Compass Pathways: COMPASS Pathways announces publication in Frontiers in Psychiatry of paper on therapist training programme for psilocybin therapy
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Formal and scalable methodology for psychological support in psilocybin therapy
London, UK - 3 February 2021
COMPASS Pathways plc today. The programme sets out a formal and scalable methodology for psychological support in psilocybin therapy. It is currently being used to train therapists taking part in COMPASS's phase IIb clinical trial of COMP360 psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression, as approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as part of COMPASS's Investigational New Drug (IND) application.
In psilocybin therapy, patients are given a dose of psilocybin, a psychedelic substance, in conjunction with psychological support from specially trained therapists. COMPASS developed the therapist training programme alongside leading experts in mental health and psychedelic research, including William A Richards (Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, US), Elizabeth Nielson (NYS Psychiatric Institute, NYU School of Medicine, US), Riikka Ajantaival (Clinical Research Institute, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland), Peter Gasser (private practice, Switzerland), Sara J Tai (University of Manchester, UK), Brian D Richards (Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, and Aquilino Cancer Center, US), and Frederick Reinholdt (King's College London, UK). The programme uses a new and manualised approach drawing from evidence-based psychotherapeutic approaches, and currently comprises four components: an online learning platform; in-person training; applied clinical training; and ongoing individual mentoring and professional development.