Foundational Knowledge

Students will be able to:

• Describe the historical and current role of plant medicines in various wisdom traditions and identify key differences and shared principles across cultures;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the cultural impact of psychedelics in the West;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the basic pharmacology and neuroscience of psilocybin;
• Understand key milestones in science and research relating to the ongoing development of psilocybin use as an adjunct to therapy over the last 65 years;
• And comprehend relevant ideas and theories relating to consciousness, personal transformation, and the psychedelic experience.

Core Facilitation Skills

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a capacity and commitment to facilitate from an embodied, grounded, supportive presence;
• Develop core communication skills necessary to render psilocybin services in a participant-centered manner;
• Develop skills to strengthen rapport and alliance with participants;
• Demonstrate key understandings and skills relating to psychedelic facilitation / working with non-ordinary states of consciousness during a personal process of transformation;
• Understand considerations when working with diverse populations;
• Develop and practice flexible self-care systems that support the physical, mental, relational, spiritual, and emotional capacities necessary to do this work;
• And to define problematic facilitator dispositions and interactions and explain how each can interfere with one’s work as a psilocybin facilitator.

Intake and Orientation

Students will be able to:

• Conduct a preparation session that includes screening, applying scope of practice, safety planning, alliance building, and appropriate expectation setting;
• Assess a participant’s readiness for psilocybin services and make final determinations regarding a participant’s goodness of fit;
• Orient a participant regarding what to expect from the service sequence and the psilocybin experience itself, while providing helpful advice;
• Understand and learn to establish a facilitator’s role, responsibilities, and authority with participants;
• And describe and discuss various dosing strategies and considerations.

Psilocybin Administration

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of what is required to facilitate an effective, safe, and smooth entry into a psilocybin experience;
• Develop an understanding of skills and considerations necessary to effectively facilitate a safe psilocybin experience;
• And demonstrate an understanding of skills, processes, and criteria involved in completing a psilocybin experience.

Varieties of Experience

Students will be able to:

• Learn how to identify and hold space for specific psychedelic experiences;
• Learn to identify, describe, and internalize facilitator characteristics and skills related to effectively working with challenging experiences and behaviors during session;
• Identify and respond appropriately to forms of psychological distress common to the psilocybin experience;
• Learn how to identify and respond appropriately to difficult or challenging behaviors that can arise during a psilocybin session;
• And demonstrate a capacity to identify and work with repressed trauma rising to the surface of consciousness during a psilocybin experience.

Integration

Students will be able to:

• Describe what integration is, the goals of the integration phase and its importance to healing, as well as communicate guidelines for an effective integration experience;
• Learn how to incorporate open-ended questions that support effective integration;
• And learn how to assess the impact of integration and recommend additional integration / therapy as needed.

Group Facilitation

Students will be able to:

• Identify and incorporate group considerations during intake process;
• Demonstrate a capacity to orient participants effectively within a group-based orientation;
• Understand and demonstrate essential skills involved in facilitating a small group;
• Demonstrate an understanding of how to facilitate a group psilocybin ceremony;
• And demonstrate an understanding of how to conduct integration in a group format.

Ethics and Responsibilities

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate an awareness of the important ethical issues related to being a psilocybin facilitator and a commitment to living / implementing core values;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the ethical dimensions around working across diverse social locations and cultures;
• Develop a strategy to take responsibility for professional development, leadership presence, and impact on others;
• Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act and related laws, regulations, and professional standards as they pertain to the rights and ongoing professional obligations of licensed Facilitators;
• And develop a strategy for being an active agent of transformation, grounded in the emerging research of the field.