Certificate Program in Psychedelic Facilitation

We will create an intimate learning environment with at most 25 trainees. One of our program goals is to develop and study best practices for the field of training programs. The limited enrollment will allow us to research and evaluate our program model and to disseminate the knowledge generated to scholarly and practitioner communities.

Five non-residential immersions will be delivered in Berkeley, California. Two residential retreats will take place in the greater Bay Area. Regular asynchronous and online, small group learning will complement this in-person instruction.

Standard enrollment fees for the training program are $12,000, which includes all instruction and retreat costs. Applicants who cannot afford to pay this amount may apply to be considered for financial aid. We offer Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Scholarships and need-based assistance, subject to donor support. Applying for aid is not a guarantee of an award. Monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual installments can also be arranged.

No, the enrollment fee is nonrefundable. 

Our application includes a $150 submission fee. A waiver option is available for those who cannot afford the application fee.

We prioritize applicants with advanced degrees in relevant fields and/or those with significant professional experience. We 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 are also well-positioned to disseminate the empirical knowledge base about psychedelic facilitation.

At the same time, 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. We value a range of work experience and wisdom. Our admissions team will evaluate each application on its unique merit.

The in-person meetings will take place on the dates listed in the program description. These immersions will include Friday and Saturday gatherings from 9:00am-5pm, and a Sunday gathering from 9:00am-3:30pm. Two offsite retreats will include extended days and hours. Admitted students will receive detailed information about programming before they commit to enrolling.

Following completion of the certificate program, trainees will possess specialized knowledge about the field of psychedelic facilitation. Healthcare providers may be able to support psychedelic care or research, where regulations permit, in their licensed roles. Religious professionals may be able to offer psychedelic preparation and integration support to members of their communities of faith who undergo psychedelic care, where regulations permit, in a healthcare or research setting.  

Participants will also gain experience in a series of meditations and positive psychology-based practices drawn from contemporary contemplative science and social psychology. These practices support self-care for the health professional as well as providing evidence-based mind and body benefits to their clients. 

Trainees who complete the program will not be licensed, certified, or otherwise sanctioned to provide psychedelic care in settings where regulations do not permit this work.

In addition to our 160 instructional hours, an additional 40 practicum hours are required for the completion of our certificate. About 300 hours of reading, writing, and other assignments will be required. The commitment is about eight hours of homework per week throughout the nine months of training.

We are an approved Psilocybin Facilitator Training Program (ID #TP-b174a696) through the Oregon Health Authority, and are currently in the process of pursuing HECC approval, with an anticipated provisional approval in 2023. The BCSP research team is also beginning an FDA-approved study of psilocybin in healthy volunteers. Therefore, our training will be focused on psilocybin. However, some research and case studies related to other psychedelic substances will be included. Many of the skills required for effective work with psilocybin will transfer to work in other legal settings.

BCSP has no formal affiliation with MAPS. However, many of our students and staff have completed the MAPS training or worked for MAPS in other contexts.

Though there is no way for an academic program to fully encapsulate the indigenous spiritual traditions surrounding psychedelic medicines, we do share a value within our program of honoring the indigenous traditions that have held healing practices with plant and fungus sacraments for thousands of years. One of our core team members, Susana Bustos, teaches about Ancestral Entheogenic Traditions in each module. Another core curricular area, Reciprocity and Ecological Awareness, includes perspectives from various traditional lineages. Our Spiritual Care curriculum also addresses various orientations to spiritual faith and practice, including indigenous perspectives. Lastly, our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion curriculum addresses the lived experience of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized groups in relation to psychedelic medicines.

Our students join our program as advanced professionals of varying ages and backgrounds. In 2022-2023, 40% of our student cohort members identify as BIPOC, as do half of our core instructional team members. Approximately 1/3 of our student cohort members identify as LGBTQ+, as do about 40% of our core instructional team members. We are fortunate to be able to provide significant scholarship support to marginalized groups, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized identities. In 2022-2023, 100% of students requesting aid were awarded scholarships at the level they requested. We also offer a fully funded mentorship program to students from these groups. The mentorship program pairs historically marginalized students with professionals in the psychedelic field from similar backgrounds to support their growth and development. Our DEI-specific curriculum receives approximately the same time and attention as other areas. It includes examinations of many different forms of marginalization, including race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. We aspire to weave DEI considerations into all areas of our program and represent voices that contribute to more culturally sensitive learning for marginalized communities. 

We cannot require direct psilocybin experience in a state or country that does not legally permit them. Many people don’t have access to plant medicines or fear legal consequences that disproportionately impact communities of color. However, we underscore the importance of first-hand experiences for our students and are doing our best to provide access, primarily through an FDA-approved study taking place on the UC Berkeley campus. While we acknowledge a scientific study in no way replicates a spiritual medicine ceremony, we trust that this unique form of access will support those who do not arrive with their own profound experiences. Secondarily, we are planning an immersion to Oaxaca, Mexico this summer so that students can meet and learn from traditional healers in that region. Lastly, as an OHA-approved training site, we look forward to providing practicum experiences for our students in the state of Oregon.

Many of our applicants do arrive with deep relationships with psychedelic medicines, and they are invited to share about that relationship in their application and interview. We take that depth of experience into account when determining admission and have provided an opportunity for unlicensed, traditionally trained facilitators of psychedelic medicines to apply as well.

Our core team members bring years of experience and assess each applicant for essential attributes such as humility, self-awareness, and commitment to social justice. All promising candidates are interviewed prior to admission and assessed for compatibility as a facilitator of psychedelic experiences. We hope students admitted to our program will leave deeply humbled by all they don’t know and committed to deep reciprocity in their future work. We intentionally recruit a racially diverse group of learners so that they may learn from one another’s experiences and perspectives and build alliances that support the psychedelic field going forward. We ask all our learners to examine their individual standpoints and worldview in service to cultivation of cultural humility.