Starting in October, the combination of workshops and webinars will address a critical knowledge gap in the health care workforce.
An interdisciplinary team from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)’s schools of Social Work, Nursing, and Pharmacy was awarded a grant from the University’s Center for Interprofessional Education to launch a transformative Continuing Interprofessional Education (CIPE) series on the Foundations of Psychedelic Science and Therapeutics.
The initiative aims to introduce members of the health care workforce to the rapidly evolving landscape of psychedelic medicines and psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) for mental health treatment.
Set to launch in late October and run through spring 2025, the combination of workshops and webinars will address a critical knowledge gap in the health care workforce. Research is demonstrating the potential of PAT to treat a range of mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, addiction, and anxiety, and an increasing number of state-level reform bills are changing the legal landscape for the use of psychedelic medicines.
Among those leading the initiative is Megan Meyer, PhD, MSW, associate professor at the School of Social Work, who said, “The scientific and legal landscapes are moving faster than the capacity of the health care workforce to knowledgably address the potential risks and promise of these medicines and therapies. This series is a culmination of almost two years of collaboration across the three schools to identify the type of training our workforces need and is a first step in providing both health care professionals and students with a nuanced perspective on these innovative treatments for mental health.”
This grant builds upon a research grant from UMB’s Center for Addiction Research, Education, and Service that surveyed social workers and nurses to understand their knowledge, attitudes, and training needs related to psychedelics for mental health treatment.
Andrew Coop, PhD, MA, professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and associate dean for graduate programs at the School of Pharmacy, added, “This Continuing Interprofessional Education series complements a 3-credit elective the School of Pharmacy that launched last spring in our Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics program. Academic curriculum and ongoing continuing professional education are both increasingly important, as the Maryland General Assembly has begun to explore effective regulation of these medicines.”
Coop recently was appointed by Gov. Wes Moore to the newly formed Maryland Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances.
In addition to Meyer and Coop, partners in this effort are leaders of the schools of social work and nursing professional education departments, associate dean Seante Hatcher, MSW, LCSW-C and assistant professor and director Lynn Marie Bullock, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, respectively. They recognize how critical well-informed social work and nursing workforces will be to creating safe access to these emerging treatments.
Health care practitioners and UMB students will have the opportunity to take part in the upcoming CIPE series, which is planned to be offered in a fully synchronous online format. Content will include the history and psychopharmacology of psychedelics; the state of clinical research findings about the efficacy and risks of PAT for different psychedelic compounds and specific mental health conditions; access, social justice, and diversity issues related to the effective delivery of psychedelic therapies; harm reduction methods for integrating this knowledge into existing clinical practices; and the emerging legal landscape for health care providers.