Hi there,

This month we are focusing on those crucial elements that surround the psychedelic journey - all the research, guidance, preparation, and integration practices that are so essential to creating meaningful change through working with these substances.

In this month's announcements newsletter you'll find:
✨ Discount on the celebrated ACER Integration Program
✨ Our new resource page on finding the right psychedelic guide for you
✨ Upcoming retreat dates from our psychedelic retreats partner
✨ Opportunities to get involved in psychedelic research
✨Last call for job applications to join our team
✨ Discounts for partner organisations
✨ Headlines from this month's psychedelic news

Discount on renowned integration program with Dr Rosalind Watts

We are delighted to share the news that we have officially partnered with ACER Integration, an online, global community created and held by Dr Rosalind Watts. ACER stands for Accept, Connect, Embody, Restore, and is the culmination of Dr Watts’ research into psychedelic therapy outcomes. The ACER process contains 12 monthly modules for increasing connectedness to purpose, community and nature.

You will receive a 10% discount if you use this special link to apply.

ACER Integration is designed to help you connect more deeply to yourself, others, and the living world through bespoke materials created by Dr Watts, live sharing circles, breathwork, integration Q&As led by some of the most prominent voices in the psychedelic space, and monthly conversations with world-class psychologists such as Dick Schwartz, Ron Siegal and Terence Real. Together we journey through a cycle encompassing twelve lessons, each symbolised by a different tree, and culminating in a powerful guided imagery journey to embody the learning. At the end of the process, these twelve trees keep growing inside us, an inner forest that enables us to move forward in life with a commitment to being an ‘agent of connectedness’. The community is opening to new members again, with the first tree module (Yew Tree) starting in November. If you're feeling called to connect to a community of purpose please apply.

If you would like to get a taste of ACER, join us online at 7pm on 17th October, for “The Redwood: Connecting to our Inner Child, Surrounding Them with Care” with Dr Rosalind Watts and ACER participants.

Experience a mushroom retreat

Alalaho offer safe and legal psilocybin-assisted retreats in the Netherlands to open people to the wisdom and potential at the core of their being. Their retreat program includes exercises and approaches from the Western clinical model, somatic and transpersonal psychology, as well as from ancient wisdom traditions across different cultures and times.

There are new psilocybin retreats opening every day across the world and choosing one can be difficult. We partner with Alalaho because they truly understand the nature of psychedelics, offering not only the experience of the medicine but the personal guidance to prepare and to deeply integrate what you learn, over a nine month follow-up period, so you can make the lasting changes you need. You will:

💁🏽‍♀️ Receive 1:1 guidance and support before, during and after the ceremony from expert facilitators
🧘🏼 Engage in preparation and integration activities before, during and after the retreat
💞 Become part of a community by sharing the journey together with a group of like-minded individuals

Their next retreats will take place on October 18-22 (5-day retreat) and December 7-10 (4-day retreat)

To learn more you can also join one of their weekly live Q&A sessions (every Tuesday). Register here to receive the Zoom link.

Navigating psychedelics for clinicians

Psychedelics Today are one of the best educational organisations for psychedelics in the US and they have created a wonderful online education platform, Psychedelic Education Center, offering live classes, including Navigating Psychedelics for Clinicians and Wellness Practitioners and Psychedelic Neuroscience Demystified.

Both are kicking off this fall, in addition to many courses that grant you lifetime access when you enroll. Learn more and enrol today!

Finding the right guide for you

Taking psychedelics in a guided setting, with or without a group, can add tremendous value to the psychedelic experience by creating a safe and held space that allows you to go even deeper internally. Working with guides or facilitators who have dedicated time to understanding how to work with psychedelics can offer direction and a framework to those using psychedelic medicines for spiritual growth and healing. But a poor guide can also have serious consequences.

In this resource, we cover the key factors to consider when choosing a psychedelic retreat or guide and red flags to watch out for.

Join London's conscious community

We're excited to be launching our partnership with &Soul, London's new conscious gathering space. This place is designed to be an experiment in living for those hungry for connection, creativity, and a more meaningful life in community. All under one roof. They offer fully equipped flats, with a flexible length of stay. Plus conscious events every day of the week, a gym, recording & art studios, event spaces, and saunas. They're finally welcoming first applications, as the building fully opens in autumn (Oct). They have 302 beautiful rooms available from £250 P/W inclusive of all amenities, events and bills.

Through our partnership, they are offering the Psychedelic Society community the following sign-up offer. Just list Psychedelic Society as your referral in your application:

3 - 5 months agreement - 1 week rent-free
6 - 8 months agreement - 2 weeks rent-free
9 - 11 months agreement - 3 weeks rent-free
1 year agreement - 1 month rent-free

Last chance to apply!

As we continue to grow and develop, we are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic social media manager to join our team. We're looking for a strong storyteller who loves what we do and resonates with our mission of creating a world with a mature, integrated, and curious relationship to psychedelics and related practices. Applications are open now until this Sunday, 10 September.

Research opportunities for you

The New School for Social Research in New York is offering $30 to participants for their study the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic use in naturalistic group-based settings (group ceremonies and raves, electronic music festivals, or other electronic dance music events, etc) for people with childhood trauma. The study consists of three online questionnaires. You can register your interest here.
A study at the University of East London is examining the role of Internal Family Systems therapy in psychedelic integration. They are seeking participants who have used psychedelics for healing purposes (as opposed to recreational) and have attended therapy (IFS or other modalities for contrast) as a way to reflect upon and “integrate” their experience. To participate, contact Sophie Sarrassat at u2039622@uel.ac.uk
Are you a therapist with knowledge of psychedelic-assisted therapy? A study at Teeside University is exploring the attitudes and beliefs of psychological professionals regarding psychedelic-assisted therapy within therapeutic settings. For more information contact Sofia Sanchez at B1019656@tees.ac.uk
Have you had a difficult or distressing psychedelic experience? This study from Brown University's Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab investigates difficult psychedelic experiences, how they might be better predicted, and the kinds of remedies and support that could be most helpful. Share your experience here.

Conducting a research study and looking for participants? Get in touch at lauren@psychedelicsociety.org.uk so we can share with the community

This month's roundup

Couples are doing MDMA and Ketamine therapy to save their relationships reports Vice News
Emory College announces its new introductory-level religion course, “Sacred Drugs,” this fall looking for everything from a basic understanding of Christianity to a more expansive sense of religious institutions’ influence on political drug policy
Meanwhile, at Johns Hopkins, clergy try mind-altering drugs for scientific research in their ongoing study with NYU where religious leaders including priests, pastors and rabbis — are taking controlled doses of psilocybin. Joe Welker has also published an interesting series questioning the study
An exciting piece in Nature shows the co-use of MDMA with psilocybin/LSD may buffer against challenging experiences and enhance positive experiences
Big pharma is on the psychedelic scene, with a Japanese pharma company’s recent $60m acquisition of Mindset, a company developing non-hallucinogenic psychedelics
With psychedelics going mainstream, The Guardian questions the therapeutic hype and raises alarms on its risks

Join our membership community!

We fund our work in integration, education and harm reduction primarily through our membership program.

By becoming a member of The Psychedelic Society community, you get access to exclusive members-only events like the one above, a discount on events, and support the development of this alternative cultural space. Membership starts from just £5/month!