In November of 2022, amid a severe and ongoing mental health crisis, Coloradans voted in favor of the creation of a state-regulated psychedelic therapy program. In fact that year,Mental Health America ranked Colorado lastin the nation for adult access to mental health care.
The truth is our mental health system has not been meeting the needs of our most vulnerable residents, neighbors, and family members for a long time. Veterans with PTSD are in crisis, with 20 veterans committing suicide each day across the county. Anxiety, depression, and addiction are on the rise, and in Colorado, we have the tragic distinction of ranking among the top five states in the country for adult suicide.
While lawmakers and advocates have committed to addressing this crisis and progress has been made, access to regulated therapy with natural medicines may provide a true breakthrough, particularly for treatment-resistant conditions.
A growing body of research from leading medical institutions including Johns Hopkins, UCLA, and NYU has found that natural psychedelic medicines like psilocybin can be highly effective in treating a variety of mental health conditions. The FDA recently designated psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” for treatment-resistant depression. Veterans suffering from PTSD have found some of these medicines to be incredibly effective for helping them work through their trauma and find healing, and certain psychedelic therapies also show great promise for treating addiction.
This month Colorado regulators released rules for the licensing and training of facilitators in the state’s first-ever psychedelic therapy program. This is a key step towards the implementation of Proposition 122 and the Natural Medicine Health Act, to create a regulated therapeutic program for natural medicines for Coloradans suffering with mental health and substance use conditions.
While there is still more work to do as state agencies collaborate to build this program, the initial rules for licensing and training future facilitators represent a strong commitment to safety and to ensuring suffering patients can actually access treatment.
The recently released rules were informed by the state’s 15-member Natural Medicine Advisory Board, with input from countless Colorado patients, providers and stakeholders. They lay out requirements for state-approved facilitator training programs and different types of licenses for facilitators. The facilitator training program will require 150 hours of didactic training, 40 practicum hours, and 50 consultation hours across at least 6 months that includes a competency evaluation. The rules also lay out a safety screening process for those seeking psychedelic therapy in order to ensure those with unique health needs receive the proper level of care from medical and mental health professionals.
Notably, the rules create a clinical facilitator license type that allows existing mental health practitioners or other licensed health providers to offer psychedelic therapy to their patients to treat medical or mental health conditions that fall within their scope of practice. Adults who do not hold a clinical license can complete a state-approved training program and apply for a facilitator license. These two license types are important to ensure those with existing medical and mental health practices can become facilitators, clearly define facilitators’ scope of practice based on their expertise and training, and increase the accessibility of the program. Not only do these rules put high standards in place for safety and care, the inclusion of dual licensure is critical for ensuring a truly accessible program that is integrated into our mental health care system.
The new rules formally go into effect June 30th, at which time facilitator training programs can begin applying for approval from the Department of Regulatory Agencies, and prospective new facilitators can begin taking classes in preparation for facilitator license applications to open in January 2025. This program will begin operations in 2025–and this date can’t come soon enough for countless Coloradans struggling with mental health conditions. The release of these rules is a key step toward implementation of the program in 2025 and to ensuring adults can access natural psychedelic medicines that have demonstrated potential for treating a variety of health conditions like depression, anxiety, substance use and PTSD.
There is still more work to do to ensure that therapy with natural medicines in our state is safe, affordable, equitable and accessible, but we are thankful that state regulators and advisory board members have worked thoughtfully and diligently to implement a program that will provide valuable opportunities for Coloradans to heal.
Tasia Poinsatte is the Colorado director of the Healing Advocacy Fund, a 501c3 non-profit organization, that works to protect and expand safe, affordable state-regulated access to psychedelic healing for all who need it.
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