As part of Resident Advisor's month of wellness offerings, we partnered with Ecology of Care, a new, ongoing series about community care, harm reduction and mental health for people and communities who are often at the fringes of society. Their panel discussion—which you can watch in the video below—included Pauli Cakes from the New York-based mutual aid platform and label Discakes; rafi from TS Raver a trans-led harm reduction collective; Kemoy Jemmott, a Black queer psychodynamic counsellor and sex educator; and jarral boyd, an allyship trainer, whose conversation inspired this list of resources for our wider community to better access and engage in mutual aid. As we enter increasingly uncertain and turbulent times, we encourage RA readers and the nightlife universe at large to foreground their physical and emotional wellbeing, and to bookmark these websites for the next time you or someone you know needs help. Ecology of Care notes that this roundup (and the larger list of resources on their website) is an ever-evolving work in progress, and should not be seen as definitive or complete.

Find a Counselor

- It's Complicated (International, Online)
  
  It's Complicated is an international counselling platform that allows you to search for the right therapist wherever you're located. You can filter by city, gender, identity, clinical approach, language and price point, and interface directly with therapists over encrypted messenger. The site—which was created by members of the nightlife community—also has its own blog, where you can read about different topics that intersect with the world of counselling: burnout, art therapy, partnerships in the time of Covid-19 and more.
- The Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (UK, Online)
  
  BAATN aims to address the inequality of access to psychological services faced by Black, African, South Asian and Caribbean people. They have an online directory of therapists—mostly of Black, African, South Asian and Caribbean heritage—who offer a "Black empathic approach" to counselling by forefronting the impact of racism on mental health. They also offer public events and healing spaces for members who want to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of the network.

Crisis Support

- Open Counseling (International)
  
  In a crisis, it can be difficult to identify the right course of action, especially if you or a friend aren't in a clear or stable state of mind. Open Counseling is a website that offers the numbers of 24-hour suicide hotlines in more than 50 different countries, as well as free and low-cost in-person counseling locations for people who want to explore different treatment options for emergency mental healthcare.

- Don't Call the Police (US, Online)
  
  Founded in June 2020, Don't Call the Police is an online directory of local resources available as alternatives to calling the police or 911 when you're faced with a situation that requires de-escalation. It also has resources specific to LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities, issues related to domestic and sexual assault, eating disorders, substance use and abuse, living on the street and more for those who are looking for guidance with particular problems. If you’re based in Berlin, you can use Berliner Kriesendienst (which also offers services in English and other languages).

Trans Rights

- Trans Lifeline (US, Canada, Online)
  
  Trans Lifeline is a trans-run grassroots hotline and NGO that connects trans, genderqueer, nonbinary and intersex people, and builds community-based alternatives to the ways trans people have been policed, pathologized and targeted by oppressive systems. Some of its offerings include peer-to-peer hotlines, legal consultations, conferences, queer gaming, fund redistribution and migration support. While Trans Lifeline's phone numbers operate across the US and Canada, many of its resources are also available online.
- Transfuzja (Poland, Eastern Europe)
  
  Belonging to the LGBTQ+ community in conservative countries can be dangerous—even life-threatening—which is where Transfuzja comes in. The Polish NGO supports the mental heath and wellbeing of queer and trans people in Eastern Europe by supporting them through the transition process, providing legal advice for judicial gender reassignment and conducting trainings and workshops for schools and companies that want to educate their employees on inclusivity.

Harm Reduction

- Vital Strategies (International, Online)
  
  This toolkit created by Higher Ground Harm Reduction, provides fact tips, info sheets and other guidance for people who use drugs, engage in sex work and are unhoused. If you have questions about how to stay safe from infection if you're living on the street, how to make a safe face mask for yourself if you lack the funds to buy one or how to acquire and administer naloxone during the pandemic, this website is your one-stop shop.
- Dance Safe (US, Canada)
  
  We mentioned the electronic music NGO Dance Safe in our feature about the fentanyl epidemic in New York, but it's an organization worth bringing up again. The public health initiative has two fundamental operating principles: harm reduction and peer-based education. In addition to selling testing kits for safer drug use, it also works directly with promoters to ensure their events have proper onsite drug testing and first aid response, provide free water and create safe spaces for women and vulnerable communities.

Rest and Healing

- Rest for Resistance (New York, Online)
  
  QTPOC mental health resource Rest for Resistance offers meditation sessions for LGBTQ+ people of color in New York City as well as community-led opportunities for rest, relaxation and journaling online. You can also browse their regularly updated blog, which features literature from the QTPOC community about how to heal from trauma and sexual assault, as well as more celebratory writings, like the joy of being an indigenous two-spirit person.

Strategies and Mutual Aid Toolboxes

- Dean Spade Project (Online)
  
  Dean Spade is an American lawyer, writer, trans activist and professor at Seattle University School of Law. His online portfolio offers an entryway to a number of mutual aid resources for the trans community. Documentaries about pink washing, resources for activists working to end the prison industrial complex and interviews with mutual aid project initiators are among some of the issues Spade regularly posts about on this comprehensive website.
- Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective (Bay Area, Online)
  
  Transformative justice provides alternatives to the criminal justice system by responding to violence and crime with social rehabilitation. The Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective (BATJC) is a community group based out of Oakland working to build and support transformative justice responses. Their Pods and Pods Mapping worksheet is a helpful starting point for anyone interested in learning more about the transformative justice framework.