Op-Ed: The Moral Compass of Psychadelics: Pt 2

Author: Sarah O'Brien, LCSW

Sep 27, 2024

Before You Read

Before reading this blog please follow the below steps:

Read Part 1
Please read our platform disclaimer and position statement below on the use of ethical use of psychadelics from a trauma informed lens:

Integrate Trauma Informed Network champions the ethical use of psychedelics for trauma healing. Our platform is dedicated to supporting their exploration within indigenous and clinical environments, ensuring that their use is respectful and responsible. We are committed to opposing any unethical practitioners or retreats that exploit vulnerable populations through psychedelic journeys.

Mushroom in the wild — Mushrooms in the wild retrieved from Pexels

Psychadelics and a Harm Reduction Approach

One of the main concepts my professors wanted to drive home in my graduate program for clinical social work is this: never give advice. Therapists do not give advice. We listen (intently). We bridge with the client (build rapport and trust). We assess (symptoms, function, dysfunction). We ask permission to offer suggestions, and we know the client/patient can take it or leave it, they don’t have to do what we’ve suggested. There is autonomous choice. In fact, autonomy is one of the ethical principles for social work practice…we must uphold the client’s autonomy throughout course of treatment. We don’t force interventions, coping strategies, or outcomes. We allow clients to choose for themselves, then we help them navigate those choices and the outcomes of those choices, in terms of functioning or mental health. Giving direct advice would be an overstepping of professional boundaries, an instance of undue influence. We are not to influence a certain choice or action, but rather explore what it means for the client and their mental wellness.

Even with all of this—oversight, education, training, continued training—it’s still possible to accidentally cause harm. There is a check and a balance for that as well. The idea is you can’t just accidentally cause harm over and over again in the same way—that’s negligence. You have to learn, grow, apply new skills once you’ve been made aware of something you’re doing in the treatment space that caused harm. Grace Hughes-Hallet says it like this, “You don’t have to have a malevolent intent to damage someone. You can have the best intentions in the world, but delving into people’s problems, fears and traumas without the proper qualifications can do serious harm. Just like it wouldn’t be safe for a well-intended but untrained doctor to perform heart surgery.” How perfect is that example?! Would you want a marginally trained, potentially non-licensed professional without regulatory oversight to perform heart surgery on you? Oh, no? Sounds bad? Sounds scary? Like they could really screw you up or injure you, or even accidentally kill you? Yea, my thoughts exactly. So, if that sounds scary to you, does accepting psychedelics from a marginally trained, likely (more than potentially) non-licensed person without any regulatory oversight sound harmless to you? Or scary? Yea, it definitely scares me to think about the people jumping head first into this kind of ‘treatment’ without making sure their ‘doctor’ actually has a medical license, in good standing, and the necessary education and training required to provide this ‘treatment’ without causing harm. This is the key, folks. Can coaches, spiritual guides, wellness providers walk you through a psychedelic journey? Sure. Can they do it without causing harm? Maybe. Not very likely though. And then, when they do cause harm, how is it handled? Are they barred from practicing and doing it again to someone else? Nope! Without a license there is no oversight, and without oversight, there is no check, and no balance, for when these ‘healers’ engage in undue influence and cause undue harm. You may be able to get out, or get out before really bad things happen to you. But maybe you can’t. Maybe you’re the next one that came along after the last one that suffered undue harm…and nothing has changed, no one has asked why that last person ended their coaching agreement, no one is following up with the ‘healer’ to make sure they didn’t do something to cause a client to refuse to return to services. Nothing happens. So, what happens when nothing happens about this kind of situation? These folks, particularly the predatory ones, have zero incentive to stop what they’re doing. No one is going to make them…because no one is watching what they’re doing.

Grace Hughes-Hallet also says, “For Anne and other untrained, unregulated individuals doing harm under the title of healer, coach, or self-development teacher, there is very little to stop them. The therapy and wellness industry is booming and it can be a Wild West of people who are not qualified to be entrusted to our mental health.” And I couldn’t agree more. There is so much truth packed into this little statement. So many untrained and unregulated ‘healers’ are actually traumatizing folks. Jules Evans warns against seeking advice from any healer and/or expecting or hoping that a healer can tell you who you are or what’s best for you. He says, “ ‘The healer knows me better than I know myself. Only they hold the key to my true identity and my healing and future happiness. I need to suspend my doubts and trust in them completely.’ Once you have accepted the above sentences, you have handed over the code of your identity to another person. And that person might very well be the sort that gets off on power. Because that is ultimate power – the power to control another person’s identity and reality. Once they’ve handed over control of their inner code, you can enslave a person, turn them into a zombie, make them do whatever you want - even, in extremis, kill people.”

Building up Discernment on Safeness and Psychedelics

Unfortunately, this is actually true. This has happened before, likely will happen again. Unless we remain vigilante and learn to spot the B.S. Unless we raise up trauma informed leaders in all spaces and places to offer more safety for the public. Unless we vet our providers and find value in credentials. Unless we demand a check and a balance for those working with people in any capacity. If you have suffered from past trauma, be very very careful out there in the wellness world. Seek as much information as possible about the person you have chosen to help you walk the road to healing…this might just be one of the most important decisions you make in your life. I really like how Grace Hughes-Hallet says it: “There is a wealth of trained and regulated practitioners out there who are qualified and trustworthy, so be careful who you choose to trust with your mind and your memories. People (folks in the public) can be eager to hand over control of major life decisions to others – sometimes temporarily, when they’re at a crossroads and aren’t sure what to do, other times more permanently. And there are tens of thousands of people in the wellness industry who are more than happy to leap right over any professional boundaries and say ‘I have the answer, I can save you, trust me’. The less training, qualifications and scruples people have, the more certainty they can heal you and guide you to a better life”—at least that’s the claim.

I’ll leave you with final thoughts and suggestions from Jules Evans, as he writes in Dangerous Convictions:

“But if you’re in the wellness space, and selling yourself as a healer, what can you do to limit the harm you might unintentionally do?” This is such an important self-reflection question! If you claim to be a healer of some kind, what ensures you are well trained to work with people? What kind of accountability do you have? What principles do you practice or work under? If you are a healer, you need to have answers to these questions for yourself. And if you are seeking out a healer of any kind, these would be important questions to ask them to ensure you are indeed working with a qualified professional.

Evans final warning to us all: “The barriers to becoming a healer are incredibly low in the wellness industry. You can call yourself a healer right now on Instagram, make a few charismatic and over-certain videos, and people will start contacting you, paying you, and saying to you: ‘Tell me who I really am and what I should do with my life’. Resist that dangerous invitation.”

Other ways healers can challenge themselves, and seek growth to be able to provide the best service or care to their client population:

Don’t assume you’re right or your methods are perfect.

Intuition does not trump evidence.

Seek the evidence for any healing method, including evidence of harm.

Be prepared to be proven wrong in your methods or assumptions.

Seek honest anonymous feedback.

When people complain, try to be grateful.

Get some kind of supervision.

Join a professional association with an ethics code and a complaints procedure.

If you’ve been let into another person’s mind, tread very, very lightly and don’t leave any litter.

Finally, know your limits, know when to say ‘this is out of my field of expertise’

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