By Denise Rue, LCSW

August 2025

Selecting the person who will hold space for you during a psychedelic journey is not a decision to be made lightly. Psychedelics catapult us into novel realms of consciousness where we are at our most vulnerable. Choosing someone who has solid training, impeccable ethics, a compassionate and nonjudgmental presence, and the ability to be your ballast if the seas get stormy, could be the key to having a safe and transformative journey. Beyond Reddit and recommendations from friends, what to look for in a prospective facilitator? 

A psychedelic journey is composed of three parts, all equally important: Preparation, administration, and integration. A competent facilitator possesses the knowledge base, skill set and competencies to support you at each stage. While psychedelic medicines are generally safe, they are potent mind shakers, and you need someone to support you with skill grounded in clinical experience and best practices should things go south. If you’re interviewing facilitators who simply invite you to participate in an incense-infused ceremony with little screening and no integration plan, keep looking. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Your relationship with a facilitator is like any other relationship—the chemistry must be right for you. Don’t accept someone as a facilitator without meeting them, at least virtually, for the initial screening and full intake. We speak often in psychedelics about trusting your gut. This is a great rule of thumb. If you are a trauma survivor, however, your inborn system of intuition and discernment was probably highjacked by people who violated your boundaries. Still, try to honor your body’s reaction. Does your nervous system tighten or relax as you speak with the facilitator? Do you feel heard and seen? Does the interaction elicit clarity or confusion? If a prospective facilitator hustles, coerces, or bullies, say No, thank you! and celebrate that you’ve been spared. 

A facilitator should engender your wholehearted trust, allowing you to drop any defenses and open to the psychedelic experience. Will you feel safe with this person when in your most vulnerable space, under eye shades and headphones? Ask them to explain how they came to this work. Are they in service to the medicine or to their own ego and bank account? Ask them to tell you about their personal work with the medicine and their greater healing journey. Do they engage in daily practices, such as meditation, yoga, or breathwork? Has this person worked extensively with the psychedelic medicine you’ll be using? I tend to steer away from guides whose only exploration of their inner world is through psychedelics, as sometimes it can be less of a courageous dive into deep material than a bypass of wounds that need to be explored when sober. I’m less trusting of facilitators who come to this work from a marketing and business background, as they’re often slick self-promoters who see the work as a niche to make a name for themselves. If your guide hasn’t done extensive inner work, look elsewhere. 

This quality may seem elusive at first but train your sensors on the energetic presence of the facilitator. Presence requires that that the facilitator maintain a grounded, non-judgmental and empathic demeanor throughout the journey, no matter what arises. This work can get weird, and the journeyer may experience intense and labile emotions, sometimes projecting them onto the facilitator. Rage meant for a past abuser may be directed outward and you want a facilitator who has the ego strength to stand firm and not take it personally. It is essential that a facilitator be comfortable with a full range of emotions, from joy to terror. As with a traditional therapist, the facilitator can only take you as far as they’ve gone themselves. Make sure your facilitator plans to stay with you until the full effects of the medicine have dissipated and that they make themselves available by text or phone for 24-48 hours after the journey, especially if you’ve had a challenging journey and need to check in.  

Consider the knowledge base that a good facilitator should have: Fluency in the history of psychedelics, neurobiology, and neuropharmacology; extensive training in trauma, as well as normal human development, attachment theory, and transference and countertransference; proficiency in risk assessment and in mitigating acute distress during the psychedelic journey, as well as best practices in creating optimal set and setting. For the best integration experience, it’s helpful to have someone who is knowledgeable in myths, symbols and transpersonal psychology. You want someone who is up to date on seminal psychedelic research and can back up their facilitation practices with data. Finally, seek out someone with spiritual intelligence. Psychedelic journeys can potentiate mystical experiences, and I’ve seen too many facilitators drop the ball on helping the journeyer integrate an awe-inspiring and ineffable experience. 

Your facilitator doesn’t necessarily have to be a therapist, nor hold certification in psychedelic-assisted therapy, especially if they’ve trained with indigenous healers. Some facilitators were born to do this work and have honed their skills in the crucible of their own inner work and have had the humility to train with mentors before sensing they were adequately prepared to do this important and sacred work. Remember, psychedelics can fuel grandiosity and savior complexes in individuals already prone to these personality characteristics. Beware the charismatic charmers, those who take credit for your healing experiences, who exploit power dynamics and who are dangerously underqualified. There are so many great, well-trained facilitators out there. Don’t settle. 

There are several provider networks that can connect you with a qualified practitioner for psychedelic preparation and integration. Check out Psychedelic Support, Tricycle Day’s Maria’s List, and Fluence. Psychedelic Passage will connect you with vetted facilitators for macrodose sessions. Fireside Project provides a tripping hotline as well as facilitators for ongoing preparation and integration. Oregon and Colorado allow eligible adults to receive psilocybin legally in state-regulated service centers with licensed facilitators. If you’re willing to travel out of the country for a retreat, some I can highly recommend are Beckley Retreats in Jamaica & the Netherlands, Inward Bound in the Netherlands and Costa Rica, and Rise Up Journeys in Mexico. 

Finally, if you have experienced abuse in psychedelic spaces, Shine Collective is a wonderful resource, helping survivors find resilience and community. Many cities and states have psychedelic societies that provide ongoing education, integration circles and events. You don’t have to go it alone. Ask questions, trust your intuition. Find your tribe. 

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Denise Rue, M.A., M.F.A., M.S.W., is a licensed clinical social worker, clinical hypnotherapist, and psychedelic-assisted therapist in private practice in Somerville, NJ. She utilizes an eclectic approach in her psychotherapeutic work, drawing on modalities including ketamine-assisted therapy, Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, Clinical Hypnosis, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Denise specializes in working with adults with complex PTSD, particularly adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

From 2019 to 2022, Denise worked in Jamaica at a legal psilocybin retreat. During her time as retreat leader, she oversaw more than 1,500 psilocybin sessions and an equal number of group integration sessions. She has continued leading psilocybin retreats in Colorado, Mexico, and Portugal, developing protocols for preparation, administration, and integration of the medicine

Denise is a trainer and mentor for Fluence psychedelic training, bringing her expertise to therapists embarking on a career in psychedelic-assisted therapy. In 2023, she founded the New Jersey Psychedelic Therapy Association, where she engages in educational and advocacy efforts in the state and ensures that the voices of therapists are heard in the psychedelic industry.