Clinical Psychedelic Lab Project #3: Psychedelic-assisted Therapist Training

Most psychedelic patients and therapists hold the view that a clinician’s competence to work with psychedelics is partly dependent on their own experiential familiarity with, and ability to navigate, profoundly unfamiliar and ineffable psychedelic experiences. Our lab conducted a world-first pilot study assessing the value of psilocybin as a therapist training tool, which supports this view. Although this approach was common during the initial wave of psychedelic therapy and remains highly sought after by patients, opportunities for such training are limited, and little is known about the benefits, risks, and methods for delivering this form of training. Our lab is developing a therapeutically driven, expert-informed framework for psychedelic therapist competencies, and plans to conduct a next-stage study evaluating the utility of psychedelic-assisted professional training. The Clinical Psychedelic Lab at Monash University is Australia's first psychedelic lab, leading a rigorous program of research in psychedelic medicine that seeks to evaluate therapeutic effects, innovate on treatment design, mitigate known risks, explore potential drawbacks, and understand therapeutic mechanisms. We're a warm and ambitious group of researchers and clinicians working to develop and test best practice across multiple psychedelic therapies and for several different mental health conditions. There are various active and upcoming projects within the group, and this project is listed as an example among many options. To see other possible project ideas, visit this page: https://www.monash.edu/medicine/scs/clinical-psychedelic-lab/support-us To find out more about the lab, go to www.monash.edu/psychedelics