How could psychedelics-assisted therapy be scaled up? Isn’t this super hard because you need at least two trained professionals on multiple lengthy occasions? Where will those people come from?
There’s a lot of good work being done on this important question. Several new training programs have been started, but there is also research to see if there are other, more efficient models of therapy besides the traditional two facilitator model—group therapy is one; designing treatment suites where one therapist can guide several patients at once, etc. But the Psychedelic Science Funding Collaborative estimates that 100,000 facilitators will be needed in the next decade, so this is a potential bottleneck to scaling psychedelic therapy. It’s also an opportunity for philanthropy.
There are already multiple training programs for people interested in professional psychedelic therapy. I expect such programs to grow and new, rigorous ones to be developed, but I generally don’t think lack of of therapists will be a bottle neck. I think the challenges for scaling will be more in terms of paying for the treatment model by insurance, and governments programs such as Medicare and the VA. And as discussed in another response, I think cheaper treatment models need exploration, for example group therapy.
You may be interested in looking at Fluence and Polaris for ketamine-assisted psychotherapy training and the MAPS MDMA-assisted psychotherapy trainings.
How could psychedelics-assisted therapy be scaled up? Isn’t this super hard because you need at least two trained professionals on multiple lengthy occasions? Where will those people come from?
There’s a lot of good work being done on this important question. Several new training programs have been started, but there is also research to see if there are other, more efficient models of therapy besides the traditional two facilitator model—group therapy is one; designing treatment suites where one therapist can guide several patients at once, etc. But the Psychedelic Science Funding Collaborative estimates that 100,000 facilitators will be needed in the next decade, so this is a potential bottleneck to scaling psychedelic therapy. It’s also an opportunity for philanthropy.
There are already multiple training programs for people interested in professional psychedelic therapy. I expect such programs to grow and new, rigorous ones to be developed, but I generally don’t think lack of of therapists will be a bottle neck. I think the challenges for scaling will be more in terms of paying for the treatment model by insurance, and governments programs such as Medicare and the VA. And as discussed in another response, I think cheaper treatment models need exploration, for example group therapy.
Are there training programs you’d recommend for those who are wanting/ready to explore this field like myself? Any resources would be great!
You may be interested in looking at Fluence and Polaris for ketamine-assisted psychotherapy training and the MAPS MDMA-assisted psychotherapy trainings.