A research team developing a group retreat-based psilocybin-assisted therapy trial created initial practice guidelines for ethical and supportive facilitator use of touch. After two unexpected touch-related experiences during the first three retreats, the guidelines were iterated. The revised guidelines specify acceptable practices to ensure participant safety and a supportive therapeutic experience. The primary goal is to create a haptic experience that reinforces participants' sense of safety and supports their own experience during the psilocybin session. A secondary goal is to help facilitators maintain therapeutic boundaries while responding to participant experiences with empathy and openness.
A group facilitation model for psilocybin therapy, developed for an FDA-approved Phase 1 to 2 clinical trial, draws on anthropological studies of ritual, specifically rites of passage, to structure a secular retreat for people with metastatic cancer experiencing anxiety or depression. The model uses three phases: separation (preparation), liminal (psilocybin dosing session), and reincorporation (integration). Ritual functions psychologically to support emotional regulation and meaning-making, and communally to embed individual experience in shared intention and care. This is the first FDA-approved clinical trial of a secular ritual-based group facilitation model for psychedelic therapy with empirically demonstrated safety and efficacy outcomes.