Like anything new, the adoption of psychedelic therapy will require many changes to our normal ways of addressing mental health conditions. Education and current information is necessary for the evolution of a healing ecosystem of trusted care.
Psychedelic therapy is about to give birth to a whole new world of healthcare. New to the Western world that is, as psychedelics have been used as powerful healing tools by native cultures around the world for thousands of years. In this way of modernizing the use of psychedelics, there are lessons to be found in the history of penicillin.
During the 1950s, penicillin was widely seen as a wonder drug. However, evidence that molds can heal wounds predates the “discovery” of penicillin in 1928 by decades, if not much further back into antiquity. Thus some say of penicillin that “The discovery was old science, but the drug itself required new ways of doing science.”
This same mindset can also be applied to the adoption of psychedelic therapy. Everything that is old is new again. The healthcare industry will have to create an entirely new therapeutic infrastructure from the ground up, and develop community support groups, while offering treatment at the same time. This creates exciting, albeit, chaotic times.
Embrace Change
Times of great scientific discovery manifest enormous change. One of the biggest changes comes in the form of mass adoption. A sudden, exponential increase in a healthcare treatment, or in this case a type of therapy, brings about its own unique set of challenges. There are 3 main challenges:
1. Training and upskilling entire ranks of healthcare workers and therapists nationwide to handle a surge in treatments and patients.
2. A potential overwhelming of existing mental healthcare and therapy infrastructure depending upon the adoption of the discovery or treatment, and popularity thereof, by the general public. This requires preemptive building of treatment centers and clinics, which in the end may still not meet the need because of long wait times and lack of affordable psychedelic treatments.
3. A shift in the mindset of the general public towards mental health which increases openness towards psychedelic therapy, putting further pressure on infrastructure, systems and healthcare workers and therapists to meet the demand. This type of change in attitude also occurred with the arrival of penicillin. “Injunctions to the healthy were complemented by a moral disdain for those who lapsed and then succumbed to disease. The introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s converted illness into a strictly technical problem. In richer countries the avoidance of ‘germs’ gradually ceased to be a duty.”
Our current zeitgeist casts aspersions upon those struggling with mental health issues. This makes no sense as mental health is no different than physical health, yet a macho attitude to “eat the pain”, compartmentalize it and hide it in the closet, pervades our society. If the aftereffects of Covid-19 cause that attitude to dissolve out of sheer desperation, a tsunami of patients could flood the system.
Follow your Curiosity
Sign up to receive our free psychedelic courses, 45 page eBook, and special offers delivered to your inbox.Tsunami of Mental Health Crises
Where does that tsunami come from?
The 21st century mental health crisis afflicting the United States. The mental health crisis existed before Covid-19. Now that Covid-19 is running amok across the country and world, it’s hosing down the mental health crisis with kerosene. The lockdowns (unlockdowns and relockdowns), the quarantines, isolation, social distancing, disruption to habitual social routines and increased inability to connect with other human beings extracts a massive tax on mental health and wellness. As the United States stabilizes from the pandemic, do not doubt the coming high tide of people seeking healing from mental health issues, perhaps like nothing ever witnessed before.
In order to respond with agility, economy and force to this mental healthcare crisis, Psychedelic Support aims to establish a decentralized ecosystem of education for trusted providers, therapists, practitioners and community members to meet the learning needs for a super sensitive and novel field, where none has existed before. Learning something entirely new and creating it as time goes on, can be a daunting feeling.
Psychedelic Support is the go to source for top quality psychedelic therapy information, training, supervision, and learning so therapists and healthcare workers new to the field, have a trusted support resource to lean on, enabling them to follow the trail through the wilderness.
In a field that’s rapidly changing and shifting, relying on one’s peers, who also are the era’s leaders, visionaries and early adopters, assures access to the cutting edge information, knowledge and insights necessary to a successful therapy practice in a newly born world. The consequences for not responding to this imminent crisis will be catastrophic.
By applying the same solutions from an old system to a new problem, the healthcare system will fail spectacularly. The number of people needing mental health services and therapy in the near future may outstrip available infrastructure, resources and healthcare workers. The specter of mental health looms large and stands poised to burden the United States if not fully addressed. The adoption of psychedelic therapy must occur with considerations for access, affordability, and client-centric approaches.
Solutions for Adoption of Psychedelic Therapy
As the Psychedelic Support educational ecosystem and information network for psychedelic medicine blooms, and more therapists and healthcare workers join, it enables everyone to deliver the comprehensive, specialized care needed by the sufferers of the 21st century mental health crisis. The next step is to…
Find the others working in the field. Connect, collaborate, and learn with your peers.
Psychedelic Support offers solutions to streamline the adoption of psychedelic therapy:
1.) A free directory of licensed health providers and community groups. Private forums to discuss and connect around psychedelic topics – Join us now
2.) Accredited Ketamine, MDMA, and Psilocybin courses for continuing medical education (CE/CME) and general public education – Learn More.
3.) Promotion of our educational partners for ketamine therapy training for clinicians, setting up and operating psychedelic clinics, and deep dives into psychedelic-related clinical topics.
4.) Wide ranging resources at your disposal from plant medicine to integration practices, online workshops to in-person experiential trainings, as well as featured speaker and professional networking series.
5.) A library of articles from the Psychedelic Support Network and educational courses, including free courses on “Exploring Psychedelics” and “Harm Reduction Strategies”.
Plug into a trusted community of your peers to meet all your psychedelic therapy needs, save time and eliminate the hassle of scouring the mediascape. When a floodgate opening moment for psychedelic therapy arrives, Psychedelic Support will be the reliable, community and peer support network helping, forecasting problems and acting as a safety net during rapidly changing times.
