Helus has developed EMBARK, a leading-edge model of

Psychedelic Facilitation

A free online foundational training program

NOTE:
This course is for educational purposes only and will not provide certification for persons to conduct Helus' clinical trials. Do not start this course for this purpose.

Our Work

We’re working to create an environment where care providers are equipped to provide ethical, culturally competent, trauma-informed psychedelic facilitation to those who need it.

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Recognizing the importance of therapist training, Cybin has developed EMBARK, a leading-edge model of psychedelic-assisted therapy. EMBARK was born out of a desire to build upon the successes and avoid the shortcomings of previous approaches to psychedelic-assisted therapy.

EMBARK is a transdiagnostic, flexible model of psychedelic facilitation that builds on more than a dozen previous approaches. The EMBARK approach offers six clinical domains, representing the diverse ways in which care providers can offer therapeutic support and four care cornerstones, reflecting how care providers can provide ethically rigorous, trauma-informed, and culturally competent care within a broader frame of collective caregiving.

EMBARK’s Six Clinical Domains
Four Care Cornerstones
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Existential-Spiritual

Translating psychedelic-occasioned spiritual experiences into resources for healing

Mindfulness

Developing a capacity to observe and accept internal states

Keeping Momentum

Integrating and translating altered states into altered traits

Body-Aware

Acknowledging the body can act as a doorway into deep healing

Relational

Attending to the importance of relationships in healing

Affective-Cognitive

Supporting participants with identifying, welcoming, and experiencing affective (emotional) states more fully

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Trauma-Informed Care

Recognizing the importance of attending to trauma in all aspects of treatment

Culturally Competent Care

Integrating a focus on cultural factors into all elements of treatment

Collective Care

EMBARK facilitators attend to the larger context of participants’ challenges through all aspects of treatment

Ethically Rigorous Care

Psychedelic-assisted therapy has a greater need for therapists to use their role power ethically

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Our Training

The EMBARK Training Program intensively trains facilitators

Through a blended model of live and self-guided activities that prepare trial facilitators to function as Certified EMBARK Facilitators. This training model includes a comprehensive curriculum of didactics, experiential activities, group discussion, independent study, and clinical supervision, led by 28 esteemed faculty members, supervisors, and advisors.

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Our Training

The EMBARK Training Program intensively trains facilitators

through a blended model of live and self-guided activities that prepare trial facilitators to function as Certified EMBARK Facilitators. This training model includes a comprehensive curriculum of didactics, experiential activities, group discussion, independent study, and clinical supervision, led by 28 esteemed faculty members, supervisors, and advisors.

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Pattern
The EMBARK model draws from process evidence in psychedelic clinical practice and the experience of senior teachers and supervisors. The approach builds on proven evidence-based treatments (EBTs) and combines them with demonstrated psychedelic-assisted therapies. We have published a more complete description of the model in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychology.
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What Facilitator's Say

"Psychedelic medicines and the great healing potential they hold have only just begun to find their place in our culture and its array of therapeutic approaches. EMBARK represents an important step forward in that process. We designed it to be uniquely responsive to the distinctive and disruptive ways that these medicines heal people, while also able to incorporate synergistic aspects of other evidence-based treatments. Its flexible, six-domain structure allows us to open the aperture on our notions of healing and expand our ability to help patients reach a place of wellness. We offer EMBARK in a spirit of service and deep respect for psychedelic medicines and the many avenues of healing they open to us,"

Bill Brennan, PhD, EMBARK's co-creator
EMBARK is a transdiagnostic treatment model. This means that it can be adapted to different clinical indications and problems including depression, alcohol use disorder, and anxiety. We currently have adapted four different EMBARK therapy manuals. For example, in collaboration with Dr. Tony Back and Ladybird Morgan, RN, MSW, an adapted version of EMBARK has been authored to treat COVID-related burnout and symptoms of depression among frontline doctors, nurses and healthcare workers.
EMBARK is being piloted in two randomized controlled trials (RCTs). First, EMBARK is the model being used in Helus' Phase 1/2a clinical trial of CYB003, a proprietary deuterated psilocybin analog, for the treatment of major depressive disorder in New Jersey
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“The EMBARK training program integrates best practices in both the delivery of the information and the content provided. The depth and breadth of what is covered is unparalleled with any other training that I have done over the last 25 years…I feel grateful to have completed the training and know that it will be a foundation that helps to guide all aspects of my practice going forward,” said Nina Lerner, LCSW, EMBARK Facilitator Graduate
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