Consent

Obtaining ongoing, informed consent is not only an ethical and legal requirement but also a crucial component of creating a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship.

It is the responsibility of health professionals to ensure that their clients understand their rights and the limits of confidentiality. Informed consent allows clients to make informed decisions about their care and helps to establish a collaborative therapeutic relationship which is critical to psychedelic-assisted therapy.

As a health professional who will be shadowing a therapist with a real client, you and the lead therapist will need to ensure that you ask for ongoing consent to be present in the therapy room. It is also important that we have documentation that confirms the client’s ongoing informed consent in order to prove that your participation, as a trainee, doesn’t violate the client’s best interest.

Because of the incredibly vulnerable state that clients will be in during psychedelic-assisted therapy (especially in Medicine Sessions), it is also important that your role as a learner does not impede the client’s journey in any way.

Note

If you are participating in the clinical trial, there will be dedicated interview time to share your experiences and speak openly about the sessions. Outside of this context, please ensure that you keep all details from the sessions confidential to respect the client’s privacy.

Therapeutic Supportive Touch

Therapeutic supportive touch requires explicit consent from the client. The lead therapist will ask for the client’s consent to do therapeutic supportive touch in one of the Preparation Sessions. Keep in mind that, as an observer, you will not have the same close relationship that the client has with the lead therapist. Therefore, the client may provide consent to the lead therapist to use therapeutic supportive touch which may not necessarily extend to you.

Please discuss with your lead therapist how you can go about asking for consent from the client to use therapeutic supportive touch.

Additional Reminders

Some additional reminders for using therapeutic supportive touch include:

  • Consent may be withdrawn by the client at any time, including during the Medicine Session
  • If the client doesn’t give consent before the Medicine Session but gives their consent during the Medicine Session, therapeutic touch should not be used since they cannot give informed consent under the effects of the medicine
  • Reconfirm consent just prior to the Medicine Session
  • Ask the client to specify which areas of the body to avoid touching (aside from the common intimate areas)

Reflection

What are two ways that you can help to ensure that your presence in the room helps to facilitate the client journey?

Record your responses in this document. The password is practicum.

Note

The clients that you will be observing are coming to therapy with real and, in many cases, severe mental health conditions.

Required Reading

Please download this quick reference guide to remind you about the do’s and don’ts when you’re in the therapy room to ensure you hold space for the client.