On September 14th, the FDA convened a public hearing to gather stakeholder perspectives on the potential therapeutic use of psychedelic drug products in clinical settings. One theme came through clearly: the health care system needs a trained workforce, clinical guidance, care models, and infrastructure to deliver these treatments safely and responsibly.
That is the focus of our Call for Action on System Readiness. We must build psychedelics into the behavioral health system rather than creating a parallel system built around a single novel therapy.
Patient stories during the hearing brought the stakes of this work into focus. For our team, the personal stories were one of the most touching parts. It showed the different ways psychedelic therapies can be beneficial to different people in different spaces of their lives.
The policy and infrastructure may be complex, spanning reimbursement and coverage, competency frameworks, and care models, but the need is urgent and deeply personal for many.
Several speakers at the hearing highlighted BrainFutures' work to develop core competencies to bring consistency and professional standards to the field.
In interviews with Mental Health Weekly and HCPLiveafter the hearing, Sarah Norman highlighted BrainFutures' practical tools and broader system-readiness priorities, including provider readiness, care models that ensure safe and ethical delivery, and reimbursement coverage.
Mental Health Weekly also spoke with the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, highlighting how Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) can play a significant role in delivering psychedelic treatments and echoing the importance of competency-based training and team-based care built within the system we already have.
The Access Question That Still Needs More Attention
Reimbursement and coverage received less attention at the FDA hearing than we expected, yet they will be central to ensuring psychedelic therapies are truly accessible.
BrainFutures plans to comment to the FDA on this, and we encourage others across the behavioral health ecosystem to submit public comments by the October 5th deadline. Our comments will respond to what we heard and didn’t hear on coding and reimbursement, as well asmental health parity. We'll also address the system-readiness priorities that will determine what access looks like in practice.
Medicaid's Role in Expanding Access
Medicaid is the nation’s largest payer for behavioral health services, making it central to whether future psychedelic-assisted therapies reach the people who may need them most.
A new report from the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) examines what Medicaid programs and safety-net systems will need to turn potential coverage into real-world access. The report was created with support from the Psychedelic Mental Health Access Alliance.
BrainFutures' Sarah Norman and Jazz Glastra, along with Advisor Henry Harbin, MD, contributed to the report. Our Professional Practice Guidelines for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, developed with the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association (APPA), also helped inform its recommendations.
Picture a classroom where students know how to pause, steady themselves, and return to their work. Those everyday moments rely on executive function skills, which the brain builds over time. With practice, those skills can grow stronger. Schools across the country are finding ways to build that into the day.
BrainFutures Advisor Ali Smith has spent more than two decades bringing yoga and mindfulness to students and adults through the Holistic Life Foundation. Their research links the work to stronger emotional regulation, a steadier stress response, and less rumination.
In an interview with Sarah Norman, Ali shared how schools can weave these practices into their culture so they become a natural part of the day, and the impact that has on the whole community.
In our youth executive function program, ACTIVATE™, we're working with teachers, administrators, school counselors, and families to build new tools to integrate the program’s skills into more school- and home-based routines.
Our Step Inside Your Child’s Mind conversation series offers families simple strategies they can use at home to help children strengthen these skills, which help them manage stress, navigate challenges, and support better mental health.
Sarah Norman is back from the Behavioral Health Tech Conference, where she moderated a standing-room-only panel discussion on the hype versus reality of psychedelics. Panelists Lucia Huang of Osmind, Nathan Moffat of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Scott Shannon addressed a range of questions - tackling both the strengths and gaps in the evidence base.
Also happening recently, several of our competency workgroup members presented at the Psychedelic Education Partnership webinar, which brought academic leaders together to discuss how foundational psychedelic education can be integrated into existing health professional programs to prepare the workforce.
In October, you'll find us at these events. Stop by and say hello:
Up to 70% of chemotherapy patients experience nerve damage and pain. Researchers are exploring whether psilocybin could help protect against this condition, for which no effective treatment exists. Read the article.
Advancing Evidence-Based Practices
“BrainFutures is providing hope for so many people by paving the way for psychedelic therapies to enter clinical practice."
