Members of the Washington, D.C.-based American Psychological Association are petitioning to form a Division of Psychedelic Science and Practice, which would give psychologists working in psychedelic research and clinical care their own home within the association.
The petition, posted in October, invites APA members and fellows to sign on. Organizers argue that two decades of research, training and clinical implementation, along with growing federal regulatory attention to psychedelic medicine, have made the field an established area of psychology rather than a niche.
A 10-member steering committee is leading the effort.
The proposed division would focus on the psychological side of psychedelic care: screening and assessment, patient preparation, therapeutic mechanisms, integration, and ethics and cultural considerations. Organizers distinguish it from APA’s Division 55, which covers prescribing psychology and psychopharmacology under a medical-model framework.
Planned activities include support for continuing education resources and emerging clinical competency frameworks for patient selection, preparation and integration. The division would also foster discussion of emerging best practices in harm reduction and ethics for nonprescribing clinicians whose patients use psychedelics independently or outside clinical settings.
The division would draw members already affiliated with at least 13 existing APA divisions. It would not grant licensure, specialty recognition, certification or prescriptive authority, and its educational resources would remain separate from formal APA policy.
If established, the division would join APA’s network of member-led divisions, which the association has historically created to recognize emerging areas of science and professional practice.
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