The Healing Environment
What is called “setting” in psychedelic-assisted therapy (i.e., “set and setting”) refers more broadly to the concept of the healing environment in which psychedelic-assisted therapy takes place.
This includes physical, cultural, relational, and aesthetic considerations.
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Health Professional Presence
The health professional should consider the following.
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Proxemics (proximity, distance, adjacency between the individuals in the session) should be client-driven, queried, and monitored by the health professional, and adjusted where needed.
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The health professional is crucial in setting the tone of the space with their presence, energy, and demeanour.
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The state of the health professional’s nervous system (regulated versus dysregulated) is therapeutically consequential
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The health professional should have good hygiene, wear clothing appropriate for the sessions that allows movement without being overly revealing, and avoid the use of fragrances or strong scents on their person as many clients may have olfactory or chemical sensitivities.
Therapy Room Organization
The therapy room should be organized in the following way.
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The room should be comfortable, allowing space for movement, soft, supportive surface to sit on and lie on, blankets, pillows, and adjustable natural and supplemental light.
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Furniture should avoid hard edges upon which a client could bump or fall and hurt themselves.
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A private bathroom should be close by.
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Furnishings should be adjustable and moveable and sightlines within the space open and clear.
Therapy Room Ambiance
The ambiance of the therapy room should incorporate these elements:
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Therapy spaces should be as much as possible quiet, free from ambient noise, distraction, interruption, or intrusion, protect the client’s confidentiality, and provide a felt sense of privacy.
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Health professionals should aim for an aesthetic design that allows for flexible creation of both a sense of openness, light, airiness, containment, coziness, or cocooning ideally.
Imagery in the Therapy Room
It’s important to consider the visual aspect of the room. Consider these when selecting and setting up your space:
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Having a window is preferred.
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Symbols or visual references that are obviously culturally specific should be used with care and none should dominate to the exclusion of others.
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Elements or images from the natural world and/or abstract images may be a more universally resonant choice.
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Wall and furnishing colors that are neutral in shade and tone, or if varied are complementary to one another, are a good choice.