Katy MacLeod

Founder and Director of Chill Welfare

Katy is the Founder and Director of Chill Welfare a 130+ volunteer led community interest company providing crisis intervention support around substance use and mental health at festivals across the UK and Ireland. This involves providing psychedelic care, harm reduction advice and supporting people who are experiencing acute mental health reactions.

Having worked as a DJ and promoter for many years prior to entering the harm reduction field, Katy is especially interested in the relationship between psychoactive substances and mental health. She is passionate about the need to provide better care and support to people who have difficult experiences or are experiencing first episode psychosis which has a significant impact on their longer term treatment outcomes. Katy’s research work focuses on emerging drug trends, she conducted a study back in 2016 on behalf of the Scottish Drugs Forum looking at motivations, patterns, and consequences of use of NPS which included exploring novel psychedelics.

Katy’s other work includes work with Scottish Drugs Forum as a National Training and Development Officer where she delivers training and conducts research on a variety of drugs, mental health and sexual health related topics. She is also a member of the expert steering group and is the Scottish representative for the Global Drug Survey. Katy has worked in a variety of front line harm reduction and recovery services for over 12 years in both residential and community based settings. She is currently undertaking an MSc in child and adolescent mental health and a diploma in psychodynamic counselling. As part of this work, she currently undertakes clinical work at a university and with an LGBT+ charity. Her areas of interest include emerging drug trends, psychedelics, safer nightlife, stigma, mental health and trauma.

More information about Chill can be found at their website.