The nonprofit Global Wellness Institute™ (GWI), the leading research and educational resource for the $4.4 trillion global wellness industry, welcomes a new Initiative: The Psychedelics & Healing Initiative. 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. 

Policy changes throughout the United States are changing the regulatory landscape. Wall Street is part of the new geography too: Psychedelic pharmaceutical companies are 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 realize the potential for psychedelics in helping address the global mental health crisis.”

Rick Doblin, PhD, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), will serve as the Initiative's Honorary Chair. Dr. Doblin's keynote remarks at the 2021 Global Wellness Summit 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. A video of his historic keynote, the first from a psychedelic advocate and researcher to the wellness industry, is available on the Global Wellness Summit website.

Who: The GWI’s Psychedelics & Healing Initiative is a collaboration between leading physicians, business innovators, research scientists, impact investors, and policymakers from psychedelic organizations 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.

The founding members of the Initiative are:

• Rick Doblin, PhD, is Honorary Chair of the Initiative and founder and executive director, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
• Mary-Elizabeth Gifford, EVP, Psyence Group
• Paul Hutson, PhD, professor and founding director, Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Melissa Lavasani, founder and executive director, Psychedelic Medicine Coalition
• Lynn Marie Morski, MD, JD, president, Psychedelic Medicine Association 
• Louie Schwartzberg, filmmaker; director of Fantastic Fungi; founder of Visual Healing for Wellness
• Sa’ad Shah, co-founder, Noetic Fund
• 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
• Kathryn Tucker, JD, co-founder, Psychedelic Bar Association; Special Counsel, Emerge Law Group
• Hanifa Nayo Washington, co-founder and chief of strategy, Fireside Project

What: Ethics, safety and best practices are among this new Initiative's priorities—–as are equity, access and reciprocity. The Psychedelics & Healing Initiative 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 “wisdom well” 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.