November 20–22, 2026 (Online)

Psychedelic Lived Experiences Summit

Beyond the protocol: safety, real-world outcomes, and unmet needs after psychedelic treatment

What happens when a psychedelic protocol or study ends? This global virtual gathering unites patients, families, clinicians, researchers, and organizations across the field to examine emerging risks, support gaps, and how lived experience can shape safer, more responsive care.

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In collaboration with leading partner organizations

Building on a successful first year

Our inaugural Psychedelic Lived Experiences Summit reached more than 3,000 attendees from 74 countries.

In November 2025, we brought together more than 60 patients, clinicians, and researchers across 54 in-depth interviews and 12 live panels to explore the benefits, limitations, and real-world complexities of psychedelic treatment. By uniting lived experience with scientific and clinical perspectives, the summit created the foundation we're building on in 2026.

Such a monumental contribution to the field!

Chris Stauffer, MD

Psychiatrist, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University

Congratulations, and thank you for creating a space that sparked a crucial shift in perspective that paves the way for research, care, and treatment that is truly human, patient, and participant centered by uplifting voices and fostering meaningful dialogue. I learned so much. Deep gratitude to all the participants who so courageously shared their experiences and lives.

Sara Garcia Velazquez, MD

Pedram, the work you have done to have patients heard and understood deeply inspires me and has already helped so many, it's so important for academia to understand that each patient is a unique individual with a unique story and should be treated with customized solutions, this approach is needed beyond psychedelic science in all of allopathic medicine, you truly are a heart centered voice and leader!

Ayesha Nazeer, MD

Cardiologist, MDMA-assisted Therapy Trial Participant

Thoroughly enjoyed and learned so much from this experience as a practitioner but also so much support for my own experiences.

Rebecca Wilkinson

Licensed Professional Counselor and Art Therapist

Thank you Pedram for your dedication and generosity to this important project. It was a pleasure to be there this morning and to be a part of it.

Marcela Ot'alora, MFA

Therapist, Lead Trainer, Supervisor, and Principal Investigator for MDMA-assisted Therapy

I have watched several of the participant interviews from your summit, and they all have been very informative. You did a great job of finding engaging people willing to describe their dramatic personal stories and also to speak candidly about the challenges they faced during their journeys. It must have been a ton of work for you to find all these people and to put everything together, but for me, and others I'm sure, you have made it very worthwhile. Thanks so much for doing this.

Connie Young

Psychedelic Lived Experiences Summit 2025 Attendee

The psychedelic field owes Pedram Dara a debt of gratitude. For those who are willing to really listen, this Lived Experience Summit was full of actionable insights, regulatory tips and strategies, and rich contextual feedback from past psychedelic clinical trial participants. You can purchase an all access pass to access. I highly recommend it, this is a unique resource worth supporting.

Berra Yazar-Klosinski, PhD

Drug Development, Former Chief Scientific Officer at Lykos Therapeutics

So grateful for the way you support the potential of psychedelic medicines as catalysts for healing and bring in together the voices people with lived experiences. It truly is inspiring what you do.

Emilie

Psychedelic Lived Experiences Summit 2025 Attendee

As a clinical research physician working in psychedelic trials, it was so lovely to hear positive life changing experiences especially for such a challenging mental health condition, PTSD. Thank you again for talking about your experiences. Such valuable insight.

Sezen Ingilok Ucal, MD

Clinical Research Physician | Specialty Doctor | Emergency Medicine

I wanted to say that l've really enjoyed the content from your Summit thus far and the way you engage with the featured guests. You've done a beautiful job bringing this all together and I look forward to hearing more lived experiences and hearing from additional researchers/guests.

Elaine

Psychedelic Lived Experiences Summit 2025 Attendee

3

DAYS

50+

SPEAKERS

3K+

ATTENDEES

"The greatest resource we have for making progress in healthcare is the lived experience of those who are affected." – Dr. Lisa Sanders

Why a summit focused on lived experience?

Psychedelic treatments are often framed as breakthroughs, but real-world outcomes are far more complex, ranging from profound benefit to little change to lasting harm.

Clinical trials capture important measures, but lived experience reveals what those measures can miss: delayed risks, unexpected benefits and difficulties, everyday functioning, meaning, and the gap between protocol design and real life.

Yet as psychedelic research, care, and regulation evolve, the people who actually undergo these treatments still have too little influence over the decisions shaping them. This is not a conference about patients. It is built and led by them, bringing lived experience into direct dialogue with research, practice, and ethical oversight to ask better questions, expose blind spots, and improve the decisions shaping psychedelic care.

Our 2026 summit theme

Beyond the protocol

Psychedelic treatment does not end when the session or study does. Benefits, risks, and destabilization can emerge long after formal follow-up ends, often beyond what research and care systems capture. 

In 2026, we focus on that gap: what happens next, what gets missed, and what better support, oversight, and accountability should look like.

Online | Nov 20-22, 2026 
Can’t attend live? Registration includes all 2026 session recordings, plus the full 2025 archive of 54 interviews and 12 panels.

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Invite your colleagues and friends

Share this event with your network and join together in shaping the future of patient-centered psychedelic care.

A multi-stakeholder gathering

Meaningful progress cannot come from one group talking to itself. The 2026 summit is designed to bring different forms of expertise into the same room. Different perspectives will not always agree. That is precisely why they need to meet.

Patients and trial participants

People with direct experience of psychedelic treatment, clinical trials, and their longer-term consequences.

Family members and caretakers

Spouses, friends, colleagues, and other family members or caretakers of patients and trial participants.

Therapists, clinicians, and nurses

Practitioners supporting preparation, treatment, integration, recovery, and longer-term care.

Researchers and trial teams

Professionals designing studies, measuring outcomes, managing safety, and generating the field's evidence.

Ethics, policy, and advocacy 

Those examining accountability, participant protection, access, regulation, and systemic change.

Organizations and field builders

Groups developing the infrastructure, communities, standards, and services surrounding psychedelic care.

3 collaborative days

Less opinion sharing. More structured dialogue.

Each day features three facilitated 90-minute working roundtables followed by live synthesis discussions where invited contributors examine key questions through lived experience, research, clinical, and policy perspectives.

These discussions are designed to surface blind spots, identify priorities, and generate insights that can inform research, care, and future actions. Summit attendees will watch the process unfold live and contribute through questions and selected participation opportunities.

Live programming (Nov 20-22, 2026):

  • 11:00 AM–6:00 PM EST
  • 8:00 AM–3:00 PM PST
  • 5:00 PM–12:00 AM CET

Daily schedule

11:00 AM–12:30 PM EST

Working roundtable 1

A focused 90-minute facilitated discussion bringing together lived experience and professional perspectives around one central question.

12:30–1:00 PM EST

Break / Q&A discussion

1:00–2:30 PM EST

Working roundtable 2

A second in-depth working session examining another dimension of the day's theme.

2:30–3:00 PM EST

Break / Q&A discussion

3:00–4:30 PM EST

Working roundtable 3

A third collaborative session designed to surface gaps, tensions, lessons, and possible directions forward.

4:30–5:00 PM EST

Break / Q&A discussion

5:00–6:00 PM EST

Daily synthesis: insights, questions & recommendations

Each day concludes by bringing key voices back together to identify what emerged across the day's conversations: What did we learn? What remains unresolved? What needs to happen next?

What we'll explore

Explore how lived experience can inform safer, more ethical psychedelic care across MDMA, psilocybin, LSD, ketamine, 5-MeO-DMT, and ibogaine. The final program is being developed with invited contributors and partner organizations. 

Topics under consideration include:

Post-protocol care: What happens to participants when structured support from treatment protocol or clinical research ends?

Ethics, accountability and oversight: Where do current safeguards work, where do they fail, and what needs to change?

Safety and emerging risk signals: What warning signs appear during the weeks and months following treatment, and which signals are currently missed?

Measuring what matters: Which outcomes should psychedelic research capture if we want to understand people's lives rather than only clinical endpoints?

Real-world outcomes: How do psychedelic experiences affect relationships, employment, identity, functioning, meaning, and quality of life beyond symptom scores?

Responsibility and continuity of care: What responsibilities do therapists, clinics, researchers, and institutions retain after the formal protocol ends?

Adverse events and challenging experiences: How should difficult outcomes be recognized, understood, documented, and responded to without sensationalizing or minimizing them?

Families, partners, and support networks: How are the people around psychedelic participants affected, and what role should they have in preparation and longer-term support?

Integration, stabilization, and longer-term recovery: What forms of peer or professional support are useful after intense or destabilizing psychedelic experiences, and where are the existing gaps?

Lived experience in research and decision-making: How can patient and participant knowledge become a meaningful input into study design, clinical practice, safety systems, and policy?

Turning lived experience into actionable insight

The 2026 summit is designed to create value beyond the livestream by documenting shared questions, synthesizing key insights, and identifying gaps, safety signals, research priorities, and areas for future collaboration. 

These findings may inform reports, recommendations, guidelines, or other public resources, turning dialogue into something the field can use.

Online | Nov 20-22, 2026 

Can’t attend live? Registration includes all 2026 session recordings, plus the full 2025 archive of 54 interviews and 12 panels.

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2026 summit contributors

More presenters and experts will be announced over the next few weeks.

Andrew Penn, PMHNP

Family physician and therapeutic counsellor, investigator for Phase 3 MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD trials (Canada)

Leonie Schneider

Family physician and therapeutic counsellor, investigator for Phase 3 MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD trials (Canada)

Jesse Gould

Family physician and therapeutic counsellor, investigator for Phase 3 MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD trials (Canada)

Devon Christie, MD

Family physician and therapeutic counsellor, investigator for Phase 3 MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD trials (Canada)

Joshua White

Family physician and therapeutic counsellor, investigator for Phase 3 MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD trials (Canada)

Jana Sladkova, PhD

Family physician and therapeutic counsellor, investigator for Phase 3 MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD trials (Canada)

Tehseen Noorani, PhD

Bia Labate, PhD

Brad Gagnon

Hanifa Nayo Washington

Henrik Jungaberle, PhD

Becca Kacanda, MS

Tadeusz Hawrot

Lynn Marie Morski, MD

Steve Allgood

Taylor West

Ari Polivy

Allison Feduccia, PhD

Jérémie Richard, PhD

Melissa Lavasani

Jon Nelson

Chantelle Thomas, PhD

Spencer Hawkswell

Florence Moureaux

Christopher Nicholas, PhD

Sehrish Sayani

Britton Rollins

Caroline Lilley

Joe Moore

Ona Praderas

Daniel Friedrich

Madison Nobbs, RN

Ron Bowman

Join the 2026 summit

Online | Nov 20-22, 2026 

11:00 AM–6:00 PM ET
8:00 AM–3:00 PM PT
5:00 PM–12:00 AM CET

Join patients, families, clinicians, researchers, advocates, and organizations from around the world to explore what happens when psychedelic treatment ends and real life continues. Together, we’ll examine what we know, what we’re missing, and what safer, more accountable care requires next.

Can’t attend live? Registration includes all 2026 session recordings, plus the full 2025 archive of 54 interviews and 12 panels.

Get Notified

Access 2025 summit archive

54 conversations. 12 live panels. One growing archive of lived and professional knowledge.

The 2025 archive features 54 conversations and 12 live panels with 27 patients and trial participants alongside 27 therapists and researchers, exploring benefits, challenges, safety, integration, ethics, research gaps, and the unique complexities of psychedelic treatment. 2026 access options will include the archive alongside this year’s new program.

2025 lived experience speakers

Former patients and trial participants in treatments with MDMA, Psilocybin, LSD, Ketamine, 5-MeO-DMT, Ibogaine and other psychoactive substances offer powerful insights to improve research design, therapist training, and future treatment outcomes.

Brad Gagnon

MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, special access program patient (Canada, 2024)

Becca Kacanda, MS

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD, Phase 3 trial participant (active arm, U.S., 2021)

Mark Keller

Ibogaine & 5-MeO-DMT for PTSD, anxiety, & addiction, clinical treatment patient (Mexico/U.S. 2022-23)

Juliana Mulligan, LMSW

Ibogaine for opioid dependency, clinical treatment patient & therapist (U.S. 2011)

Ian Roullier

Psilocybin for depression pilot study and phase 2 clinical trials participant (UK, 2015 and 2019)

Maya Albert

Psilocybin-assisted therapy for anorexia nervosa, Phase 1 trial participant (open-label, U.S., 2021)

Daniel Friedrich

U.S. veteran, peer support and study facilitator for MDMA and psilocybin studies (U.S.)

Kim Fluxgold

Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, clinical trial participant (open-label, Canada, 2022)

Jana Sladkova, PhD

Group ketamine therapy & SPRAVATO® (esketamine) for depression, treatment patient (U.S., 2025)

Leonie Schneider

Psilocybin and DMT for depression clinical trials participant (UK, 2019 and 2022)

Ian Cook

Ketamine therapy for bipolar I, depression, and anxiety, clinical treatment patient (U.S., 2022)

Maryam Jabir

Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, Phase 2 clinical trial participant (UK, 2021)

Andrea Siclari

LSD-assisted therapy for life-threatening illness, compassionate use patient (Switzerland, 2020)

Lauren Macdonald, MD

Legal psilocybin retreat for terminal cancer participant, psychiatrist, trial doctor & therapist (UK, 2018)

Cedric Codron

SPRAVATO® (esketamine) for depression, clinical treatment patient (Belgium, 2022)

Florence Moureaux

Psilocybin-assisted therapy for terminal cancer, special access program patient (Canada, 2021)

Sehrish Sayani

MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, Phase 3 trial participant (placebo then crossover, U.S., 2023)

Janina Kowalski, MD

Ketamine, MDMA, LSD, and Psilocybin for experiential therapist training study (Switzerland, 2025)

Sarko Gergerian

MDMA-assisted therapy in experiential training for a police officer-therapist (U.S., 2018)

Kathy Neustadt

MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, Phase 3 trial participant (placebo only, U.S., 2021)

Ron Bowman

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD, Phase 3 trial participant (active arm, U.S., 2020)

Leonie McCoy

Psilocybin-assisted therapy for generalized anxiety disorder, clinical trial participant (Australia, 2022)

Kerrilee Barrett

Psychoactive substance for PTSD Phase 2 clinical trial participant (double blinded then open label, UK, 2024)

Daryna Skybina, MPS

Psilocybin-assisted therapy for advanced cancer trial participant, registered therapist (Canada, 2025)

Jules Heighton

MDMA-assisted massed exposure therapy for PTSD, Phase 2 trial participant (open-label, U.S., 2025)

Heather Joy

Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, clinical trial participant (open-label, Canada, 2022)

Frank Sers

MDMA and LSD assisted therapies for depression, compassionate use patient (Switzerland, 2022)

2025 clinical and scientific speakers

Leading clinicians and researchers in psychedelic science share insights on integrating lived experience to improve clinical trials, therapist training, and treatment outcomes.

NOTE: Speakers featured for expertise only; views/actions aren’t endorsed. Learn more ->

Bessel van der Kolk, MD

Psychiatrist, author of The Body Keeps the Score, and principal investigator for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD trials (U.S.)

Rosalind Watts, PhD

Clinical psychologist, ACER Integration founder, and former psilocybin clinical lead at Imperial College London (UK)

Michael Mithoefer, MD

Psychiatrist, clinical researcher, and medical monitor for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD clinical trials (U.S.)

Marcela Ot’alora, MFA

Therapist, lead trainer, supervisor, and principal investigator for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD clinical trials (U.S.)

Bruce Poulter, RN, MPH

Therapist, lead trainer, supervisor, and sub-investigator for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD clinical trials (U.S.)

Corine de Boer, MD, PhD

Pediatrician, researcher, former Chief Medical Officer at Lykos/MAPS PBC, and founder & CEO at Tulip Medical Consulting (U.S.)

Matthew Johnson, PhD

Psychedelic researcher, experimental psychologist, senior investigator, and professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (U.S.)

Monnica Williams, PhD

Clinical psychologist, researcher, and professor in the school of psychology at University of Ottawa (Canada)

Jonathan Dickinson

Psychologist, renowned Ibogaine expert, published researcher, and CEO & co-founder at Ambio Life Sciences (Mexico/Canada)

Janis Phelps, PhD

Clinical psychologist, founder and director of the CIIS Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research (U.S.)

Sandeep Nayak, MD

Psychiatrist, psilocybin clinical researcher, and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University (U.S.)

Sara Reed, MS

Marriage and family therapist, lead psychedelic clinical trial therapist at Imperial College London (UK)

Paul Liknaitzky, PhD

Psychologist, clinical researcher and head of Clinical Psychedelic Lab at Monash University (Australia)

Devon Christie, MD

Family physician and therapeutic counsellor, investigator for Phase 3 MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD trials (Canada)

Manesh Girn, PhD

Neuroscientist, researcher at UCSF working with Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD on the impact of psychedelics on mental health (U.S.)

Emma Hapke, MD

Psychiatrist and clinical researcher for MDMA therapy for PTSD and psilocybin for advanced cancer trials (Canada)

Chris Stauffer, MD

Psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist, group MDMA therapy investigator for veterans with PTSD (U.S.)

Simon Ruffell, MD, PhD

Psychiatrist, research psychologist with PhD in ayahuasca and mental health, lecturer at the University of Exeter (UK)

Joost Breeksema, PhD

Qualitative researcher in psychedelic trials and executive director of the OPEN Foundation (Netherlands)

Pamela Kryskow, MD

Physician, board member of the Psychedelic Association of Canada and medical lead at the Roots to Thrive (Canada)

Houman Farzin, MD

Palliative care physician and psychedelic therapist specializing in psilocybin therapy for terminal illness (Canada)

Julia King Olivier, MD

Psychiatrist, psychedelic therapist, and founder of the Compassionate Care Center in Geneva (Switzerland)

Simon Amar, MD

Psychiatrist, investigator for MDMA therapy for PTSD trials (Canada) and psilocybin for anxiety trials (Australia)

Shoshana Ward, RTC

Therapist specializing in medicine assisted therapy, clinic director & co-founder at Centre for Medicine Assisted Therapy (Canada)

Bill Brennan, PhD

Psychologist, clinical researcher, psychedelic educator, author, and supervisor to therapists on clinical trials (U.S.)

Chloé Pronovost-Morgan, MD, MSc

Psychiatry resident and lead author on Delphi study for reporting of setting in psychedelic trials (Canada)

Will Barone, Psy.D

Clinical psychologist and qualitative researcher in MDMA therapy for terminal illness and studies with psilocybin & ketamine (U.S.)

"Research leads to meaningful healing when it’s done with people, not just on them. When lived experience informs how studies are designed, conducted, and understood, research becomes more than data generation, it becomes a compass for healthcare transformation." – Pedram Dara

Invite your colleagues and friends

Share this event with your network and join together in shaping the future of patient-centered psychedelic care.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Psychedelic Lived Experiences Summit runs from November 20th to November 22nd, 2026. Live programming: 11:00 AM–6:00 PM EST / 8:00 AM–3:00 PM PST / 5:00 PM–12:00 AM CET

Yes, all sessions will be recorded. You'll get unlimited 1-year access to all the recordings, plus other exclusive perks we'll announce soon.

If you’ve checked all your inbox folders (including spam, junk, and promotions) and still don’t see the email, please reach out to us. We’re happy to help! >>> contact@psychedeliclivedexperiences.com