Thanks for your interest in volunteering.
We are now accepting volunteer applications for the Otago region – particularly around Tāhuna/Queenstown and Wānaka.
To be added to the waitlist, please email us at volunteer@knowyourstuff.nz with a little bit about you, including what region you’re based in.
KnowYourStuffNZ welcomes anyone that wants to offer their time and get involved in helping reduce drug-related harm in Aotearoa. You don’t need any specific experience or education to volunteer with us.
You’ll join a growing community of volunteers working to give people information that can save their lives.
Ways you can help out:
Donate
We rely on donations to make our service possible. Donating is the easiest way to help the cause. Visit the Donations page for more info, including how we spend donations.
Frontline drug checking — Doing the science and giving harm reduction advice
As you can imagine, we need a LOT of people that are willing to travel to festivals and help out with testing. You don’t need a background in chemistry to do this, just be willing to talk to people.
FTIR spectrometer and reagent training
We’ll teach you everything you need to know to do the drug checking. We hold regular training events online and in-person in Auckland, the Waikato, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. You’ll need to complete your foundational training before attending a drug checking event.
Once you’ve done your training it’s a good idea to volunteer for a couple of public drug checking clinics to get the hang of working the spec, identifying substances, and giving harm reduction advice to people.
Event volunteering for festivals is done on an on-call basis.
Advocacy — talking to people about our work
Winning hearts and minds doesn’t happen instantly. We need people to talk to MPs, health professionals and event organisers about our work so they can see the value in what we do.
Behind the scenes support — keep KYSNZ ticking over
We’re always looking for people to help with administration, accounting, legal and policy, logistics, fundraising, communications – all the things that make the KnowYourStuffNZ organisation run well.
If you’re interested in helping behind the scenes, please email volunteer@knowyourstuff.nz with a little bit about you and the skills you could offer.
How do I get involved?
Send an email to volunteer@knowyourstuff.nz with a little bit about you, including what region you’re based in. We bring volunteers on in cohorts, so you’ll be notified once we’re ready to onboard a new cohort and be given access to our volunteer sign-up form.
Once we’ve got your info you’ll have access to our Volunteer Portal and be signed up to the volunteer newsletter. Then we will start the process of training you in how to do drug checking and harm reduction.
In return for helping us, you get some sweet perks:
- Free entry to the event you’re working
- Reimbursed travel costs to the event you’re working
- A fancy KnowYourStuffNZ crew shirt
- Interesting work with a fantastic team
- A massive dose of spec-tested warm fuzzies for helping out your community
If this sounds like your cup of tea, we’d love to hear from you!