Research into psychedelic-assisted therapy has grown in the past ten years as non-profits, academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and even venture capitalists race to develop protocols for using MDMA, psilocybin, ketamine, and other psychedelic substances to treat mental illness. Already, dozens of ketamine clinics across the country administer the medication off-label for depression, and MDMA- and psilocybin-assisted therapy are expected to be approved by the FDA in the coming years.

You’re lying on a bed in a dimly–lit room. Music surrounds you, and the air is soft on your skin. You slip a lozenge under your tongue. As it dissolves, you close your eyes, settling in for the experience ahead. Sitting beside you, a therapist offers a reassuring presence. If anxiety sets in, you’re prepared: deep breath in, then out. Slowly you ease into an altered state of consciousness as visions, memories, and visceral sensations wash over you in waves. Your journey begins.

Read other highlights from the article in this blog post.

This September, SoundMind joined state leaders, community advocates, and other key stakeholders in Lancaster for the PA Latino Convention, an annual gathering focused on championing the needs of the state’s rapidly expanding Latinx community. Pennsylvania’s Latinx population has more than doubled in the last 20 years—to nearly one million residents—and is home to the second largest migration of Puerto Ricans following Hurricane Maria.

The Temple News published an article about SoundMind and Hannah McLane, Temple University alumna. Read some highlights in this post.

Philadelphia Magazine featured SoundMind and our founder Dr. Hannah McLane in a Q&A on psychedelic medicine in Philly! Some highlights from the interview are in the post.

On August 1, SoundMind opened its doors at 4623 Spruce Street, announcing its launch as the first psychedelic-assisted therapy clinic in Philadelphia, and the first on the east coast to center the needs of marginalized patients. To celebrate our opening, we hosted a launch party and fundraising event with guests from the local community and across the country!

On July 22, 2021, Pennsylvania Office of Advocacy and Reform hosted the webcast joined by Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Rick Doblin, Ph.D., Hannah McLane, MD, Joseph McCowan, PsyD. One of the goals set by the PA Office of Advocacy and Reform for the upcoming year was to explore innovative and evidence-based approaches that could help vulnerable populations heal from trauma. As part of this effort, we have set up an educational presentation with some of the leading doctors, therapists, and thought leaders in the field of psychedelic-assisted treatment.

We’ve been hard at work renovating our clinic site at 4623 Spruce Street in Philadelphia, PA. As we prepare for our clinic launch on August 1, we are so excited to share a tour of our space, including our clinical rooms, event space, overnight lodging, and back garden. We’ve come so far in transforming this building into a multi-use site for psychedelic healing, clinician training, and community gathering! In the coming months, we will continue renovations on our basement floor, building wheelchair accessible clinical spaces and a mycology lab.

What a start to 2021! January has hardly begun, and we are reminded again that now, more than ever, we need the healing benefits an psychedelic approach to wellness and trauma therapy.

We are so excited to give you a quick first tour of our building that we have been working so hard on preparing for these purposes.

Take a look, and expect more to come soon!

As we brace for a new year which promises a slow but steady reduction of COVID-19 infection rates, we begin to assess the traumatic mental health effects that the pandemic left in its wake. This is an enormous task— one that will likely take years to address. Frontline healthcare workers who have been fighting COVID-19 for the majority of the past year and patients intubated in ICUs due to COVID-19 have a PTSD rate of up to 35%.

Happy Holidays from SoundMind! Here’s what we did in 2020, and what we are looking forward to in 2021.

2020 has been a challenging year for so many of us, but also a time of reflection and renewal, a time to mobilize our resources toward an exciting future. At SoundMind, we have continued our work to make psychedelic healing accessible to all, and we remain forever optimistic.

Just an update on the building. We plan to open in May and we can't wait to show you the spot. It is so many things: beautiful, cozy, historical, fabulous. We can't wait to have many a gathering about psychedelics, plants, mushrooms, meditation, music, and revolutions in this gorgeous space. The address is 4623 Spruce Street if you want to check out the location on a map or gaze at it with excitement as you walk by.

Recent clinical trial demonstrates significant and lasting reduction in depression after just two psilocybin sessions.

Thank you, to everyone who participated on Sunday, June 14th for our inaugural event! We are thrilled to have the privilege to continue to provide free and accessible content. Our next installment, to air in early August, is sure to be a fascinating and informative installment that you will not want to miss. We have an exciting lineup of speakers to expect. Check out our list of confirmed speakers and topics!

Steph Fèini Yĭn Steph Yin talks at the Psyched Conference: An Exploration of the Psychedelic Ecosystem about their article related to psychedelics for POC and healing racial trauma.

New Piece by Hannah McLane MD just published on WHYY; "In my opinion, what defines a ‘fair’ resource allocation choice? It is one that considers not just the number of lives saved, but also what is behind those lives. Being fair about where our efforts go and not being biased based on a deluded notion that we are all starting out on a level playing field.”

We are offering free educational content about wellness and healing as part of our Solidarity Series initiative. We are also currently raising funds to provide free and sliding scale therapy to frontline healthcare providers and essential workers affected by COVID-19. Spaces will be limited to available funding. Please consider donating to our effort.

During this COVID crisis, we are faced with a real life bioethics challenge, and we have been contemplating how we can best support our community through the difficult times ahead. To provide some insight into how we are thinking about this issue, we are sharing the presentation Michelle Joy and Hannah McLane gave last summer at the SOAP Conference in Pittsburgh.

SoundMind Center is mentioned in our local media, the Philadelphia Inquirer. This article discusses the potential of psychedelics, specifically psilocybin and LSD, in the medical setting and notes the progress of the MDMA clinical trials for PTSD: "Upon FDA approval, the SoundMind Center, based in West Philly, will open a clinic in Cedar Park offering MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to populations with higher rates of PTSD." We are committed to quality care and access to these therapies and will be ready to provide psilocybin and LSD assisted therapy once legally available for medical use.

MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy Expanded Access program has been accepted by the FDA! The FDA will be allowing only a limited number of patients (less than 50 in the entire country) to enroll outside of the phase III trial. This is an incredible moment in the approval process.