Are you prepared to answer questions from your clients about psychedelic therapies? The field of psychedelic medicine is rapidly evolving. Psychedelic continuing education is necessary for all health professionals. Here, we explore options for courses, workshops, and training programs.
As the emerging industry of psychedelic medicine picks up its pace, physicians and mental health providers need to get up to speed with current information. The number of clinical trials investigating psychedelic drug products has increased dramatically in the last two years. These trials are looking at the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for a variety of mental health conditions. Additionally, they are looking at central nervous system disorders like traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, and headache disorders. Given the seemingly infinite number of possible substances and drug-therapy combinations, how will health professionals assimilate the evidence base needed to provide safe and effective patient care?
Psychedelic therapy training programs are becoming more widely available. However, most focus on single substances, like ketamine or MDMA, in one therapeutic framework. Each specialized psychedelic training program has a hefty price tag, ranging from $2,000 to $10,000. While these programs are necessary to prepare the clinical workforce for the anticipated release of FDA-approved psychedelic medicines, there remains a need for ongoing psychedelic continuing education for professionals.
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Sign up to receive our free psychedelic courses, 45 page eBook, and special offers delivered to your inbox.Preparing for the Future of Psychedelic Medicine
Imagine the future of psychiatric medicine in five to seven years, where a doctor could choose from twenty different antidepressant medications that fall under the umbrella of “compounds with psychedelic effects.” All these medications will have different pharmacological profiles with various safety considerations.
Both research and real-world clinical practice data will determine who the medications are best suited for, what conditions they are most effective in treating, what pharmaceutical medications they contraindicate with, and how to deliver treatments for the highest likelihood of long-lasting outcomes. Psychedelic continuing education will be the only way to inform health professionals about best practices and safety guidelines.
Regardless of the reasons for use, health providers are more frequently getting questions from their patients about psychedelic therapies and risks. Most providers lack the necessary knowledge to answer these questions.
To promote safe use and reduce potential harms, healthcare providers must become familiar with psychedelic substances’ pharmacology, clinical trial findings, subjective effects, dosing, adverse effects, contraindications, risk profiles, and harm reduction practices. This information constantly evolves as research expands and researchers develop new compounds and methods.
Continuing Education for Competency
Psychedelic continuing education equips practitioners with evidenced-based information to feel confident in having conversations with their clients about psychedelics. To start, clinicians should be fluent in the terminology the emerging field of psychedelic medicine commonly uses. Communication relies on shared understanding. We need clearly defined words to converse in meaningful ways that people understand widely across the industry.
In the present day, more people are trying psychedelic substances after reading about their potential health benefits published in media reports and trending in online forums. Some individuals are trying to gain therapeutic benefits at home, without professional supervision, by following procedures similar to those described in clinical trials. Others are experimenting with microdosing protocols to amplify creativity and boost productivity.
Once we have a basis for communication, we can move on to higher levels of proficiency by learning about foundational concepts and psychedelic applications in therapeutic frameworks. With ongoing psychedelic continuing education, practitioners can grow their skill sets and build confidence in creating personalized treatment plans and recommendations for their clients.
All Health Professionals Need Education
Even if clinicians don’t plan on administering psychedelic medicines, they still must stay up to date on current treatment approaches. After just a few years, ketamine therapy is now widely available for mental health conditions, mainly through off-label prescriptions. Yet, the majority of health providers have not received any continuing education or formal training on ketamine therapy. There are no formal regulatory requirements for ketamine therapy certification or training. As such, we recommend that providers get started with earning CE/CME to understand how to safely and effectively deliver ketamine.
Currently, there are very few options available for mental health providers and doctors to receive psychedelic continuing education (CE) and continuing medical education (CME). At Psychedelic Support, we have curated online courses with the latest information from clinical trials and leading experts.
Our well-researched courses meet the standards of established medical associations, such as the American Psychological Association (APA), for continuing education credits. These engaging courses and training programs offer the medical community the most vital information on psychedelic medicine. We partner with clinicians and researchers to deliver cutting-edge education rooted in science and evidence-based practices.
Our psychedelic continuing education encompasses self-paced learning, virtual classroom discussions, monthly guest speakers, and multimedia lessons. We provide you with a stimulating and engaging educational experience. The foundational courses in ketamine, MDMA, and psilocybin are the best place to start for establishing a solid understanding of psychedelics. Importantly, we create our content independent of pharmaceutical commercial interests so that we may deliver unbiased, safety-forward instruction.
Get Certified to Administer Psychedelics
More extended training programs are available for becoming a certified psychedelic-assisted therapist. We partner with the best-in-class to ensure that practitioners receive the necessary skills, experiential learning, and supervision to administer psychedelic therapies. But again, since many new compounds and therapies are currently under development, the need for psychedelic continuing education will remain at the forefront as the field expands.
Ready to get started? Enroll now in our psychedelic continuing education courses, training programs, and workshops. We offer affordable options for clinicians, medical professionals, and anyone who wishes to learn more about psychedelic therapies.
