What is Psychedelic Chaplaincy?

This panel brought together Daan Keiman, spiritual caregiver and facilitator at a psilocybin retreat in the Netherlands, with Jamie Beachy, a MAPS MDMA Therapist and director of the Center for Contemplative Chaplaincy at Naropa University, in dialogue with Trace Haythorn of ACPE to explore their visions for psychedelic chaplaincy: what is the potential role of spiritual caregivers in providing support for people preparing for, undergoing, or integrating psychedelic experiences? What are the challenges in creating psychedelic education and training opportunities for chaplains and clergy? To what extent does the continually increasing access to psychedelics call on us to rethink, reshape, or expand conceptions of chaplaincy writ large?

The panel was moderated by Rachael Petersen. Rachael is a visiting fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religion and the Psychedelics and Religion Program Director for the Riverstyx Foundation.

Daan Keiman holds an MA in Spiritual Care and has years of professional experience working in mental health and addiction care, drug harm reduction and hospice. He is one of the Lead Facilitators and the Director of Ethics and Advocacy at the Synthesis Institute, where he has guided hundreds of people through psychedelic experiences. He is a co-founder of the Guild of Guides Netherlands, an organization that seeks to professionalize professional sitting services. For the last three years, he has been working on an interfaith model for Psychedelic Chaplaincy, addressing the somatic, moral and relational dimensions of psychedelic experiences.

Jamie Beachy, PhD, is the Assistant Professor for Wisdom Traditions at Naropa University where she directs the Center for Contemplative Chaplaincy, an ACPE accredited chaplaincy training program. Having served as an ordained (Christian) chaplain, educator and ethics consultant in diverse trauma and palliative care settings, Dr. Beachy now teaches from an interreligious and earth-based commitment to spiritual care. In addition to her role guiding the contemplatively-based MDiv program at Naropa, Dr. Beachy serves as a sub-investigator and co-therapist for the MAPS-sponsored phase III MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD research study in Boulder, Colorado.

Trace Haythorn, PhD, has served as Executive Director/CEO of the ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education since 2013 in Atlanta, GA. Trace is the co-founder of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab with Wendy Cadge (Brandeis University), and serves with Transforming Chaplaincy (Rush University) and the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWU). His serves as contingent faculty for the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, and is trained as a Presence-Based Coach (ICF).