FIND OUT. CHILL OUT.

DanceWize is a peer-based alcohol and other drugs (AOD) harm reduction program that delivers services for music events and festivals. It is a unique program in Australia, which started as RaveSafe, a grassroots group in Victoria. DanceWize© has been a program of Harm Reduction Victoria (HRVic) since 1999 and is a Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) funded health promotion charity. The DanceWize program model was adopted in NSW in 2017 and is administered there by NUAA. HRVic is part of a national network which is able to support the emergence of similar programs in other parts of the country too. This network promotes health rights, human rights and harm reduction.

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The DanceWize program model utilises peer-based support to deliver education, provide resources and referrals about safer drug use, and related health and wellbeing issues at music events and festivals. Our team members have appropriate training and lived-experience to care for intoxicated persons or people who need other support in event and festival settings. Our Team Leads and Key Peer Educators and carers (KPEs) undergo a range of training including First Aid (HLTFA003), but we do not operate as a First Aid provider, as this is not the program’s objective. We work as part of an event's Health Emergency Management Plan (HEMP) and alongside health providers and other on-site services. The efficacy of this peer-based program model is evidence-based and in 2016 HRVic’s DanceWize won the Minister of Health’s award for Outstanding Achievement by Volunteers Supporting Diversity.

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DanceWize© have the resources to deliver full-scale peer support services on-site at a limited number of events each year, but we are designed as a public-private partnership. For example, DHHS covers our core operational costs, which allows us to offer subsidised services, and event organisers are expected to contribute toward our expenses on a cost-recovery basis.

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We are committed to empowering the music event and festival community, and engage in partnerships and other initiatives with our peers, so that what harm reduction is in Australia may continue to evolve at both a grassroots level and so as to allow for innovation within the music and festival industry.