From Washington to the Clinic: What the Federal Momentum Means for Our Field
Last month I traveled to Washington, DC to participate in the Psychedelic Medicine Coalition’s Federal Summit at the National Press Club. It was May 14, just weeks after the President signed the executive order on accelerating treatments for serious mental illness, and the timing gave the gathering an unusual energy. The room held a mix of elected officials, agency staff from NIDA and SAMHSA, researchers, advocates, and leaders building organizations across this field. I spoke on a panel about workforce development moderated by Daniel Goldberg of Palo Santo, to answer questions I think about every day: What does it actually take to prepare a clinical workforce for the rollout of psychedelic treatments within the healthcare system? What sort of support is available for that work, and will it be enough?
Representing Fluence as an organization actively building training infrastructure was meaningful. Workforce development is often treated as a downstream concern—something to think about after the drugs are approved. What I heard in that room, and what I believe the current moment demands, is a different frame entirely. Workforce readiness is infrastructure. It belongs at the center of any serious planning for how psychedelic treatments will reach patients.
Scale, Timing, and Chance to Get it Right
Fluence has learned from years of training clinicians across multiple pathways: research study training, continuing education, and state licensure programs in Oregon and Colorado. Central to that work is the challenge of providing quality, competence-based training at scale. When approvals arrive, the demand for trained clinicians will only be met if training infrastructure is already in place. For other novel psychiatric treatments, the lag between approval and widespread clinical deployment has often been measured in years, driven in part by workforce gaps. The result is delayed access, unnecessary suffering, and missed opportunities for treatment. This field has an opportunity to plan ahead rather than repeat that pattern.
The Institutional Landscape Is Shifting
The Federal Summit reflected the same call for adequate infrastructure across the research and post-approval landscape. Government officials and agency staff were present as participants in a shared planning process, not as observers. NIDA and SAMHSA shape research funding priorities, inform clinical guidelines, and play a significant role in how treatments get integrated into healthcare delivery systems, including those that serve the populations most affected by the mental health and addiction crises named in the executive order. The explicit framing of psychedelic treatments as a response to veteran suicide rates and drug overdose deaths is both accurate and consequential for the durability of this investment over time.
Where Clinicians Fit in This Picture
I know that following this field closely takes real effort. The research landscape shifts quickly, the regulatory picture can be hard to parse, and it isn’t always obvious which developments are signal and which are noise. I came to this work through clinical practice myself, and I remember what it felt like to be oriented to a field that was moving faster than the professional structures around it. That disorientation is normal, and it doesn’t mean you’re behind.
What I can say is that the preparation you do now matters, even when the path forward isn’t fully clear. Clinicians who have built foundational knowledge and stayed engaged with the field will be better placed to participate on their own terms when opportunities open. Research trial involvement is a realistic near-term pathway, with more sites coming online regularly. Continuing education covering the core principles and skills of psychedelic therapy is available now and can help clarify where you want to be as this develops. The professional relationships built through your work, education, training, and conferences are often how clinicians find their way into opportunities as they emerge. We’re here to support all of that.
A Note on Staying Realistic
Federal policy can change direction. An executive order is a signal of intent, and even the best intent(ions) is not the same as outcome. The clinical development timelines for psilocybin, and certainly for ibogaine, still involve real uncertainty. I don’t think it serves anyone in this field to paper over that with enthusiasm.
What I can say, having been in that room in Washington and having watched this field for many years, is that the direction of our work is now supported by more convergent evidence than at any prior point: late-stage clinical data, federal executive policy, FDA administrative decisions, growing investment in clinical infrastructure, and sponsors actively seeking training partners for post-approval deployment. That convergence changes the calculus for anyone making decisions about whether and when to invest in preparation.
Thanks for reading,
Co-Founder & CEO
The fully updated Introduction to Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy on-demand course is now live and ready for enrollment.
This wasn't a light refresh. Every video in the course was reshot from scratch. New content, new footage, an expanded curriculum, built to reflect where clinical practice actually stands today. The result is a more complete course, now offering 8 CE hours, for psychologists, social workers, and LMHCs.
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A lot of clinicians are asking the same question right now: What do I actually need to do to prepare for post-approval practice?
We put together a page to help answer that. It covers where the approval landscape stands as of spring 2026, what training requirements are currently expected to look like, and how clinicians can position themselves for a more efficient certification pathway when a formal track is published. It also outlines which Fluence courses are most directly anticipated to align with those requirements.
Requirements aren't finalized yet. But the clinicians who build a strong foundation now will be better positioned to move quickly when they are.
Sabrina Santa Clara is located in the Boulder/Denver area of Colorado. While she is a licensed Counselor in Colorado, she works internationally as an educator, trauma-informed transpersonal coach and spiritual midwife. Sabrina has extensive experience working with nonmedicinal expanded states of consciousness via embodied practices such as Authentic Movement, Butoh, breathwork, somatic meditation, Internal Family Systems, sound healing, chanting and other expressive and creative arts therapies. She has been professionally helping clients integrate their psychedelic experiences since 2018 and received her Certification in Psychedelic Integration Therapy through Fluence in 2021.
Sabrina is an Advanced Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist who earned her masters in Somatic Counseling Psychology and Dance/Movement therapy from Naropa University. She teaches internationally on a variety of topics such as IFS, spirituality, psychedelic integration, and cultural trauma. She is the developer of Self Psychedelic Integration and Psychotherapeutic Touch, and offers certification courses in both these specialities. Sabrina is a nonbinary, bicultural and bilingual (Spanish) artist who lives in the in between spaces. She has an affinity for working with therapists, healers, coaches, and people who experience themselves as “outside the norm.” You can find more information about Sabrina here.
Curious about training in psychedelic therapy but unsure where to begin?
We’d love to help you gain clarity on how one of our courses fits into your path. Schedule a free 1-on-1 Zoom call with Kabir Cooppan-Boyd, dedicated to guiding you on your learning journey.
During your call, Kabir can answer your questions and explain how our courses connect to professional certificates in:
Psilocybin Facilitation
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Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration
If you’re a clinician with questions or curiosity about our programs, this personalized conversation is the perfect way to find your best next step.
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All certificate programs start with our six-week Essentials of Psychedelic Therapy course, with the July cohort taught by Sarah Zoghbi, LPC.
Certificate Programs
Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration Therapy
July 15 - March 31, 2027
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July 15 - March 21, 2027
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July 15 - Nov 24, 2026
All Fluence alumni who have taken a live-online course are eligible to join our 1200+ person Google Group. Members can work through protocol questions, share what they are seeing in the field, and get perspectives from colleagues doing the same work. If you have taken a live-online course but have not received your invite to the group, reach out here:
Email info@fluencetraining.com
VA Launches MDMA-Assisted Therapy Trial for Veterans
Just days ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a new randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluating MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with PTSD and alcohol use disorder. The trial, one of 19 psychedelic studies the VA is currently funding through $23 million in external grants, will enroll approximately 80 veterans at facilities in Providence, Rhode Island and West Haven, Connecticut. It's one of the most significant federal commitments yet to studying psychedelic treatment in a military population.
In the Race to the First Psychedelic Approval, Who's Leading?
Medscape maps the competitive landscape as FDA Commissioner Marty Makary signals the agency expects to issue a decision on psychedelic approvals by late summer or fall 2026.. The piece breaks down where Compass, Usona, and Transcend stand in the queue, and what the Commissioner's National Priority Voucher program means for accelerated timelines.
New Psychedelic-Like Compounds May Treat Depression Without the Trip
UC Davis researchers published findings in the Journal of the American Chemical Society describing a new class of molecules that activate the same serotonin receptors targeted by classic psychedelics, but without producing hallucinogenic effects in animal testing. The discovery opens a new line of research into whether the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics can be separated from the altered-state experience itself, with implications for clinical design and patient access.
