FAQ

The staff created an intimate learning environment with 24-60 trainees in each cohort. One of the program goals was to develop and study best practices for psychedelic facilitation training programs. The limited enrollment allowed the team to research and evaluate their program model and to disseminate the knowledge generated to scholarly and practitioner communities.

Five to six non-residential, in-person modules were delivered in Berkeley, California each year, as well as one residential retreat each year that took place at retreat centers in Northern California. Regular asynchronous and online, small group learning complemented the in-person instruction.

Standard enrollment fees for the training program were $10,000-$14,000, which included all instructional costs. Optional practicum hours were offered at an additional fee. Applicants who could not afford to pay these amounts applied to be considered for financial aid. We offered Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Scholarships and need-based assistance, subject to donor support. Applying for aid was not a guarantee of an award. 

The application included a $175 submission fee. A waiver option was available for those who could not afford the application fee.

The staff prioritized applicants with advanced degrees in relevant fields and/or those with significant professional experience. They recognize that the nature of safe, effective psychedelic facilitation requires a depth of professional judgment and self-awareness that grows deeper with time and relevant experience. Those in supervisory or teaching positions were also considered well-positioned to disseminate the empirical knowledge base about psychedelic facilitation.

Some professions (e.g., nursing, occupational therapy) require only a bachelor’s degree to provide a large portion of their direct patient care. International credentialing programs often differ from those in the United States. Traditional healers and practitioners with longstanding, rigorous training in other contexts may not have completed a formal degree but may possess deep experiential knowledge. The staff valued a range of work experience and wisdom. The admissions team evaluated each application on its unique merit.

Most modules included Friday and Saturday gatherings from 9:00am-5pm, and Sunday gatherings from 9:00am-3:30pm. Other modules included extended days and hours.

Following completion of the certificate program, trainees possessed specialized knowledge about the field of psychedelic facilitation. Healthcare providers could support psychedelic care or research, where regulations permitted, in their licensed roles. Religious professionals could offer psychedelic preparation and integration support to members of their communities of faith who were undergoing psychedelic care, where regulations permitted, in a healthcare or research setting.  

Trainees who completed the program were not licensed, certified, or otherwise sanctioned to provide psychedelic care in settings where regulations did not permit psychedelic work. To learn about what program alumni got involved in, please visit our Alumni Voices page.

In addition to the required 160 instructional hours to complete the basic certificate, 40 additional practicum hours were required to qualify for Oregon or Colorado licensure. Additionally, about 160 hours of outside reading, writing, and other assignments were required as preparation for the in-person modules (about four to five hours of homework per week through the nine months of training).

The program was an approved Psilocybin Facilitator Training Program (ID #TP-b174a696) through the Oregon Health Authority, as well as the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission. Our training was focused on psilocybin (legalized at the state level via voter mandates in Oregon,Colorado and New Mexico as of April 2025), MDMA (currently being discussed at the federal level with regard to FDA research), and ketamine (currently legal for prescription use). Many of the skills required for effective work with these medicines transfer to work with other psychedelics in legal settings. Traditional medicines such as ayahuasca, huachuma, peyote, and iboga are also mentioned throughout the training, though specific techniques for working with these belong with their lineage-holders.

The UC Berkeley Psychedelic Facilitation Certificate Program had no formal affiliation with MAPS. However, many of our students and staff had completed the MAPS training or worked for MAPS in other contexts, and one of the program’s core instructors, Dr. Sylver Quevedo, served as a lead Co-Principal Investigator for multiple MDMA clinical trials.

Though there is no way for an academic program to fully encapsulate the Indigenous spiritual traditions surrounding psychedelic medicines, the team did share a value within the program of honoring the Indigenous traditions that have held healing practices with plant and fungus sacraments for thousands of years. Some of its guest instructors, including Dr. Susana Bustos, Ariel Clark, and Joe Tafur, taught about Ancestral Entheogenic Traditions. One of its core instructors, Dr. Sylver Quevedo, taught about Reciprocity and Ecological Awareness, including perspectives from various traditional lineages. The Spiritual Care curriculum also addressed various orientations to spiritual faith and practice, including Indigenous perspectives. Lastly, the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion curriculum addressed the lived experience of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized groups in relation to psychedelic medicines.

Students joined the program as advanced professionals of varying ages and backgrounds. The staff were proud to welcome the program’s largest and most diverse cohort ever in 2024-2025: approximately 50% of the student cohort members and core instructional team members identified as BIPOC; approximately 40% of the 2024-2025 student cohort members identified as LGBTQIA+, as did about 50% of the core instructional team members; and 35% of the student cohort members were 1st or 2nd-generation immigrants. 

The staff was fortunate to be able to provide significant scholarship support to marginalized groups, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, veterans, and other marginalized identities. In 2022-2023, and 2023-2024, 100% of qualified students requesting aid were awarded scholarships at the level they requested, representing 30% of our enrollment fees. In spite of a reduction in funding in 2024-2025, the staff was able to award 20% of the program’s enrollment fees in scholarships to JEDI students.

The JEDI mentoring program provided students with access to psychedelic professionals from historically marginalized backgrounds. The offering supported the growth and development of marginalized students in the field, and provided the groundwork for students from more privileged backgrounds to improve their outreach and ally-ship to marginalized groups.

The program’s JEDI orientation spanned the curriculum, and included examinations of many different forms of marginalization, including race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. The staff aspired to weave JEDI considerations into all areas of the program and represent voices that contributed to more culturally sensitive learning for marginalized communities.

As a federally funded institution, we could not require or encourage direct experience with substances that were not federally legal. The program recognized that many people don’t have access to legally protected plant medicines or fear legal consequences, and acknowledge that legal consequences can disproportionately impact communities of color.

Optional experiences that were both safe and legal were available via the program and/or community affiliates to fulfill practicum requirements.

Many of the program’s applicants, as well as many of its instructors, arrived with deep relationships to psychedelic medicines, and all were invited to share about that relationship in their application, interview, or enrollment periods. The team took each person’s depth of experience into account when determining admission and provided an opportunity for unlicensed, traditionally trained facilitators of psychedelic medicines to apply as well.

The program’s core team members brought years of experience and assessed each applicant for essential attributes such as humility, self-awareness, and commitment to social justice. All promising candidates were interviewed prior to admission and assessed for compatibility as a facilitator of psychedelic experiences. The staff hopes students who completed the program left deeply humbled by all they don’t know and committed to deep reciprocity in their future work. The staff intentionally recruited a racially diverse group of learners so that they might learn from one another’s experiences and perspectives and build alliances that supported the psychedelic field going forward. They asked all learners to examine their individual standpoints and worldview in service to the cultivation of cultural humility.