Canadian Health Professionals Approved to Undergo Psilocybin Therapy for Training Purposes

This week, Canadian based non-profit patient rights advocacy organisation 'TheraPsil' was approved to provide the first legal psilocybin-assisted therapy to 5 health professionals, for training purposes.

This is the first time this has been done in Canada, since psilocybin was made a controlled substance in 1974.  

These healthcare professionals were all part of TheraPsil's Therapy training Program, and included a Palliative Care Physician, Emergency Medicine Doctor, Clinical Psychologist, Registered Clinical Counsellor and a Registered Nurse. This occurred following an advocacy campaign led by TheraPsil, resulting in the first wave of exemptions for psilocybin-therapy training being issued by the Federal Health Minister.

The exemptions allow healthcare practitioners to use, possess, and transport psilocybin mushrooms, “where psilocybin is used for the purpose of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy training in accordance with the TheraPsil Training Protocol and TheraPsil Curriculum”.

TheraPsil states that "experiential learning with psilocybin – where trainees undergo their own psilocybin journeys and guide their cohort peers through the psilocybin therapy process – is a crucial learning module that best prepares healthcare professionals to provide this unique therapeutic modality for their patients and clients". 

One of the doctors in the cohort said “..I needed to have this experiential training. It was essential in order for me to be able to properly prepare and guide my approved patients through their own psilocybin-therapy experience. Patients are so physically and mentally vulnerable during treatment as psilocybin opens the brain to new, healing neuronal connections.  The trained therapist is crucial to helping the patient establish these new thought patterns and apply them in their lives.  I would like to thank Minister Hadju for enabling health professionals, such as myself, to use psilocybin mushrooms for their own training in accordance with globally established protocols.” 

For more updates on the latest psychedelic news and research, visit the psychedelic health professional network homepage.