Peer support and psychedelics

The new practices of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and state-run psychedelic services need trained facilitators. This article aligns the role of peer support in both the psychedelic and the Veteran communities, displaying core competencies and current practices, while also highlighting further needs in training and supervision. Continued work with peer support in the legal facilitation of psychedelic experiences will deepen understanding of psychedelic peership (i.e., when someone with previous firsthand experience with psychedelics facilitates the psychedelic therapy session of another). The field of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and state-run psychedelic services will need to adequately train and certify facilitators to meet the anticipated demand for access. This article explores the role of peer support in the setting of medical and non-medical supervised psychedelic administration. Existing peer-support frameworks from both the psychedelic and the Veteran communities are reviewed, and core competencies of both peer support and psychedelic facilitation are compared to highlight synergies and identify training and supervision gaps. Future work will further refine the role of peer support in the legal facilitation of psychedelic experiences and deepen our understanding of psychedelic peership (i.e., when someone with previous firsthand experience with psychedelics facilitates the psychedelic experience of another). Le domaine de la psychotherapie assistee par les psychotropes et des services associes aux psychotropes geres par l'etat devra former et certifier de maniere adequate des facilitateurs, s'il entend repondre a la demande anticipee d'acces a ces substances. Cet article explore le role du soutien par les pairs dans le contexte de l'administration supervisee de psychotropes a des fins medicales et non medicales. Il examine les structures de soutien par les pairs qui existent deja, tant dans les milieux des psychotropes que dans les communautes de veteran(e)s, et compare les competences de base du soutien aux pairs et de l'accompagnement aux substances psychedeliques, afin de mettre en evidence les synergies et d'identifier les lacunes en matiere de formation et de supervision. Des travaux futurs preciseront davantage le role du soutien par les pairs dans la facilitation legale des experiences psychedeliques. Ils approfondiront egalement notre comprehension du compagnonnage psychedelique (lorsqu'une personne ayant une experience directe des psychotropes facilite l'experience psychedelique d'une autre personne).