First Responder Peer Support Initiative
Pioneering psychedelic treatment protocols to support first responders training to support one another in psychedelics. We focus on Veterans, police officers, and healthcare workers on the front lines of care.
We prioritize developing psychedelic-assisted treatment models that make these innovative new treatments affordable, accessible, and culturally attuned to patients.
We believe peer support is a vital way to achieve these goals, by incorporating trained peer support mentors into a patient’s treatment team, alongside prescribers and licensed therapists. Peer support mentors are individuals who have completed treatment with psychedelic-assisted therapy who then train to support other patients who have key shared experiences.
Benefits of the SoundMind Peer Support Model
01
Provides patients with additional emotional and social support from an individual who understands their history and experiences on a personal level.
02
Builds community and social connectedness among patients and Peer Support Mentors while reducing the cost of care and increasing equitable access.
03
Gives Peer Support Mentors the gift of contributing to the healing of others, enhancing their own well-being and recovery.
With generous support from
Community and connection are vital parts of the healing journey - peer support models are how we get there.
Through our First Responder Peer Support Project, we are pioneering ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA treatment protocols that utilize the experience and support of other Veterans, police officers, and healthcare workers who have already been treated for PTSD. These peer support mentors help their fellow Veterans through the PTSD treatment process by providing emotional support, community, and culturally aligned peer viewpoints and perspectives. We focus on Veterans, Police Officers, and Medical Professionals who have been on the front lines of care and currently have PTSD.
This project is part of SoundMind’s broader Psychedelic Access for Veterans Initiative. There is an urgent need for effective, accessible mental health interventions for veterans, and psychedelic-assisted therapies offer hope for more effective interventions to treat PTSD, depression, and other mental health concerns.
Help us tell these stories of healing.
Developing these new treatments is not enough, however, it is vital that we disseminate information on psychedelic therapy to educate the public and advocate for increased access and affordability across patient populations. It is critical that we tell the stories of the many individuals whose lies are changed by psychedelic medicine — especially our nation’s veterans.
Toward this end, SoundMind Project, our affiliate non-profit arm is proud to launch our Veteran Peer Support in Psychedelics Film Project, which will follow the treatment of a veteran at our clinic and the peer support mentors who are part of his care team.
“To be afforded this opportunity to work with other Veterans in a clinical setting is one of the most historical opportunities of a lifetime for me!”
“My journey from ‘patient’ to ‘healer’ has finally come full circle. I’ve never qualified to be in a room with people who had degrees as an official education in the medical field. Only recently over this past Veterans Day, I have realized that my life experience has served as my qualification and credentials to participate in the healing process of others. Being at the fringe and forefront of this historic medicinal psychedelic revolution is an honor, privilege, and unique opportunity. We are dispelling the ignorance and misinformation surrounding psychedelics as a part of our medicinal tool kit… For over a decade now I’ve felt as if I’ve only been viewed as this patient with PTSD telling my story of the help and healing that I received. Now I finally get the opportunity to participate in the healing process of other veterans who are receiving the same psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy that I received years ago. Thank you to the SoundMind Institute for this rare position of healing through psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.”
Nicholas Blackston (‘Nick’)
USMC Combat Veteran and SoundMind Peer Support Mentor
