Graduate Diploma
Psychedelics Therapies
The University of Ottawa is developing a Graduate Diploma in Psychedelic Therapies, which is a certificate aimed at demonstrating proficiency in knowledge and skills required for the therapeutic, spiritual, and ritual uses of psychedelics for health and wellbeing across diverse communities. The goal of this program is to provide formal training in psychedelic-assisted therapies for clinicians and spiritual care providers using an interdisciplinary approach.
This graduate diploma offers
- Interdisciplinary learning experience from experts in the Faculty of Arts and School of Psychology
- A training program in psychedelic-assisted therapies for mental health professionals and spiritual care providers
- Connections with other professionals in this emerging field
- A headstart on the MA in Psychedelic and Consciousness Studies
An exciting new field of study
The diploma is for professionals who would like to expand their scope of practice to include psychedelic psychotherapies.
- Apply healing approaches based on non-ordinary states of consciousness using experiential knowledge and skills in traditional healing practices.
- Promote responsible, ethical, and decolonized health care.
- Learn about the use of psychedelics in religious and spiritual practices.
- Provide professional guidance and support based on research and best practices in mental health and spiritual care, while respecting sociocultural diversity and ethical norms.
The graduate diploma certificate program is still under development. Interested learners should sign up for one of the psychedelic microprograms or visit this site again for new updates.
Clinicians
The Mental Health track involves advanced study and training in psychedelics-assisted therapies for mental health professionals.
Religious Providers
The Spiritual Care track includes advanced study and training in psychedelic-assisted spiritual care for clergy and those chaplains.
Entheogenic Providers
The Spiritual Care track may also include study and training in indigenous approaches to ceremonial healing using sacred psychoactive plant medicines.
The uOttawa difference
Program Overview
uOttawa's unique interdisciplinary approach.
Join the first program of its kind in Canada, and be part of a new wave of academic engagement in psychedelic and consciousness studies.
Psychedelic therapies are poised to become a new paradigm in mental health care.
Benefit from the interdisciplinarity and intersectionality of the program, promoting a holistic and inclusive understanding of psychedelic medicines and plants.
Benefit from a unique partnership between psychology and religious studies to create your own educational pathway to becoming a psychedelic therapist.
uOttawa is poised to become the world’s first university to offer bilingual programming in psychedelics studies.
Practicum Training
Our practicum is the capstone of a rigorous program, with hands-on training as a critical part of the learning process.
Graduate diploma students will engage in practicum work under the supervision of a qualified (licensed, registered, certified, and/or ordained) practitioner for 100 hours, of which 48 hours must be direct client contact in collaboration with a senior practitioner.
Practicum opportunities include working as a ketamine-assisted therapy provider, facilitating plant medicine retreats, being a research trial clinician, working on a psychedelic crisis hotline, or many other opportunities, alone or in combination.
The practicum placement will also include a weekly online supervision team of all the students on practica with a uOttawa professor to benefit from group learning.
Potential opportunities for graduates of the program.
- Therapists in treatment outcome research studies for all types of psychedelic therapies.
- Therapists for ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (needs a mental health practitioner license).
- Assisting people who have used psychedelics or other practices to attain non-ordinary states of consciousness, and require integration help after challenging experiences.
- Counselor or guide for people involved in religious practices that involve the legal use of entheogens (needs to be a qualified clergy member).
- Work as a guide or facilitator in psychedelic retreat or care centre (needs to be a qualified clinician).
Admissions requirements for the graduate diploma program.
To be eligible, candidates should:
- Have an honours bachelor’s degree (or equivalent), or higher degree in any related discipline, with a minimum average of 70% (B).
- Demonstrate a high academic achievement as shown by official academic transcript and other supporting documentation.
- Provide two strong letters of recommendation and a personal statement.
- Cultual Diversity: coursework in multicultural psychology, cultural diversity, or the equivalent (e.g. EDU 6470 Multicultural Counseling); Chacruna's intensive short course on cultural diversity and social justice will meet this requirement
- Ethics: a course in professional ethics as related to their area of specialization (additional practitioner ethics will covered in PSY 6137)
- Interview and Counseling Skills: coursework and training in interviewing, therapy, and/or counseling skills (e.g. PSY 6134 Mental Health Interview & Psychometrics)
- Drugs and Behaviour: those in the mental health track will need to have taken coursework that includes training in pharmaceuticals and behavior (e.g., PSY 6151 Drugs and Behavior), a pharmacology course, or another graduate equivalent; for students in the spirituality specialty, the required SRS 5110 course is sufficient.
Have completed necessary pre-requisites at the graduate level:
Preference will be given to students who are engaged in helping professions (mental health or spiritual).
Graduate Diploma
Courses
Students will complete the following compulsory courses (21 units):
- SRS 5108 Psychedelics: Survey of an Emerging Field (3 units) -or-
PSY 6191 Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness - SRS 5109 Psychedelics, Politics, & Harm Reduction (3 units)
- SRS 5110 Sacred Plant Medicines & Spirituality (3 units)
- PSY 6137/6537 Psychedelic Psychotherapies for Mental Health (3 units)
- PSY 6442 Fieldwork in Psychology: Traditional Uses of Psychedelics (3 units)
- PSY 6002 Practicum in Applied Research / Clinical Practice (3 units)
Experiential Learning
Fieldwork
Modern psychedelic research is confirming age-old Indigenous knowledge about the centrality of spirituality in the healing process: human flourishing rests upon bio-psychosocial and transpersonal/spiritual dimensions.
Our program is committed to promoting research on the role of spirituality in healing, and to advancing Indigenous ways of knowing by introducing students to traditional holistic systems of healing, and inculcating in them a knowledge of, and respect for, traditional plant medicines. The most direct and effective way to achieve this goal is by offering students short term (8-10 days) fieldwork opportunities among traditional healers and/ or entheogenic religious communities where the spiritual and communal dimensions of healing are centre stage.
Students will have the opportunity to learn from traditional healers (shamans, curanderos, madrihnas, etc.), observe the ritual and ceremonial bases of healing, and examine the uses of non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC) in the process of healing and spiritual growth. We have established fieldwork opportunities among indigenous and traditional healers in Canada and internationally and are adding more.
