The field of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy has shown strong promise as an effective and safe means for treating a variety of psychological conditions. This model of treatment, with its reliance on psychedelic medicines as a powerful assistance within a psychotherapy treatment provides a model of care that bridges the neurobiological effects of psychoactive medication with the relational healing of depth-oriented psychotherapy, a holistic treatment of body and mind as inseparable facets of human experience.

Prohibitions on psychedelic medicines have had a significant impact on the field of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, profoundly limiting the development of research, theory, and technique. The psychotherapy training program at Alchemy aims to support the advancement of the field by facilitating the integration of what we know about psychedelic healing with the contemporary standards of practice within depth psychotherapy, trauma-informed care, and social justice theory.

The training model at Alchemy holds a more expansive view of psychological trauma than the current standard held by the American Psychiatric Association, as described in the DSM-5. Following the majority of contemporary trauma theorists, such as Janina Fisher, Bessel van der Kolk, Donald Kalsched, and Peter Levine, the Alchemy training program recognizes that trauma arrives in many different forms—not only acute experiences of shock trauma, but also the cumulative effects of such things as emotional neglect and abuse, the impact of systemic and cultural oppression, and household dysfunction. 

Psychological trauma can lead to a diverse and complicated set of symptoms, including addictive and compulsive behaviors, depression, anxiety, personality disorders, insecure attachment, suicide attempts, and poor physical health. The trauma-informed treatment model at Alchemy places primary importance on recognizing the patterns of a traumatized psyche and facilitating a holistic approach to treatment that can locate a variety of psychological difficulties a person may be experiencing at their root. Our training program teaches therapists how to help facilitate the patient’s development of various capacities that are impacted by trauma, including emotional regulation, body awareness, boundaries and limit setting, communication, emotional intimacy and interpersonal awareness, as well as self-care and the means by which one may live a more meaningful life. 

Our two-year model for the program is an acknowledgment that change takes time, especially when an individual has had to cope with symptoms for years and often decades. Healing from trauma, whether single incident or cumulative, requires a relationship that facilitates the growth of trust through consistency, genuine emotional engagement, and often multiple experiences of rupture and repair. We support our therapists in a long-term approach to psychotherapy, and when appropriate, we encourage them to take the patients they have worked with into private practice upon graduating from the training program.

The training program at Alchemy focuses on identifying how racism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, classism, ableism, and other “isms” show up in psychedelic medicine and mental health. Education around diversity is woven into the curriculum as an essential part of our training. Our program aims to help educate practitioners to be adept at sensitively broaching issues of difference in the therapeutic relationship and holds representation of non-dominant groups as a primary aim in intern recruitment.

We believe that making psychedelic medicine and psychotherapy more accessible to underserved populations can support the long-standing need for more equitable health care. In order to increase accessibility to quality treatments, Alchemy maintains practices of community-supported medicine, which includes a sliding scale.