Having consistent offerings is one of the most critical factors contributing to a felt sense of community. It’s the difference between a random collection of events and a thriving community.

Whatever your offerings might be, it is important that people in your society can depend on them to be offered at a certain cadence. This does not have to be every day, week or month, but the more frequent your event cadence is, the more likely you are to provide the right kind of foundation to cultivate connection.

If you are just starting out your society, it might be beneficial to try and lock in a monthly cadence with one event type.

As you grow, you can look at increasing the different types of events you manage, as well as the consistency of them. Consistency ultimately allows your society members the opportunity to continuously connect with other members and it is this connection that is so important to facilitate as a community leader.

Suggested Offerings:

While every psychedelic society is unique, there are some offerings that are pretty common across all of them. Here are a few common top-level categories for events you might consider hosting with your psychedelic society.

1. Integration Circles

2. Seminars/Educational Events

3. Socials

4. Modality Offerings

   1. Breathwork

   2. Sound Baths

5. Advocacy Events

6. Parties

7. Dances

Integration Circles are one of the easiest event types to get started with because you do not need much equiptment… just a room and space to hold everything. Chairs are nice but even that is not necessary.

Educational events can also be an easier event to get started and manage. These could take the form of seminars, panel discussions, presentations and any other format that allows your society members to learn about new topics.

We invite you to take a look at the other societies found in the GPS network that have been around for a few years or more and take a look at what sort of offerings they have. Take inspiration and reach out to other psychedelic society leaders to learn about which event types have been the most successful for them.