Psychedelic Preparation and Integration: Using ACT to Maximize Benefits

As psychedelic assisted therapy edges towards legality, more clients are learning about the potential for psychedelics to bring relief from suffering and are seeking guidance from mental health professionals. This workshop will provide a brief overview of this new form of treatment, summarize evidence from recent rigorous clinical trials, and advocate that the ACT model provides an ideal framework for psychedelic-assisted harm reduction, which includes preparation and integration.

Next, participants will learn how to use an ACT-informed approach to provide support to clients now who are using psychedelics on their own, including helping clients learn about the risks and benefits of psychedelic use using an ACT stance. Participants will also learn basic principles of psychedelic integration and how the ACT model may be useful in mutually enhancing the beneficial effects of both therapy and psychedelic use. After completing this workshop, participants will be better able to have informed conversations with their clients about the use of psychedelic substances and employ ACT strategies for providing therapeutic support for clients who are currently using psychedelics in personal contexts. The program will be highly interactive; we will use role play and group practice to build skills. We will combine didactic and experiential work to help participants practice skills right away.

This workshop will not include instruction on how to guide clients during actual psychedelic journeys, as psychedelic use during therapy is currently illegal in most contexts.

Target Audience: This workshop is for beginning, intermediate and advanced practitioners who are new to psychedelic harm reduction strategies. It is appropriate for participants who have a foundation in ACT or other mindfulness-based therapies.

CE Credits

The activity has approval for 6 CEs credits for psychologists, counselors, and social workers. You must attend the course in its entirety in order to receive continuing education credits. CE credits are not given for the breaks or lunch.

The Association for Contextual Behavioral Science is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Association for Contextual Behavioral Science maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Psychedelic Preparation and Integration: Using ACT to Maximize Therapeutic Benefit, Course #5137, is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by True North Therapy and Training as an individual course. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: 08/24/2023 - 08/24/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 6 clinical continuing education credits.

Instructor Bios

Brian Pilecki, PhD: Dr. Brian Pilecki is a clinical psychologist at Portland Psychotherapy that specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders, trauma and PTSD, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Brian practices from an orientation based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and has extensive experience in the areas of mindfulness and meditation that he incorporates into therapy with clients. At Portland Psychotherapy, Brian is an active researcher and a study therapist on a clinical trial investigating the use of MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of social anxiety disorder and understanding processes of change in psychedelic therapy. He is a consultant and instructor for Fluence Training and is involved in training psilocybin facilitators under Oregon’s new psilocybin services program. He also co-hosts a podcast called Altered States of Context about the intersection of psychedelics and psychotherapy and is affiliate faculty at the Oregon Health and Science University. Brian is also a co-founder of Portland Integration Network, a network of professionals offering specialized care related to psychedelics in Oregon.

Temple Morris, LCSW-C is a clinical social worker in Bethesda, MD. Her primary modalities are Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration therapy (HRIT). She is the co-chair of the board of the ACBS Psychedelics special interest group (SIG) and she co-leads the SIG sponsored consultation group. In addition, she is the current president of the board of Psychedelic Assisted Therapy and Healing (PATH), a not for profit group working to make legal psychedelic therapy available and affordable to all. Temple provides supervision in ACT and HRIT and also leads a bi-monthly training and clinical consultation on trauma-informed ACT for MEND clinicians (a collaboration of trauma experts dedicated to healing communities of color). Temple is a co-founder of True North Therapy and Training, a group dedicated to sharing contextual behavioral therapies with clients, practitioners, and the broader community.

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