The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) is launching a new initiative dedicated to psychedelics and psychedelic healing.

The launch of this project, which joins the GWI’s portfolio of 33 collaborative initiatives, comes at a time when the FDA has granted some psychedelics “breakthrough” status as new mental health treatments.

Researchers around the globe – and at some of America’s most distinguished medical institutions – are looking closely at how psychedelic medicines could provide treatment for intractable medical issues such as depression, anxiety, alcoholism, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The clinical evidence increasingly indicates that psychedelics can make a difference and policy changes throughout the US are changing the regulatory landscape.

Wall Street is also part of the new wave of interest, with psychedelic pharmaceutical companies now publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ and the Canadian Securities Exchange.

As the world awakens to the benefits of psychedelics, among the challenges ahead are how the psychedelic community will forge a unified and thoughtful voice to help identify and address emerging issues.

The GWI’s chair and CEO, Susie Ellis, welcomed the new initiative as a wellness industry first: "Psychedelic healing has arrived. As this movement grows and receives regulatory approvals, an initiative that brings together respected leaders to focus on evidence-based best practices, equity and accessibility, is very much needed if we want to realise the potential for psychedelics in helping address the global mental health crisis.”

The goal

The initiative will support collaboration and coalition building, and ethics and best practices, in the psychedelic community.

It will offer support to those in the field already generating resources for ethics and standards for psychedelic medicines and provide an online home with links to a virtual hub of best practices.

Policy updates, continuing education, and regional outreach are also planned.

On an international level, the initiative will work in support of the recently launched International Therapeutic Rescheduling Initiative (ITPRI) a Swiss-based movement to reform the United Nation’s pharmaceutical treaties.

The group is a collaboration between physicians, business innovators, research scientists, impact investors and policymakers from psychedelic organisations that exemplify the highest ideals of healing and community-building.

Many are actively engaged in advocacy and the exploration of how psychedelics can heal, expand consciousness and nurture community.

Rick Doblin, PhD, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), will serve as the initiative's honorary chair.

Doblin spoke at the 2021 Global Wellness Summit and outlined a future for wellness where psychedelic-based medicine would take its place among long-established preventative and self-care approaches, such as meditation and stress management.

Initiative members• Dingle Spence, MD, co-founder, Jamaica Cancer Care & Research Institute; Board of Directors, International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care; and Advisory Board member, the EndWell Project.

• Hanifa Nayo Washington, co-founder and chief of strategy, Fireside Project.• Kathryn Tucker, JD, co-founder, Psychedelic Bar Association; Special Counsel, Emerge Law Group.

• Louie Schwartzberg, filmmaker; director of psychedelic healing documentary Fantastic Fungi; founder of Visual Healing for Wellness.• Lynn Marie Morski, MD, JD, president, Psychedelic Medicine Association.

• Mary-Elizabeth Gifford, executive vice president, Psyence Group.• Melissa Lavasani, founder and executive director, Psychedelic Medicine Coalition.

• Paul Hutson, PhD,, professor and founding director, Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances at the University of Wisconsin.• Rick Doblin, PhD, honorary chair of the initiative and founder and executive director of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

• Sa’ad Shah, co-founder, Noetic Fund.