Danielsen Institute team collaborates on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and spiritual care

In collaborating with the team at Emory University, Director of Research, Dr. Steven J. Sandage, Director of Training, Dr. David Rupert, Executive Director, Dr. George Stavros, and Academic Research and Staff Psychologist, Dr. Laura E. Captari, contributed to this recent working on spiritual care and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, especially through the utilization of the Relational Spirituality Model. The article and citation are below.

Palitsky, R., Captari, L., Maples-Keller, J., Peacock, J., Rupert, D., Kaplan, D.M., Stavros, G., Grant, G.H., & Sandage, S.J. (2025). Applying relational spirituality to develop spiritual and religious competencies in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy training. Psychotherapy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000594

Abstract

Psychedelic-assisted therapies (PAT) commonly provoke personally meaningful spiritual or existential experiences in patients; these experiences have been associated with improved outcomes across several treatment targets and populationsindications. The need for spiritual and religious competence, though present across the spectrum of psychotherapeutic practice, is thus especially strong in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies. The Relational Spirituality Model (RSM), a systematically developed and empirically tested framework for spiritual and religious competency in psychotherapy, provides an ideal theoretical and practical framework for spiritual competency training in psychedelic therapies (Sandage et al., 2020). The model’s inclusive Spiritual, Existential, Religious, and Theological (SERT) framework offers a broad and pluralistic approach that can meaningfully engage a wide range of spiritual experiences and traditions in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Further, the RSM is readily integrated with other models of clinical care (e.g., with palliative care), with a range of psychotherapeutic modalities, and within existing psychedelic training frameworks.

To illustrate the application of the RSM to the development of religious and spiritual competence in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy training, this article first describes the Relational Spirituality Model. It then introduces evidence-based methods for pragmatic training based on the RSM, whichthat can be integrated with standard licensure-focused mental health training programs that might someday include applications for psychedelics, or novel “psychedelic-assisted therapy facilitation” training programs. These include deliberate practice and experiential training components, “SERT Groups,” content and clinical theory, and training in assessment and case conceptualization. Finally, we discuss how the RSM can inform future directions in PAT training and support interdisciplinary approaches to PAT including collaborations across disciplines and healing communities.