Psychedelic Guide Apprenticeship

Gather Well apprentices not only learn theoretical frameworks, safety protocols and explore ethical considerations –  but apply these understandings through in-person, group ceremony practice with psilocybin-containing mushrooms. Each participant is supported in finding their creativity as a guide within the boundaries of a safe and ethical framework for group facilitation. Apprentices gradually transition from the role of observer, to assistant, to lead guide throughout all client touchpoints, and receive robust supervision and generative feedback. 

Upon successful completion of Apprenticeship, guides may be certified by Gather Well. The final module of Apprenticeship includes the option to complete the specific training necessary to apply for psychedelic practitioner licensure in the state of Colorado, via Gather Well’s partnership with InnerTrek’s Accelerated Pathway training.

APPRENTICESHIP IS A PATH

The Gather Well Psychedelic Guide Apprenticeship is not a standardized teaching model, but rather an experiential pathway – a container for learning and practice that aims to call forth a creative, ethical, and responsible stance of service within each guide, towards transforming the communities and larger ecologies we are members of. 

Alongside a small group of peers and a network of mentors, apprentices study Gather Well’s philosophy and Indigenous practice-informed approach, and learn the appropriate frameworks for applying it within the current cultural context. Apprentices are provided opportunities to engage with their own unique callings, skills, and emergent areas of interest; as well as to engage with their shadow, blind spots and areas that need further definition in order to successfully and skillfully step into guiding.

Apprenticeship offers: 

• • Approximately 500 virtual and in-person program hours over 18 months, including observing psychedelic sessions, assisting psychedelic sessions, and co-leading psychedelic sessions with preparation and debriefing supervision around all touchpoints of care for combining theory with practice.  
  • Expert- and peer-led mentorship, offering oversight, feedback, and direction on one’s path.
  • Education focused primarily in the group ceremonial setting – an approach that values the potential of healing work in collective settings for the benefit of both individual and cultural transformation. 
  • Additional instruction on a 1-1 model of psychedelic care, including when it is necessary or may be beneficial, why, and for whom. As well as developing skill in navigating the unique challenges and ethical considerations within 1-1 psychedelic care. 
  • Guidance toward cultivating one’s ongoing, personal relationship with the mushrooms themselves- exploring our orientation to these animate beings individually and societally.
  • Continued experiential study through Gather Well’s “6 Medicine Model” of Belonging, Pause & Receptivity, Embodied Emotions, Unknowing & the Unknown, Creation & Possibility, and Transition & Completion. 
  • Locating oneself through one’s current experience of identity, culture and relationship to positionality within the collective.
  • Guidance to strengthen or cultivate one’s own Earth-honoring practices rather than borrowing from cultures or practices that are not part of one’s lineage or that one does not have explicit permission from members of that culture to engage.
  • An emphasis on ethics, case-based learning, and role play with segments taught by professional ethicists. 
  • Support for cultivating the unique creativity, personhood, and natural strengths of the guide, and the particular ways they are moved by spirit in their work, within the parameters of ethical practice. 
  • Opportunity to form meaningful connections with a small cohort of peer apprentices, and the wider network of Gather Well apprentices and guides.  
  • Education in essential emergency response skills; preparedness in screening, enhanced informed consent protocols, and preparation and integration protocols, approaches, and techniques.  
  • In-depth theoretical and didactic instruction and materials for how to provide psychedelic healing services.
  • Gather Well’s dedicated Care Team is available for participant support, and our Ethics Infrastructure overseen by our Ethics Committee  provides support and accountability towards all relationships (between participants, facilitators, and staff) and learning environments within Gather Well including an ethical grievance reporting system providing anonymous reporting for all members of our community. 

Our programs do not require applicants to hold specific degrees in mental health or medical professions. 

We believe that beyond practical skill sets and conceptual knowledge, a guide can best serve clients when they source their practice from certain internalized qualities and capacities. These should largely be in place before one learns the practical skills of guiding, to avoid the potential harms that can occur during the dynamic and vulnerable work of healing with psychedelics. Thus, we require those applying for the Psychedelic Guide Apprenticeship Program to have completed the Groundwork Program. 

Apprenticeship is for those who: 

• Those who are interested in the potential of psychedelic medicines to assist in addressing the divides and areas of discord in our current global culture. 
• Are committed to deep learning and unlearning, and take the responsibility of guiding others through transformational experiences seriously. 
• Understand the value of group ceremonial approaches as a context for individual and collective healing.
• Plan to make psychedelic healing modalities a majority part of your professional efforts. 
• Recognize that it is imperative to have trusted mentors and oversight of your healing service for the lifetime of your vocation.

Apprentices will enter into an 18-month program divided into six modules. Each module consists of: 

• Didactic / Lecture – an online classroom with synchronous and asynchronous sessions.
• Relational – engagement with the web of mentorship provided by classroom facilitators, Gather Well’s lead guides, guest facilitators, experts and cohort peers in various configurations.
• Experiential – to support in-depth learning, participants practice client preparation and integration and group ceremony facilitation with supervision and debriefing from mentors. 
• Evaluative – opportunities to receive generative feedback from facilitators and other program staff, and to engage in self-evaluative practices that allow apprentices and mentors to view their work with clarity and with input from multiple perspectives. 

Successful completion of each module allows for the apprentice to move on to the following module, following evaluation of comprehension for adherence to safety and ethical protocols for engaging with the subsequent modules experiential components with clients.

During the first half of Apprenticeship, participants complete specified areas of study required to become a guide, and participate in group sessions and client touchpoints as observers first, and assistants second. Comprehension and competency in knowledge of safety and foundational ethical protocols are assessed before participants may enter the second half of the program. 

During the second half of Apprenticeship, participants continue their classroom study, and increase their involvement with clients/groups – moving from assisting in group sessions and all client touchpoints, to guiding in pairs with supervision. Apprentices can select focus areas and electives related to particular techniques, or client populations. The final module of Apprenticeship offers participants guidance in developing the direction of their work, and includes an optional 54-hour training toward applying for Colorado state licensure through Gather Well’s partnership with InnerTrek. 

More details forthcoming.

*Format subject to changes

We will be enrolling for a fall cohort in Spring 2026. To be kept up to date sign up for our newsletter HERE.

The Psychedelic Guide Apprenticeship Program begins in Fall 2026