Ethical conduct and practitioner accountability have emerged as central themes within professional settings involving psychedelic therapy, particularly in relation to problematic behaviour and boundary violations by some practitioners. Whilst violations range in severity and impact, sadly they are not new phenomena, and are known to occur in many healthcare settings. The SPRG created its Ethics Focus Group so that as a culture of Practitioners we can increase accountability, and reduce the occurrence of problematic behaviours and boundary violations occurring in Psychedelic Therapy, as well as in other contexts involving altered states of consciousness.
Aims
This group is facilitated by Dr John Anderson, a trained counsellor specialising in psychedelic integration practices and counsellor training for altered states of consciousness.
The SPRG Focus ethics group has two aims:
- Discussion of emerging ethical issues in psychedelic therapy and implications for how best to support practitioners through the continued development of the SPRG’s peer-based Professional Ethics Framework.
- Future development of Ethical Guidance to help guide individual decision-making in non-professional contexts for the purpose of benefit optimisation and harm reduction when holding a safe space for others experiencing altered states of consciousness.
Current Projects
From January 2024, the SPRG Ethics Focus Group will meet virtually on the last Friday of every month at 7:00pm – 08:30pm, to discuss emerging ethical issues in psychedelic therapy and implications for how to support individual practitioners through continued development of the SPRG Professional Ethics Framework. Current collaborators include members of the Independent Practitioners Network (IPN), and practitioners from the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy (IPT).
To register for you interest in participating in the SPRG Ethics Focus Group, please email john.anderson@sprg.org with a brief description of your background and interests, and we will be in touch.
Future Projects
Subject to securing specific funding, future projects will focus on development of ethical guidance to help guide individual decision-making in non-professional contexts, and development of important companion processes to the SPRG Professional Ethics framework, including a peer-based accreditation process for practitioners (as an alternative to standard forms of practitioner accreditation), and empirical valuation of the SPRG Ethical Framework in clinical practice.