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PERSPECTIVE GRANT RECIPIENTS

The Healing Potential

As we draw ever closer to the day when psychedelic-assisted therapy is legalized in the US, we need to take bold steps to ensure that this promising treatment is accessible to those of us who need it most.

Now is an opportune time to get involved and participate―and ensure that you, or others you know―are recipients of this new approach to healing that offers a potential path out of generational trauma, mental illness, and the loneliness and isolation that sickens our society.

We know that depression and anxiety, high suicide rates, and other ills, are disproportionately high in communities of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and veterans, among others. Yet access to mental health treatment is sorely lacking for these groups. At the same time, many current therapies and medications, where they are accessible, have been found wanting. Psychedelic-assisted therapy offers the potential to lift us out of destructive thought patterns, allow us to confront the traumas we’ve experienced―and continue to experience―and embark on the process of healing. It should not be accessible only to those who can afford costly retreats outside of the US.

Our ‘Walking Each Other Home’ Grant Program

Healing Hearts Changing Minds is keen to get psychedelic-assisted therapy to the people and the places that need it most. We want to connect those who have the means and the desire to donate, with those of us who would like to undergo therapy and be change agents―not only for ourselves but for those around us.

We believe that the group retreat setting will enable participants to share their common experiences and traumas, as well as embark on their own individual healing. Our intention is to ensure that individuals feel comfortable in this setting, supported by facilitators and other participants who can empathize with and relate to them. They can then return home recharged, and during their own integration process, help to catalyze yet more change and healing in those who need it. In this way, they will help to spread the power of psychedelic healing “like a good virus,” as HHCM founder Robert Ansin puts it.

Currently, ketamine treatment centers are up and running in the US. While ketamine is not strictly a psychedelic, and acts on the brain in different ways, it offers psychedelic-like healing potential. As the only psychedelic-like treatment available in the US, ketamine-assisted therapy will be an option for grantees. For classic psychedelic-assisted therapies, legal retreats are being held in Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, among other countries, and our mission is to create opportunities, together with our strategic partners, for Walking Each Other Home grantees to attend these retreats by matching them with donor funds. 

Read our FAQ for more information.

FAQs

  • HHCM has both financial and non-financial eligibility requirements for its Walking Each Other Home grant program. Each application is considered individually to determine both eligibility and fit.

    Financial eligibility: Applicants must submit specific financial documentation that demonstrates an inability to afford psychedelic-assisted therapy without it causing significant financial hardship.

    Non-financial eligibility: Although anyone may apply to the grant program, preference will be given to individuals from one or more of the following minority or disadvantaged groups (in no particular order):

    Although anyone may apply to the HHCM WE grant program, preference is given to individuals from one or more of the following minority/disadvantaged populations (in no particular order):

    - Frontline healthcare workers

    - LGBTQ+ people

    - People of Color

    - Veterans

    Preference may be given to those individuals who demonstrate a desire and capacity to be change agents within their own communities once they’ve experienced the powerful healing power of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

  • Fill out our online form, providing your contact information, and other information about why you’re interested in embarking on psychedelic-assisted therapy and what you’re hoping to gain from the experience. Click here for the form.

  • HHCM relies on various outside 3rd party experts and collaborators, including treatment centers, for all medical and community-specific trauma determinations, so they will make those determinations before you will be given the go-ahead to participate in a retreat.

  • HHCM is collaborating with select legal, reputable psychedelic retreat centers. Given that the only psychedelic that is federally legal in the US right now is ketamine, some grant recipients will be selected to undergo ketamine-assisted group therapy here in the US if it is deemed suitable.

  • Most of the legal psychedelic-assisted therapeutic retreats are located throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, including in Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru.

  • Once a grant applicant is selected for a WE grant, in collaboration with our project partners, we’ll make a determination as to which retreat center(s) may be best suited for the recipient, bearing in mind their particular history and trauma profile. During the application process you’ll also be required to share your stories, or parts of them, so that we can get a sense of who you are, what your challenges are, and what led you to this course of treatment.

    A written referral is then sent to the retreat center/s and the grant recipient then completes the retreat center’s own proprietary intake process. All grant recipients must pass all medical and psychological screening to be fully accepted into their program. The recipient then sends proof of acceptance in writing to HHCM, which will provide formal, binding funding commitment to the retreat center to schedule the retreat with the recipient. At this stage, recipients will be obligated to finance their own travel to the retreat center, demonstrating their commitment to their own healing.

  • The real work begins! Experts agree that the post-retreat “integration” experience will determine whether psychedelic-assisted therapy will lead to permanent, positive change. HHCM believes that although the psychedelic experience itself is important, it is what happens afterwards―when you return to your everyday life―that ultimately determines whether the experience is temporary or permanent. Think of weight loss camp: It’s one thing to go away and learn new ways of healthy living: what to eat, what not to eat, how to exercise, maybe how to meditate. It’s another thing entirely to return home and make the day-to-day changes that will determine long-term success.

    What’s more, we believe a powerful way to increase the chance for true healing is to connect those returning from psychedelic-assisted healing retreats with those who have already successfully found their healing path, akin to Alcoholic Anonymous’ 12th step of the 12 Step Program: those who’ve been able to successfully complete the program and stop drinking, are encouraged to share their recovery journey with others who may be just starting out. AA calls them Sponsors. We call them Guides. But the idea is the same.

    And although there really are no set ways or standards that dictate the nature of the relationship between you and your Guide or Guides, the goal is to connect you to an individual or community that has already shared your experience and would like to support you as you “integrate” your unique psychedelic-assisted healing experience into your new life.

“The potential of the vehicle (psychedelics) is sacramentally to take you out of the cultural constructs which you are part of a conspiracy in maintaining. And giving you a chance to experience once again your innocence.”


―Ram Dass, American spiritual teacher

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Please fill out the form to find out more about how to apply for a grant.