Experts Share 2 Top Tools for Peer Support in Psychedelics

As peer support becomes more frequently used in psychedelics to help patients better navigate trips, clinicians need to be aware of best practices and techniques for making sure patients get the support they need, said Josh S. White, Juris Doctor, founder and executive director of the Fireside Project, and Rosalind P. Watts, PhD, director at Twelve Trees Integration Ltd, in their Sana Symposium 2022 session. Dr Watts and White discussed the use of peer support in psychedelic therapy, particularly with psychedelic peer support lines, and 2 tools necessary to make it a rewarding experience and ensure patients find the help they need. 

Peer support is a therapeutic tool practiced under the belief that people who have similar disorders or go through similar traumatic events can help and support each other in their healing journeys, the presenters told virtual attendees on Friday. Peer support, as it is considered today, began in the 1970s in response to civil liberty violations in the psychiatric space, such as involuntary commitment and over-drugging of patients. Since then, it has become a successful way to help patients cope with trauma and/or disorders in a community setting and share lived experiences. The most widely-known example is Alcoholics Anonymous.

Strategy 1: Attunement 

The first strategy speakers discussed was attunement, defined as the reactiveness a person has to another person’s emotions. In psychedelic therapy, this can mean recognizing the emotional state of the patient and then responding with the appropriate language and behaviors. 

“When people reach out in the midst of a psychedelic experience,” White said, “almost always what they’re initially looking for is connection. How do you build connection with someone who’s tripping? It’s to be able to say you’ve been there yourself and to validate and normalize the person’s experience. So, ‘this is a really intense experience that you’re having right now, this is normal, [then] it’ll be over and I’ll be right here with you.’”

Strategy 2: Active Listening

Another tool expanded on was active listening, which is another way of listening and responding to someone that can help the speaker to feel heard and understood. This can include paraphrasing what a patient has just said to show that you, their clinician, understand. Dr Watts and White recommend using nonverbal cues like nodding or making eye contact, and occasionally jumping in with verbal responses such as “I see” or “that makes sense.”

“There’s often this palpable sense of release that we experience when we reflect the precise emotion a person is expressing,” White said. “In that moment, once a person is heard, then they can go deeper into their experience as opposed to continuously trying to make themselves understood.”

“The universal model of one person [and] one therapist doesn’t make sense. We heal in community and when we witness people’s process and when we hear them,” said Watts.

Reference 
Watts R, White, J. Addressing Negative Psychedelic Experiences. Presented at SANA Symposium; October 13-15, 2022; Virtual.