The 10-week program is designed to prepare health-care practitioners to safely and effectively guide patients through a psilocybin experience, and will culminate in each psychotherapist consuming psilocybin and having their own therapeutic session, as well as guiding a peer through the experience.
Psilocybin is a psychedelic that can produce altered states of consciousness, euphoria, spiritual experiences and a distorted sense of time lasting several hours. It can also have adverse effects such as paranoia and panic attacks.
Bruce Tobin, a clinical psychologist in Victoria and founder of TheraPsil, said when people take psychedelics, they can experience a wider range of emotions.