Psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in certain kinds of mushrooms, has been found to help break through emotional barriers when used with proper clinical supervision. (The Canadian Press)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

higher therapy

VIU pioneering psychedelic-assisted therapy program

Feb 13, 2022 | 6:25 AM

NANAIMO — Vancouver Island University is taking a closer look at how certain psychedelic drugs can be used a therapeutical tools.

A first-of-its-kind program aimed at healthcare professionals and clinicians will base off an existing therapy program, Roots to Thrive, created by VIU nursing professor Dr. Shannon Dames.

Dames said it will teach students the proper way to introduce psychedelic-assisted therapy, but they won’t be administered on-site.

“The Roots to Thrive program, which is the local practicum, is a non-profit that’s affiliated with the University, it’s an affiliated practicum site, they work with ketamine and psilocybin, which is the mushrooms.”

Students will get the chance to administer them during their practicum period.

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In the past two years, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy provided at Roots to Thrive has been used to treat conditions such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction and eating disorders with an 80 per cent and above success rate.

Dames and adjunct professor Dr. Pamela Kryskow helped develop the program.

They have spent years developing and training others to use ketamine as the psychedelic agent to treat patients, along with a team of health professionals.

Dames said while using these kinds of treatments are new to the western world of medicine, Indigenous groups have been using psychedelic mechanisms in ceremonial environments for all of recorded history.

“These are not new medicines. Using medicine in this way is new in the biomedical system, so we have a lot to learn from Indigenous ways of knowing, and that is a huge focus of this program.”

L-R: Adjunct Professor Dr. Pamela Kryskow, VIU Elder-in-Residence Geraldine Manson and VIU Nursing Professor Dr. Shannon Dames.(Vancouver Island University)

She said psychedelics do not have any addictive properties, and this process is less about what they are taking and a lot more about the intention of why they are taking it.

“When done with intention, they pull you into your process, so if there is trauma or difficult emotions to hold you are pulled into those difficult processes so that they can be felt, nurtured and released when they are ready. That is a very different mechanism from when we take substances or food or any other events we may grasp on to as distractions from uncomfortable feelings that are in our bodies.”

Registration for the program is open from now until March 31 and requires a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in training and/or education.

This is not the first time Nanaimo has shown pioneering interest in this topic. Last year, the Nanaimo research lab Numinus Wellness Inc. which focuses on psychedelic drug research announced a $1.2 million expansion.

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