Cutting-edge therapy clinic Numinus, offers experiential programs for trainee mental health practitioners. We spoke to Payton Nyquvest, CEO & Founder of Numinus about these programs and the focus on MDMA-assisted therapy.
Indigenous groups have been using psychoactive plant medicine for centuries, in rituals that are designed to clear out the old and make space for new energy or epiphany. In the last fifty years, western society has cottoned on and been experimenting with psychedelic substances to heal all manner of ailments. Studies show great results for depression, anxiety, PTSD and chronic issues and more than $2 billion has been invested in psychedelic-related organizations.
The investment has been research-focused rather than creating infrastructure. This is where Numinus steps up. With purpose-built clinics across Canada and Utah in the US, Numinus provides a variety of drug-assisted therapies in a safe environment with supportive psychiatric care for their clients. Founded by Payton Nyquvest in 2017, Numinus is at the vanguard of this industry and we sat down with Payton to explain their groundbreaking training program for trainee therapists.
Why did you create your company, Numinus?
I founded Numinus thanks to my own personal experience with psychedelics to help treat my chronic pain. I was in pain from birth, I suffered severely and was in and out of hospital for years. Nothing helped. In a last-ditch attempt to save my own life, I booked four ayahuasca ceremonies and was cured within a week. I don’t want to make it sound like it’s a panacea for everyone but that was my experience. The structure for that pain was still within me but I was free for the first time in decades.
I knew I had to do something that would help others have the same experience in a local, secure environment. Everything fell into place when I met Rick Doblin who alerted me to the infrastructure issue. Numinus was born so that there would be a safe container for people to have these experiences and integrate them effectively into their lives going forward.
Your practitioners are specially trained in the field of psychedelic-assisted therapy. What kind of training programs do you offer?
The drug alone will not do it. For me personally, psychedelics were a powerful tool but it was all the other mental health resources I had around me that made them effective. Numinus is really rooted in providing all the care and services that are needed around it to hold the drug experience.
People were taking ketamine home alone during Covid, ordering it online, but you do not get truly therapeutic benefits unless you are being guided and supported by experts. Our therapists create this supportive framework that scaffolds the whole experience and allows you to integrate it going forward, rather than journeying alone.
We provide multi-course options for trainee practitioners that want to explore this burgeoning field. They can become certified in psychedelic-assisted therapy and it is important for them to have experienced it for themselves to understand the process from a client’s perspective. They learn the fundamentals and case history of drug-assisted therapies, then can specialize in a particular drug or take courses for them all. We are focused on MDMA therapy at the moment.
Why are you particularly focusing on MDMA-assisted therapy?
There will soon be extremely high demand for therapists specializing in MDMA. We work closely with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) who have been studying this drug in a therapeutic setting for over 20 years. They recently were granted a priority review by the US Food & Drug Administration so a decision will be reached from their studies in 6 months.
MAPS focused on people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which over 14 million Americans suffer from. We are going to need a lot of therapists to support them! MAPS predicts that 30,000 – 50,000 new therapists will be needed to meet demand. We are at the forefront of training in this field and adapt our programs to align with regulatory changes.
What will this training program involve?
We recently received approval for our submitted clinical trial application for a group model of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy from Health Canada, that will allow our trainee practitioners to take MDMA themselves and experience it in one of our purpose-built clinics that are designed to be safe and secure environments. This trial will allow us to better understand the optimal number of therapists needed to deliver the therapy safely and allow trainees to build core competencies in this field.
We are committed to establishing best practices in group-based therapy for MDMA. This study would contribute to the growing body of evidence we have for its safety. All our clinics are designed with the client in mind. Like any high quality therapy setting, we provide a soothing environment that is conducive to relaxation and development.
I was at rock bottom when I turned to psychedelics but people don’t have to wait until they reach that point. The opportunity is here.
To learn more about revolutionary training programs from Numinus, explore this page.
