Psilocybin Assisted Therapy

Psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic mushrooms,” is enjoying a cultural renaissance. From healing retreats down south to serious medical trials, psilocybin-assisted therapy is crawling from the counterculture to the mainstream.

In Canada, medical access is still tightly regulated by Health Canada. Many clients who have been granted legal access to psilocybin assisted therapy have spoken of their experience as being profoundly assistive in easing chronic depression, trauma symptoms, or end-of-life anxiety. For them, psilocybin held a key for healing conditions that frequently defy standard talk therapy.

To me, helping people reduce suffering in their lives by offering risk-reduction support for their psilocybin journeys is an exercise in balancing these compelling potential outcomes for clients, with my ethical responsibilities as a regulated professional.

As a psychotherapist, I believe psilocybin-assisted therapy is a powerful tool that (like most powerful tools) can be transformative in the right circumstances, and destabilizing in the wrong ones. If we’re going to expand its therapeutic use responsibly, we need to ground the conversation in both possibility and caution.

One of the myths I hear most often is that psilocybin does the healing for you. It doesn’t. The psychedelic experience can be profound, but works best in the context of a trusting therapeutic partnership. It is no small thing to enter a different state of consciousness where you are vulnerable to the effects of a substance. Trust is key before, during and after. Without proper therapeutic support, the experience may be disturbing, unsettling, and scary setting a person back rather than promoting lasting change.

Another misconception is that psilocybin is right for everyone who struggles with depression, trauma, or grief. In reality, people with certain psychiatric conditions—such as active psychosis or severe personality disorders—may be at heightened risk of harm. Likewise, individuals who are unwilling or unable to engage in ongoing therapeutic work may not benefit from the intensity of the experience. This isn’t a quick fix; it’s an accelerator for those already prepared to do the hard work of healing.

So who is a good candidate? People who are psychologically stable enough to handle temporary disorientation, and open enough to allow old patterns to dissolve. Those who have already built some capacity to regulate their nervous system and who can commit to working with a trained therapist before, during, and after the session. Someone who is willing to consult with their doctor about any possible drug interactions before they begin to think seriously about psilocybin-assisted therapy.

There’s no denying psilocybin’s therapeutic potential. But its value doesn’t lie in bypassing the work of therapy—it lies in deepening it. When used thoughtfully, psilocybin can be less about “tripping” and more about stripping away old schemas and what no longer serves clients, allowing the psyche to reorganize around what does. The neuroplasticity promoted by psilocybin can help clients integrate new perspectives, habits and techniques for supporting their mental health in the long-run.

Psilocybin-assisted therapy is not a silver bullet. But for the right people, in the right hands, it can open the door to a profound therapeutic breakthroughs—a chance to step more fully into life; or for palliative clients, to embrace fate with less fear, enabling a greater quality of life in their remaining days.

If you are thinking about psilocybin-assisted therapy, my recommendations are: Read the research, check out the MAPS or Therapsil website for common protocol, talk openly with your doctor, and only consider working with clinicians or harm-reduction supporters who you trust, who have been trained and take the work seriously. It’s important to ask about their training and experience, their harm-reduction approaches, and to engage in a safe-touch consent protocol in advance. It’s a big red flag if they do not ask you about your medical history to explore potential contraindications.