Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

In September 2026, MAPS and our global affiliate MAPS Italia will host Italy’s first week-long education program, bringing together 55 mental healthcare professionals near Turin. This program will be taught in English by MAPS’ Lead Trainers, Marcela Ot’alora G. MA, LPC and Bruce Poulter RN, MPH. This program is for clinicians and mental healthcare professionals to deepen their understanding of inner-directed therapy and the therapeutic potential of investigational MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. Applications are now open! This will be the only available program taking place in Europe for the rest of 2026. Learn more, https://lnkd.in/eASBKjgp

NOW LIVE ON YOUTUBE Reggie Watts and Hamilton Morris are inside the Shulgin Lab, where MDMA was first developed for therapeutic use and where hundreds of psychedelic compounds were synthesized. This opening tour launches Music Is the Bridge: Shulgin’s Lab, created with the Shulgin Foundation, and sets the foundation for a larger series filmed inside the lab. ▶️ Watch now on the MAPS YouTube 🔔 Subscribe today to support future episodes and make sure you do not miss what comes next 📲 https://lnkd.in/e7F_kjK5

Right now, science is advancing — with late-stage trials, growing regulatory review, and clearer standards around safety and care. In some cases, regulators have shown flexibility by allowing rolling data submissions or alternative trial designs. At the same time, recent developments show how political caution and structural barriers can still slow progress, even when evidence is moving forward. The question facing the field isn’t just whether psychedelic therapies work, it’s whether our systems are prepared to evaluate and support them on the strength of the science alone.

According to new reporting from STAT, an FDA proposal to fast-track a psilocybin treatment for severe depression was blocked after review by the White House and HHS, raising questions about how political considerations intersect with drug regulation. The piece reveals internal differences between regulators tasked with evaluating safety and efficacy and broader leadership weighing public and political risk. It raises a broader question about whether current regulatory and policy structures are equipped to support the next generation of mental health treatments. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gp_VgV7N

A place that changed psychedelic history. A tour that opens something much bigger. This Thursday, Reggie Watts and Hamilton Morris step inside the legendary Shulgin Lab. The opening chapter of Music Is the Bridge: Shulgin’s Lab, created in partnership with the Shulgin Foundation. 🎥 Tour drops Thursday at 12pm ET / 9am PT on YouTube 🔔 Subscribe now so you do not miss it! 📲 https://lnkd.in/erCFqcCv

Breakthroughs don’t come in one shape, speed, or intensity. For some, they’re gradual. For others, they break straight through the ceiling👀 Integration is what helps those moments become insight rather than overwhelm. The MAPS Integration Station offers tools, resources, and practices to help people process experiences responsibly and with care. Because the real work begins after the breakthrough😎 https://lnkd.in/dc3Xg6zC

In this New York Times piece, former professional football players speak candidly about life after repeated concussions and the limits of existing treatments for chronic brain injury. As research into psychedelics and neuroplasticity slowly expands, this captures a moment shaped by urgency and caution, as well as hope and uncertainty, around what responsible innovation in brain health could look like. It also raises deeper questions about how medicine, policy, and professional sports respond when long-term harm becomes impossible to ignore. Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/e4jB6gVM

Moving beyond critique, the article explores what becomes possible when women’s biology is centered. Cycle-aware protocols and hormone-informed timing could improve outcomes and expand therapeutic potential — particularly for conditions such as PMDD, perinatal depression, chronic pain, and menopause-related mood changes. At a moment when psychedelic medicine is rapidly professionalizing, this piece offers a clear call to action: the field must evolve now, or risk reproducing the very inequities it seeks to heal. Read this full article by Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley from Hystelica, https://lnkd.in/eSyPW37Y

In this Bulletin feature, Drs. Megan Meyer and Andrew Coop detail how the University of Maryland, Baltimore, is taking a proactive, multidisciplinary approach to workforce education in psychedelic-assisted therapies.    Grounded in survey data from social workers and nurses across the Mid-Atlantic, UMB’s model responds directly to real-world gaps in comfort, knowledge, and access to training. Through continuing professional education, credit-bearing courses, and deep engagement with policy and public education, this initiative offers a replicable blueprint for how public universities can ethically scale psychedelic training https://lnkd.in/eQByUXAK

Today we honor the birthday of Amanda Feilding, a revolutionary who spent her life asking questions most institutions were too afraid to take seriously. As the founder of the Beckley Foundation, Amanda worked at the intersection of science, policy, and inner experience, insisting that altered states of consciousness were not fringe curiosities, but central to understanding the human mind. Long before psychedelics re-entered mainstream research, she was building bridges between neuroscientists, philosophers, and policymakers. Her work was marked by patience, rigor, and a deep respect for both evidence and experience. Amanda believed that changing drug policy wasn’t just about law or medicine, but about cultural maturity about learning how to relate to consciousness with care, humility, and responsibility. Help us wish her a Happy Birthday❤️