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What are the current laws in the US when it comes to psilocybin and MDMA? How many hours of training is recommended? What are some of the non-negotiable best practice tips for setting up a positive and safe therapeutic psychedelic environment?
In this podcast episode in the psychedelic-assisted therapy series, Joe Sanok speaks about the politics, access, and best practices of psychedelic therapy in the US and Europe with Justin Townsend.
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Meet Justin Townsend
- Psychedelics and Law in the US
- Avoid underestimating the task at hand
- Justin’s best practice tips
- An overview of Justin’s retreats
- Justin’s advice to private practitioners
Psychedelics and Law in the US
On a federal level, MDMA is looking like it is going to be rescheduled at some point in 2024 and become legal for medical use.
Initially that would be a limited use type [of] role out, just for chronic treatment and PTSD, but undoubtedly as more research is done, it will expand beyond that limited use model. The same thing apparently is going to happen with psilocybin in the next two to three years. – Justin Townsend
Some high-ranking researchers like Roland Griffiths have said that psilocybin has a trans-diagnostic advocacy, and can be used in myriad ways to treat seemingly intractable and acute mental health conditions.
Avoid underestimating the task at hand
Since psychedelic medicine is becoming a hot topic in the mental health field, many people are understandably excited and curious about this re-discovered modality, but they may underestimate the amount of intention and training it takes to do it correctly.
Since the training is expensive because it is still relatively new, there is an accessibility issue.
However, this may create a niche space where people cut down on the hours of training to reduce the price, but this would end up costing the client a session that isn’t well handled if the clinician hasn’t received enough hours of training.
This is because some psychedelic sessions can go relatively quietly and calmly, but there can be moments of extreme nuance and action if a client discovers and begins to process a traumatic experience under the influence of the medicine.
About 25-30% [of clients] are going to have a challenging experience, and by challenging I don’t mean a bad trip, I mean that maybe there was a trauma that happened … years ago, maybe they are aware … or unaware that the trauma happened – because of dissociative amnesia – they’re going to recall fragments of memory of these traumas and at the same time their body is going to start to process the physiological and emotional responses to that trauma. (Justin Townsend)
These physiological and emotional processes can sometimes become “active” or even violent – in the sense that the client is not simply sitting or lying down but wanting to move around to various degrees.
Practitioners should be trained in how to safely constrain and restrain clients if it were to be necessary.
Justin’s best practice tips
- Conducting background checks on individuals through a licensing body or a police check
- Undergoing a long, extensive supervised training period before becoming certified to handle clients in a psychedelic environment on your own
- Undergo experiential training
The classroom pieces are fine, they give you the training of what you need to know, but being around clients consistently that will go through a powerful catharsis, learning to regulate around that, learning when to speak, when not to speak, and how to work well with other practitioners who are also working with that person in a nonverbal fashion is also key as well. – Justin Townsend
An overview of Justin’s retreats
1 – Clients need to fill out a very detailed application form regarding their mental and physical health
2 – A casual face-to-face Zoom interview with one of the therapists before the retreat to make sure they are mature enough and stable enough to work with these medicines
Between these two stages, they decline about 30% of applications due to there being signs or diagnoses of bipolar or borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, or other high-risk diagnoses which may not work well in this setting with these medicines
3 – Clients are sent a lot of material to read over before coming to the retreat and are asked to self-assess their mental health states
4 – Clients receive three therapeutic doses throughout the week
The reason for the three-dose protocol is that most of our guests are psychedelically naive. That first low dose gives them their first experience where they go into the shallow end of the pool, and that allows us to assess their sensitivity and tolerance … The second and third doses we increase substantially but we cater those to the needs of the clients and how they are responding. – Justin Townsend
5 – After the retreat, the clients receive the same self-assessing mental health rating scale
6 – Typically throughout the full experience, clients receive 30 to 40 hours of group therapy work as well as opportunities for one-on-one work
Justin’s advice to private practitioners
There is a lot that you may need to unlearn that you have been traditionally educated on when it comes to psychedelic therapy.
The typical doctor-patient relationship has a power dynamic, and with psychedelic therapy, those dynamics don’t work the same. There’s a more human-to-human authenticity and presence.
Lastly, integration is crucial, and bringing in the knowledge and understanding from the session into the rest of the client’s life beyond the retreat.
Sponsors Mentioned in this episode:
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Useful links mentioned in this episode:
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Check out these additional resources:
Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Series: Ayahuasca with Anon | POP 994
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Meet Joe Sanok
Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners who are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.
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