Standard Facilitator Program with Service Center Practicum

OPF101 Historical, Traditional, and Contemporary Practices and Applications

Total Hours: 12 | Live Online: 6 | Self-Paced Online: 6

• Current and historical use of plant and fungal medicines in indigenous and western cultures
• The Controlled Substances Act and its effect on psilocybin research and drug policy
• Overview of historical and recent academic research

OPF102 Psilocybin Pharmacology, Neuroscience, and Clinical Research

Total Hours: 4 | Live Online: 2 | Self-Paced Online: 2

• Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of psilocybin
• Drug and supplement interaction
• The metabolism of psilocybin and psilocybin products, including concentration of psilocybin and psilocin in available psilocybin products
• The primary effects and mechanisms of action of psilocybin on the brain, including connectivity in the brain and activation of serotonin receptors
• Key areas of psilocybin research
• Models of substance use, addiction, and recovery

OPF103 Core Facilitation Skills

Total Hours: 16 | Live Online: 8 | Self-Paced Online: 8

This module includes the following subjects and their application during preparation, administration, and integration sessions:

• Client communication, empathy and rapport, including a nondirective facilitation approach, cultural attunement, and a nonjudgmental disposition
• Response to psychological distress and creating a safe space for difficult emotional experiences
• Physical reactions and side effects of psilocybin
• Trauma informed care, including physiology of trauma, vicarious trauma, empathic stress, and compassion fatigue
• Active monitoring of client-facilitator boundaries, specifically boundaries related to consent and touch
• Identification and facilitation of a variety of subjective psilocybin experiences, including experiences relating to physiological sensations, cognitive, emotional and mystical states, and traumatic memories
• Appropriate modes of intervention, understanding when intervention is necessary, and when a client may need a higher level of care
• Recognizing and addressing adverse behavioral reactions and adverse medical reaction
• Identification of the unique health, psychological, and sociocultural issues presented by persons with terminal illness, and awareness of the appropriate knowledge, skills, and approach needed to provide safe facilitation to such persons in a manner consistent with client goals, values, heritage, and spiritual practices

OPF104 Group Facilitation

Total Hours: 16 | Live Online: 8 | Self-Paced Online: 8

• Skills required to facilitate psilocybin group sessions, including:
  • Assessing client’s compatibility with group format
  • Set and setting for group facilitation
  • Facilitating group communications and dynamics, including strategies for working with multiple facilitators
  • Group agreements, including confidentiality and safety
  • Identifying when a client within a group requires individual support, removal from a group, or additional intervention
• Group preparation sessions
• Group integration sessions
• Regulatory requirements for group facilitation

OPF105 Cultural Equity in Relation to Psilocybin Services

Total Hours: 12 | Live Online: 6 | Self-Paced Online: 6

• Cultural equity, its relationship to health equity and social determinants of health
• Racial justice, including the impact of race and privilege on health outcomes and the impact of systemic racism on individuals and communities
• The impact of drug policy on individuals and communities
• History of systemic inequity, including systemic inequity in delivery of healthcare, mental health, and behavioral health services
• Intergenerational trauma
• Responsible referral and support

OPF106 Safety, Ethics and Responsibilities

Total Hours: 12 | Live Online: 6 | Self-Paced Online: 6

• Awareness of facilitator’s personal bias, including examination of facilitator’s motives
• Training on the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act and related laws, regulations, and professional standards for facilitators, including facilitator scope of practice and expectation of referral when scope of practice is exceeded
• Training in ethical issues related to psilocybin facilitation, including:
  • Oregon’s Facilitator Code of Ethics
  • Ethical considerations relating to equity, privilege, bias, and power
  • Awareness of increased vulnerability associated with altered states of consciousness
  • Appropriate use of touch and client consent to physical contact
  • Appropriate emotional and sexual boundaries between facilitators and clients both during provision of psilocybin services and at other times, potential harm to clients, and consequences for facilitators of breaching those boundaries
  • Historical and contemporary abuse of power associated with psychedelics, including sexual boundaries between facilitators and clients both during provision of psilocybin services and at other times, potential harm to clients, and consequences for facilitators of breaching those boundaries
  • Financial conflicts of interest and duties to clients
  • Reasonable expectations regarding client outcomes
• Accurate record keeping and client confidentiality
• Awareness of new research related to safety and ethics of providing psilocybin services and resources for professional development following program completion
• Appropriate measures to mitigate risks associated with psilocybin services, including harm reduction, de-escalation, and conflict resolution

OPF107 Preparation and Orientation

Total Hours: 16 | Live Online: 8 | Self-Paced Online: 8

• Informed consent
• Client information form and intake interview, including discussion of client’s reasons for seeking psilocybin services
• Using the client information form to assist clients in identifying benefits of referral to specialized treatment services
• Facilitator role and the limits of facilitator’s scope of practice
• Trauma informed communication skills
• Identification of client safety concerns, including medical history, contraindicated medication, and psychological instability
• Appropriate strategies to discuss client safety concerns, including but not limited to identification of client’s support system
• Determination of whether a client should participate in an administration session
• Client-directed safety planning to address identified safety concerns
• Boundaries between the facilitator and the client, including use of touch
• Understanding of how racial and cultural dynamics affect interactions between client and facilitator
• Historical and indigenous modalities of preparation

OPF108 Administration

Total Hours: 20 | Live Online: 10 | Self-Paced Online: 10

• Dosing strategies and considerations, including:
  • Experiential differences relating to differing dosages
  • Physiological considerations in relation to dosage
  • Delivery mechanisms of psilocybin
  • Use of secondary doses
• Effectively working with challenging behaviors during an administration session, including:
  • Unexpected client disclosures
  • Substance-induced psychosis
  • Suicidality
• Traumatic stress and its manifestation during a psilocybin experience and appropriate facilitator response, including:
  • Trauma’s relationship to the body
  • Repressed trauma emerging during a psilocybin experience
  • Trauma and traumatic stress resulting from systemic oppression
  • Safety for trauma resolution and risks associated with retraumatization
  • Protocols for ensuring facilitator safety and responding to emergencies
• Set and setting, including environmental considerations for administration session such as lighting, sound, and temperature
• Completion of administration session

OPF109 Integration

Total Hours: 12 | Live Online: 6 | Self-Paced Online: 6

• Identification of appropriate resources that may assist client with integration, including resources for:
  • Interpreting feelings and emotions experienced during administration session
  • Facilitation of positive internal and external changes
  • Enhancement of existing supportive relationship
• Identification of client safety concerns
• Facilitator scope of practice
• Discussion of appropriate intervals between administration sessions and related safety concerns

OPF110 Practicum Experience

Total Hours: 40

Students complete a structured practicum experience consisting of 40 hours of supervised practicum training at a licensed Oregon psilocybin service center.

Prior to scheduling practicum, students are required to apply for and obtain an Oregon Psilocybin Services worker permit. Students may apply for the required $25 worker permit through the Oregon Health Authority at this link.

After receiving the required permit, students are responsible for coordinating practicum scheduling directly with The Shrooms Cafe in Ashland, Oregon, subject to approval and availability through both Shrooms Cafe and AAA Learning Institute.

Practicum dates are arranged individually and may be completed at approved times throughout the year based on service center operations, instructor availability, and program approval.

Students are responsible for all practicum-related food, lodging, and transportation expenses.

Students are encouraged to begin the worker permit and practicum scheduling process early to support timely completion of the program.

Practicum instruction is designed to support applied learning, observation, professional conduct, client safety, and real-world integration of facilitator competencies developed throughout the didactic curriculum.