Equipping the New Wave of Psychedelic Mental Healthcare Providers
PMHA Alliance is advancing the future of psychedelic-assisted therapy by equipping medical professionals and training programs with the tools to meet diverse community needs. This work is central to our Medicaid strategy: building a workforce that understands how social determinants of health shape access and outcomes is essential for creating Medicaid-fundable care models. Through partnerships with UPEP, Access to Doorways, and New York Medical College—and insights from new research we advised in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies—we’re ensuring that providers are trained to deliver culturally attuned, accessible, and effective care for high-impact and historically marginalized communities.”
Project Update: Access to Doorways Showcases Groundbreaking Research Methodologies at Psychedelic Science 2025
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Access to Doorways is leading a first-of-its-kind national study—the Black Psychedelic Learning Project (BPLP)—to document and elevate the experiences of Black practitioners entering psychedelic-assisted therapy training. The PMHA Alliance is proud to partner with Access to Doorways in advancing this historic effort.
At its heart, the project asks:
How do current training programs support—or fail to support—Black learners?
What cultural, ancestral, and community frameworks are missing?
How can training models be built that are ethical, culturally resonant, and community-led?
Progress So Far
The Access to Doorways research team has:
e Access to Doorways research team has:
Completed a literature review and secured community-based IRB approval
Established an Elder Council of Black therapists, healers, and advocates to guide the project
Launched the BPLP website and opened recruitment
Begun interviews and focus groups with Black learners
Presented their methodology at Psychedelic Science 2025
Early insights show that training programs too often replicate exclusionary patterns. For Black learners, community safety and cultural resonance are as essential as clinical competence. Practitioners frequently adapt dominant models by weaving in their own traditions—but they need systems that affirm and sustain them.
What Makes This Study Different
The BPLP is pioneering a new culturally resonant research methodology that redefines how psychedelic research can be done:
Elder Council & Community-Based IRB: Black elders and therapists guide design, ethics, and interpretation
Relational recruitment: Participants are reached through trusted Black-led networks
Liberatory data tools: Storytelling circles, ritual timelines, altar-building, music, and embodied practices
Ethics with depth: Ongoing consent, sacred knowledge protection, and report-backs in accessible formats like healing circles and zines
This is research as ceremony, research as community care, and research as liberation.
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Looking Ahead
Over the next two years, the study will:
Survey Black learners and interview leaders from 17 psychedelic facilitator training programs, including higher education institutions, certificate-granting training programs, and underground training and apprenticeship models
Publish findings in academic outlets to strengthen the evidence base for systemic change
Share insights, lessons, and wisdom beyond academic publications — across networks above and below ground, and most importantly, back to the communities where this research is rooted
Develop recommendations for culturally resonant, identity-informed program design
Advocate for systemic change across curricula, institutions, and funding priorities
And the methodology itself is designed to scale. Future studies will adapt this model with other affinity groups, including women, LGBTQIA+ practitioners, veterans, and Indigenous/First Nations communities.
Join the Inner Circle of Support
The PMHA Alliance has helped bring Access to Doorways and the Black Psychedelic Learning Project through its first year—laying the foundation and proving what’s possible. Now, to complete the study, Access to Doorways needs sustained funding for the next two years.
This is where you come in. By joining the circle of support, you help ensure this research is completed and that its wisdom, insights, and impact ripple outward—into training programs, policy change, and most importantly, back to the communities from which it began.
👉 Learn more at access2doorways.com/bplp
👉 To explore partnership, reach out to Courtney Watson, Executive Director of Access to Doorways, at courtney@access2doorways.com✨ Together, we can close the loop and ensure Black voices, wisdom, and leadership shape the future of psychedelic-assisted therapy.
University Psychedelic Education Program Opens 2026 Faculty Fellow Applications
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The University Psychedelic Education Program (U-PEP) has officially launched applications for its 2026 Faculty Fellow cohort .
U-PEP is a first-of-its-kind, philanthropically funded initiative equipping university faculty to bring evidence-based psychedelic content into classrooms across nursing, social work, medicine, psychology, and public health. Faculty Fellows are selected from accredited universities and supported free of charge.
Selected Fellows will receive:
A 5-day in-person Faculty Education Program at the Usona Institute
Individualized curriculum consultation and mentorship
Access to U-PEP’s online resource hub on Sabba with a shared curriculum library, community space, and expert network
Monthly learning sessions and an annual retreat at 1440 Multiversity
A national community of educators advancing psychedelic literacy in higher education
Applications are due December 5, 2025. The next virtual information session will be held on October 6 (7pm EST / 4pm PST). Interested faculty can request a Zoom link by emailing info@upep.org.
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PMHA Alliance is proud to have collaborated with U-PEP during its inaugural year. Co-Director Hanifa Nayo Washington contributed a recorded module on Ethics, Policy, and Access and joined a live Q&A with the 2025 Faculty Fellows. She is also listed as one of the experts in U-PEP’s SABBA directory, where Fellows can access a shared curriculum library, community space, and network of advisors.
This collaboration reflects PMHA Alliance’s commitment to ensuring that the next generation of educators and practitioners are trained not only in the science of psychedelic-assisted therapy but also in the values of equity, access, and community accountability.
The reach of U-PEP has already been significant. In its first year, the program welcomed 63 Faculty Fellows from 30 universities across 22 states—including several HBCUs—representing a wide range of institutions from large public universities to small colleges. Together, these Fellows teach thousands of students annually, meaning U-PEP is seeding psychedelic literacy across disciplines at scale. Fellows reported that the program’s immersive training at Usona Institute was among the most transformative professional experiences of their careers, equipping them with tools to introduce evidence-based, culturally responsive content into their curricula.
Looking ahead, PMHA Alliance and U-PEP are exploring ways to expand their collaboration by developing additional tools, modules, and resources to strengthen faculty preparation nationwide. With momentum building and applications for the 2026 cohort now open, this collaboration ensures psychedelic education in higher education is not only rigorous but also ethical, inclusive, and equity-centered.
New York Medical College Students Launch a Health Equity Focused Introductory PAT Workshop to Reach Thousands
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Expanding Access Through Education: New York Medical College Workshop Launches
We’re excited to share an update on PMHA Alliance’s ongoing collaboration with Dr. Mill Etienne and a team of students at New York Medical College—work we’ve been building together over the past year to help shape an access-informed psychedelic-assisted therapy workforce.
Together, we co-developed an introductory workshop on psychedelic-assisted therapy through an access-informed lens.
The Department of Neurology at NYMC announced the inaugural presentation of this workshop, developed in collaboration with PMHA Alliance, as a first-of-its-kind educational initiative. The workshop was co-created and presented by students Atara Schulhof, Kenna Martin, Akimi Sasaki, and Jafar Ali, alongside Dr. Mill Etienne. They later went on to present the workshop at the BNGAP (Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians) conference in August 2025, extending its reach to a national audience committed to diversifying the future of academic medicine.
As Dr. Etienne shared:
“The goal is to publish this on MedEdPORTAL so the workshop will be available to all U.S. medical schools, making it possible for institutions nationwide to hold these sessions and help train the next generation of healthcare providers.”
MedEdPORTAL is a peer-reviewed journal of teaching and learning resources published by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Acceptance into MedEdPORTAL would make this workshop widely accessible to medical schools across the country, ensuring it becomes a shared tool to advance access-informed psychedelic education.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Hanifa Nayo Washington noted:
“This collaboration has been a joy from the start. Thanks to Sandy Samberg, I connected with Dr. Etienne and these brilliant students early on, sharing tools on social determinants of health, barriers to care, and the roots of psychedelic-assisted therapy. To watch them take those seeds, grow this workshop, and launch it into the world has been deeply inspiring. I can’t wait to see how many more students it will reach.”
Shaping the Field: PMHA Alliance Supports Landmark Study on Therapists of Color in PAT, Published in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies
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We’re excited to share that a new peer-reviewed article, “Exploring barriers and opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) therapists in psychedelic-assisted therapy: A qualitative study”, has just been published in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies.
The study team: Yvan Beaussant, Candace Oglesby, Kim Roddy, Justin Sanders, and Manish Agrawal. We especially want to uplift Candace Oglesby, a licensed professional counselor, educator, and advocate whose leadership and voice continue to shape the field of psychedelic care for BIPOC communities.
PMHA Alliance Co-Director Hanifa Washington contributed as an advisor during the cognitive interview phase of the research, reviewing draft questions and providing feedback to ensure the study’s language was clear, culturally resonant, and meaningful for participants from diverse backgrounds.
Key Findings
Opportunities identified: BIPOC therapists can strengthen the field by increasing diversity in PAT, building trust with clients of color, and delivering culturally attuned care that acknowledges trauma linked to systemic oppression.
Barriers encountered: Therapists of color face structural hurdles including the high cost and limited availability of training, exclusionary or unwelcoming training environments, persistent stigma around psychedelics (often intensified by the legacy of the War on Drugs), and concerns about the extractive nature of Western therapeutic models.
Recommendations from participants: Develop culturally responsive training programs, provide financial assistance and mentorship opportunities, and expand community education to reduce stigma and foster broader engagement.
Limitations: Most participants identified as African American/Black, which may affect transferability of findings to other BIPOC groups.
Conclusion: BIPOC therapists play a vital role in advancing equity and cultural responsiveness in psychedelic-assisted therapy, but intentional structural changes are required to create equitable and identity-informed models of care.
Why It Matters
This study provides vital evidence that echoes PMHA Alliance’s mission: psychedelic-assisted therapy cannot expand equitably unless systemic barriers are addressed and marginalized voices shape the field. By documenting the lived realities of BIPOC therapists, the research strengthens the case for culturally resonant, community-centered models of training and care.
Aligned with our ongoing partnership with Access to Doorways on the Black Psychedelic Learning Project, this publication adds momentum to the call for training pathways that are identity-informed and equity-focused. Together, these efforts build toward a future where psychedelic therapy reflects, supports, and is led by the communities it intends to serve.
👉 Read the full article: Journal of Psychedelic Studies