We understand that people are using psychedelics due to the terrible poverty of new and effective medications to treat mental health disorders. We recognize that together, we are standing at the starting line of a new frontier. Many psychedelic studies have produced recovery rates greater than 60% for disorders such as PTSD and treatment-resistant depression. Not only are these numbers striking, they may represent more than simple symptom relief. Psychedelics combined with psychotherapy may have the capacity to revolutionize healing by resolving the core existential dilemma or primal wound that can manifest as common mental health disorders. There are, however, many things we don’t understand about these substances and how they affect individuals with varying issues and life experiences. Additionally, we recognize that we are constrained by a cannon of scientific information that suffers from an over representation of culturally homogenous, medical, capitalistic, patriarchal, heteronormative, and colonizer perspectives.

Many other traditions rooted in spirituality or shamanism, for example, are less accessible, but important to the full understanding of healing through non-ordinary states of consciousness. We strive to be as informed and culturally competent as possible while respecting the uncertainty inherent in working with these new interventions. As people experiment with their own healing using psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca and more; we recognize a growing treatment gap between the results clinical trials produce and the experiences individuals have on their own. While we do not advocate for the use of any illegal substance, it is potentially harmful for individuals to seek these experiences without the supportive counseling that’s been integral to clinical trial results. Athens Psychedelic Therapy is stepping in to fill that treatment gap and support anyone who has chosen to heal using these methods. Coming soon, www.atlantapsychedelictherapy.com