Our Model
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 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.
“When we created EMBARK, we canvassed twenty different psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies. We found that some therapies left out important aspects, like people’s spiritual experiences, somatic experiences, or human relationships. Patients were telling us that these experiences were central to their healing, but many therapies seemed to be missing critical pieces. To address this challenge, we developed EMBARK, which provides an open architecture to support the varieties of psychedelic experience within a coherent therapeutic framework. EMBARK is a patient-centered approach with six domains of treatment and four cornerstones of care—an approach for the whole person.“
-Alex Belser, PhD
EMBARK’s creators, Bill Brennan, PhD and Alex Belser, PhD, Cybin’s Chief Clinical Officer, drew 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 psychotherapies. We have published a more complete description of the model in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychology.
What Facilitators Say
“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