As we witness the  structures and systems we live within begin to reveal their fault lines and power imbalances, so too are we seeing a great unveiling reflected in the psychedelic therapy space. With increasing attention for its potential to revolutionize health care, questions and concerns regarding ethics, safety and responsible practices become more pressing than ever before. "Psychedelic Safety First" brings together leading voices in the field to discuss these crucial issues, offering insights into the present and future of psychedelic therapy, both in regulated clinical settings and the expanding world of underground practices.

This event marks the official launch of PsyAware, a non-profit organisation dedicated to creating safer and more informed pathways for people  exploring psychedelic experiences. Through its Community Care Hub and Education Hub, PsyAware will provide much-needed aftercare, harm reduction education, and community resources for participants, facilitators, and the broader psychedelic community.

Join us for a thought-provoking day of presentations and discussions aimed at raising awareness about the ethical and safety challenges in psychedelic therapy, while also raising funds to support PsyAware’s mission. Together, we can help build a future where psychedelic therapy is accessible, safer, and rooted in decolonial praxis, justice and community care.

With your help, we can officially launch PsyAware and build the much-needed Support and Education Hubs that will shape and inform the future of safer and responsible psychedelic use.

Our event will be hosted on Crowdcast, and all attendees are required to register on the platform to access the session. The event will be recorded, so even if you’re a few minutes late, you can start watching from the beginning without waiting. Once registered, you’ll have unlimited access to the recording and can revisit it at any time. We look forward to sharing this experience with you!

A warm welcome and a grounding ritual to connect as a community and set our shared intention for the day - with Mercedes Grant

An introduction to PsyAware - why it was founded, the needs it seeks to address, and its vision for the future -  by Anya Oleksiuk

Panel discussion “Beyond the Hype: Balancing Safety, Inclusivity and Accountability in Psychedelic Research” -  with Michelle Baker Jones, Tehseen Noorani, Danielle Herrera, Leonie Schneider and Hattie Wells

Panel discussion “Navigating the Underground: Safety and Ethics in Unregulated Psychedelic Therapy” with Daan Keiman, Akua Ofosuehene, Mikaela Dela Myco, Emily Sinclair and Jasmine Virdi

Plenty of  time for Q&As and community discussion

A closing ritual, a moment to reflect on the insights, connections, and intentions we’ve shared today

PsyAware is a UK-based, not-for-profit organisation providing essential education and support systems in the psychedelic space. Our goal is to empower individuals and communities to enhance our collective wellbeing through better understanding and responsible, safer psychedelic practices.

Visit our website, and join our mailing list where we are building a more aware, connected, and caring psychedelic culture.

PANEL 1: "Beyond the Hype: Balancing Safety, Inclusivity and Accountability in Psychedelic Research" with Michelle Baker Jones, Tehseen Noorani, Danielle Herrera, Leonie Schneider and Hattie Wells

Psychedelic therapy is at a crossroads. While the promise of these therapies continues to capture public attention, the journey from underground use to mainstream clinical acceptance has exposed significant gaps in safety, ethics, and participant care. As more trials are conducted to explore the therapeutic potential of substances like psilocybin, MDMA, and 5-MeO-DMT, the rush to meet increasing demand is putting immense pressure on researchers and sponsors to deliver quick results. But at what cost?

This panel will explore the ethical challenges and safety concerns within the fast-evolving world of psychedelic therapy. With participants often desperate for relief from mental health struggles, and sponsors pushing for rapid recruitment and study completion, the focus on patient well-being can be compromised. Many trials, despite promising outcomes, minimise or entirely disregard the importance of therapeutic support, including the vital spiritual, somatic, and communal healing modalities that are integral to these experiences.

The future of psychedelic therapy: Is it still on track to become mainstream, or are we risking safety and ethics for speed?

Participant safety: How can we ensure ethical recruitment and comprehensive care in a climate of pressure to fast-track studies?

The lack of proper therapeutic support during and after trials, as seen in cases like the 5-MeO-DMT study for postpartum depression

The exclusion of spiritual and community-based healing practices in clinical trials and what this means for holistic care

Informed consent: Are participants truly aware of the risks and the level of support they will receive?

Instances of abuse within the clinical space, including misconduct by well-known psychedelic researchers, and the need for greater accountability

Embodied justice and decolonization: Addressing power imbalances in psychedelic therapy and creating more inclusive, culturally aware approaches

The responsibility of clinical institutions to provide aftercare, and how they can partner with grassroots organisations to offer long-term support and community building

With psychedelics being hailed as a breakthrough in mental health treatment, there is a real danger of losing sight of the ethical responsibilities that should guide this work. For many, access to these therapies may be years away, and when it comes, the high cost and lack of aftercare may leave many underserved. This discussion will focus on how we can ensure safety and uphold justice in both clinical trials and broader therapeutic applications.

Join us as we explore how to create a more ethical, inclusive, and supportive model for psychedelic therapy, both in clinical settings and beyond.

PANEL 2: "Navigating the Underground: Safety and Ethics in Unregulated Psychedelic Healing Spaces" with Daan Keiman, Akua Ofosuehene, Mikaela Dela Myco, Emily Sinclair and Jasmine Virdi

As media outlets increasingly tout the potential of psychedelics to revolutionise mental health, many are left desperate for access to these promising treatments. However, with psilocybin therapy still in the early stages of legalisation across the US, UK, and Europe, and MDMA remaining under strict regulation following the FDA’s recent decision to withhold approval, the lack of accessible, affordable legal options has driven many to seek healing in unregulated, underground settings.

While the research is promising, the reality is that clinical trials only allow limited participants, and widespread legal access to these therapies may still be years away. Even then, the high cost of such treatments will pose significant barriers for those who may need it most.

In the meantime, unregulated retreats and underground therapy spaces are proliferating, often without the oversight or ethical standards needed to ensure participant safety.

We will explore the risks and responsibilities involved in this rapidly growing underground world, tackling issues including:

The ongoing status of psilocybin legalisation efforts in the US, UK, and Europe, and the limitations of current clinical trials

The explosion of retreat culture and the lure of unregulated therapy for those unable to access legal options

The rise of spiritual bypassing, narcissistic abuse, and even cult-like dynamics in some unregulated retreat spaces

Red flags and green flags: How to discern safe and ethical facilitators from those offering problematic or harmful practices

The critical importance of aftercare: The role of clinical institutions in supporting grassroots organisations to provide integration and long term after-care

How support networks and organisations can protect and assist individuals affected by unethical practices, harm and abuse

With the psychedelic field evolving faster than the regulatory frameworks that govern it, this conversation is essential for anyone interested in psychedelic retreats and underground therapy.

Whether you are a participant, facilitator, therapist, or researcher, this event will provide key insights into navigating the complexities of safety and ethics in underground retreats and therapies.

Join us as we chart a path toward creating safer, transparent, and responsible spaces for healing and consciousness exploration.

Questions? Email anya@psyaware.org, and allow up to 48h for a reply. 

Michelle is an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor based in London, where she has a private practice. Currently Michelle has an honorary contract with Kings College Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience working on Psychedelic clinical trials with substances such as 5 MeO DMT and Methylone.

Michelle has been a member of Imperial College’s Psychedelic Research Group since 2015. She was a lead guide on Imperial College’s randomised controlled trial (Psilodep 2) comparing psilocybin to escitalopram in the treatment of depression. Michelle has recently been working as a lead therapist for Small Pharma’s clinical trials with DMT-assisted therapy for depression. This was originally a collaboration between Small Pharma and Imperial College London. She has contributed to the development of a therapist training programme for the DMT trials, having co-produced a psychedelic therapy framework for working with DMT. She also co-designed the Beckley Academy Foundations to Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy training course. Michelle is also an advisor for PsyAware and PsyCare UK.

Michelle also offers individual psychedelic integration for people who are struggling to process psychedelic experiences. She co-facilitates the psychedelic integration specialist interest group for The Institute of Psychedelic Therapy, drawing on her experience of facilitating integration groups over the past five years.

Dr Tehseen Noorani is deeply engaged in exploring the phenomenological, epistemic, and therapeutic nature of two sets of extreme experiences: those induced by psychedelics and those that arise spontaneously, often pathologized as 'psychotic.' His research seeks to provide insights into how these experiences are understood through first-person inquiry, traditional knowledge systems, and contemporary scientific perspectives. This work is timely, as psychedelic experiences are rapidly becoming medicalized across the Global North, while psychotic experiences are being reclaimed and celebrated through movements like Mad Pride, neurodiversity advocacy, and the emerging field of Mad Studies.

With training and teaching experience across anthropology, psychology, sociology, socio-legal studies, epidemiology, and science and technology studies, Dr Noorani has collaborated with anthropologists, human geographers, sociologists, psychopharmacologists, mental health service users, Mad Pride organizations, indigenous communities, and healthcare professionals. These diverse engagements inform his interests in the epistemological, ethical, and methodological challenges inherent in cross-disciplinary and participatory research.

At the University of Auckland, Dr Noorani leads the "Community Strategising about Psychedelic Therapy in Aotearoa" (CSaPTA) project, an 18-month philanthropically funded initiative launching in February 2024. He also convenes the international, multi-disciplinary working group "Reimagining Psychedelic Trials."

Danielle M. Herrera, LMFT has a long history working with “addictions,” recovery, and harm reduction in community mental health and private practice. Her love of people who use drugs inspired her to train in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy early in the field's infancy. In her practice now, she works with "drugs -- full spectrum" -- from chaotic use to healing use. She currently runs her small group private practice, Tender Hearts Healing Arts, where she sees clients in Oakland (Ohlone land) and virtually in California, providing treatment in the form of psychedelic psychotherapy, psychedelic integration, harm reduction psychotherapy, and couples/family therapy. She is a course facilitator with Beckley Academy, a supervisor and clinical consultant for Alchemy Community Therapy, California Institute of Integral Studies, Center for Mindful Psychotherapy, and now serves on the Board of Directors for DanceSafe National. 

She facilitates training for practitioners in the foundations of relationally-centered psychedelic assisted therapies from a decolonized lens. Her framework is Jungian, emotion-focused, somatic, and spiritual, centering Indigenous epistemologies, ritual, and ceremony. Danielle focuses on careful attunement to systemic oppressions that impact the individual within a complicated ecosystem while helping clients with meaning-making. She has always been drawn to the “outsiders” and loves working with people experiencing spiritual emergence or emergency, exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness or mystical experiences, Queer & Trans BIPOC, people who use drugs, and others outside of the mainstream.

Your generosity helps establish essential services, including subsidised therapy for those in need, paving the way for a future rooted in care, ethics, and accessibility. You will join our PsyAware Patron Network and be invited to our special in-person and online events.

Support Hub Patron

Stand with us as a champion of change. Your support funds the development of our Support Hub, a space dedicated to providing therapeutic support and guidance for those integrating their psychedelic journeys. You will join our Champions Network and be invited to our special online events.

Transformation Champion

Your support sparks change, fuels our mission and directly supports the creation of educational resources and community events to promote safer, more inclusive psychedelic spaces. You will join our Community Catalyst Network and receive free entry to our online talks and panels for the next 12 months. 

Community Catalyst

Join us on this journey by contributing what feels right for you. Every bit helps us build a supportive network and create educational resources for those most in need. You can feel great about how your generosity will help keep others safer.

Pay What Feels Right

PsyAware

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Psychedelic Safety First: Upholding Ethics, Inclusivity, and Participant Care in Psychedelic Spaces

Navigating the Underground: Safety and Ethics in Unregulated Psychedelic Healing Spaces with Daan Keiman, Akua Ofosuehene, Mikaela Dela Myco, Emily Sinclair and Jasmine Virdi

Beyond the Hype: Balancing Safety, Inclusivity and Accountability in Psychedelic Research With Michelle Baker Jones, Tehseen Noorani, Danielle Herrera, Leonie Schneider & Hattie Wells