Get in touch
info@nautilussanctuary.org
Nautilus Sanctuary is a non-profit center for research, practice and training in psychedelic-assisted therapy in New York City, founded by a collective of psychiatrists and psychologists currently working on MAPS’ Phase III research on the efficacy and safety of MDMA-assisted therapy to treat PTSD.
​
Though MDMA-assisted therapy is not yet a legal treatment, we are committed to MAPS’ mission of bringing their innovative treatment to the mainstream by providing research and training opportunities.
​
Our mission over the next 10 years is to help develop and model best practices, financial sustainability, increased access, pro-social applications, world-class training, and ethical scalability of psychedelic therapies. Our top priority is to make psychedelic treatment safe, accessible and affordable through the development of group therapy protocols and training programs.
Nautilus Sanctuary is a non-profit center for research, practice and training in psychedelic-assisted therapy in New York City, founded by a collective of psychiatrists and psychologists currently working on MAPS’ Phase III research on the efficacy and safety of MDMA-assisted therapy to treat PTSD.
​
Though MDMA-assisted therapy is not yet a legal treatment, we are committed to MAPS’ mission of bringing their innovative treatment to the mainstream by providing research and training opportunities.
​
Our mission over the next 10 years is to help develop and model best practices, financial sustainability, increased access, pro-social applications, world-class training, and ethical scalability of psychedelic therapies. Our top priority is to make psychedelic treatment safe, accessible and affordable through the development of group therapy protocols and training programs.
Nautilus Sanctuary is a non-profit center for research, practice and training in psychedelic-assisted therapy in New York City, founded by a collective of psychiatrists and psychologists currently working on MAPS’ Phase III research on the efficacy and safety of MDMA-assisted therapy to treat PTSD.
​
Though MDMA-assisted therapy is not yet a legal treatment, we are committed to MAPS’ mission of bringing their innovative treatment to the mainstream by providing research and training opportunities.
​
Our mission over the next 10 years is to help develop and model best practices, financial sustainability, increased access, pro-social applications, world-class training, and ethical scalability of psychedelic therapies. Our top priority is to make psychedelic treatment safe, accessible and affordable through the development of group therapy protocols and training programs.
Nautilus Sanctuary is a non-profit center for research, practice and training in psychedelic-assisted therapy in New York City, founded by a collective of psychiatrists and psychologists currently working on MAPS’ Phase III research on the efficacy and safety of MDMA-assisted therapy to treat PTSD.
​
Though MDMA-assisted therapy is not yet a legal treatment, we are committed to MAPS’ mission of bringing their innovative treatment to the mainstream by providing research and training opportunities.
​
Our mission over the next 10 years is to help develop and model best practices, financial sustainability, increased access, pro-social applications, world-class training, and ethical scalability of psychedelic therapies. Our top priority is to make psychedelic treatment safe, accessible and affordable through the development of group therapy protocols and training programs.
Nautilus Sanctuary is a non-profit center for research, practice and training in psychedelic-assisted therapy in New York City, founded by a collective of psychiatrists and psychologists currently working on MAPS’ Phase III research on the efficacy and safety of MDMA-assisted therapy to treat PTSD.
​
Though MDMA-assisted therapy is not yet a legal treatment, we are committed to MAPS’ mission of bringing their innovative treatment to the mainstream by providing research and training opportunities.
​
Our mission over the next 10 years is to help develop and model best practices, financial sustainability, increased access, pro-social applications, world-class training, and ethical scalability of psychedelic therapies. Our top priority is to make psychedelic treatment safe, accessible and affordable through the development of group therapy protocols and training programs.
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Willa Hall received her A.B. in Psychology from UC Berkeley in 1987 and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from New School in 1999. Over the past 20 years, she has dedicated herself to raising her children while working in community mental health and private practice in New York City.
In 2017, she began work on the MAPS NYC site as a co-therapist on the Phase III trials assessing the efficacy of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for severe PTSD.
Dr. Hall has a long-standing interest in understanding the ways in which the therapeutic relationship and, in particular, the therapist’s authenticity facilitates a client’s deepening appreciation of their own authentic self. More recently, Dr. Hall’s attention has turned to understanding the therapist’s role in treatments that utilize non-ordinary states of consciousness in order to maximize growth and healing.
Willa Hall, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Willa Hall received her A.B. in Psychology from UC Berkeley in 1987 and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from New School in 1999. Over the past 20 years, she has dedicated herself to raising her children while working in community mental health and private practice in New York City.
In 2017, she began work on the MAPS NYC site as a co-therapist on the Phase III trials assessing the efficacy of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for severe PTSD.
Dr. Hall has a long-standing interest in understanding the ways in which the therapeutic relationship and, in particular, the therapist’s authenticity facilitates a client’s deepening appreciation of their own authentic self. More recently, Dr. Hall’s attention has turned to understanding the therapist’s role in treatments that utilize non-ordinary states of consciousness in order to maximize growth and healing.
Willa Hall, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Willa Hall received her A.B. in Psychology from UC Berkeley in 1987 and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from New School in 1999. Over the past 20 years, she has dedicated herself to raising her children while working in community mental health and private practice in New York City.
In 2017, she began work on the MAPS NYC site as a co-therapist on the Phase III trials assessing the efficacy of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for severe PTSD.
Dr. Hall has a long-standing interest in understanding the ways in which the therapeutic relationship and, in particular, the therapist’s authenticity facilitates a client’s deepening appreciation of their own authentic self. More recently, Dr. Hall’s attention has turned to understanding the therapist’s role in treatments that utilize non-ordinary states of consciousness in order to maximize growth and healing.
Willa Hall, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Psychiatrist
Casey A. Paleos, MD is a psychiatrist in private practice in the New York City area, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University, He currently serves as both Co-Principal Investigator and Study Therapist at the NYC Private Practice Site of the ongoing MAPS-sponsored Phase 3 clinical trial for MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD. He is passionate about the advancement of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and has over 10 years of clinical experience in the field, beginning in 2009 with his work as a Study Therapist in the NYU Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Study. Dr Paleos is interested in exploring the curative potential of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of severe mental illness, as well as in its use for more highly functioning individuals seeking personal spiritual advancement and growth. He views the latter usage in particular as a profoundly important vehicle for more widespread, and desperately needed, positive, grassroots societal change.
Casey A. Paleos, MD
Psychiatrist
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Willa Hall received her A.B. in Psychology from UC Berkeley in 1987 and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from New School in 1999. Over the past 20 years, she has dedicated herself to raising her children while working in community mental health and private practice in New York City.
In 2017, she began work on the MAPS NYC site as a co-therapist on the Phase III trials assessing the efficacy of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for severe PTSD.
Dr. Hall has a long-standing interest in understanding the ways in which the therapeutic relationship and, in particular, the therapist’s authenticity facilitates a client’s deepening appreciation of their own authentic self. More recently, Dr. Hall’s attention has turned to understanding the therapist’s role in treatments that utilize non-ordinary states of consciousness in order to maximize growth and healing.
Willa Hall, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Psychiatrist
Dr Phil Lister trained in adult and child psychiatry at Weill Cornell's Payne Whitney Clinic, overlapping with training in adult and child psychoanalysis at Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Since then he has been in private practice seeing children, adolescents, adults, and couples. Over time, he became interested in working with families and individuals coping with bereavement, with traumatic experiences in the medical system, and with trauma more broadly defined. He studied and incorporated EMDR and Somatic Experiencing into his practice.
Most recently he learned about and trained in psychedelic psychiatry as an extraordinary, powerful model for helping individuals heal from trauma and, more broadly, to grow into a fuller occupancy of our precious lives.
Phil Lister, MD
Psychiatrist
Clinical Psychologist
Dr Emily Horowitz is a clinical psychologist employed at the New York Veterans Affairs Medical Center, as well as in her private psychotherapy and sound healing practices. She is also a sub-investigator/study therapist for the MAPS Phase III Clinical Trial of MDMA-supported psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD.
She specializes in the treatment of depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance abuse disorders, and the integration of psychedelic and other non-ordinary-states of consciousness experiences.
She graduated from Yeshiva University's Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology in 2007.
Emily Horowitz, PsyD
Clinical Psychologist
Clinical Psychologist
Dr Alex Belser is a psychedelic researcher and psychologist at Yale University. For the last 20 years, he has been a leader in the psychedelic clinical community, having served as an investigator on a number of clinical trials of psilocybin and MDMA to treat depression, anxiety, substance use, OCD, PTSD, and end-of-life distress. He is the founding President of Nautilus Sanctuary, the first non-profit center for psychedelic medicine on the east coast. He serves as the Chief Clinical Officer of Adelia Therapeutics, a Cybin company and the third largest publicly traded psychedelic life sciences company. Dr Belser’s research has been featured on the front page of the New York Times, in the Atlantic, the New Yorker, The Guardian, and in Michael Pollan's book, How to Change Your Mind.
At Yale, Dr Belser is investigating psychedelic treatments for OCD and depression. He worked as a therapist on studies of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of severe PTSD. He previously served on the Board of Advisors to Compass Pathways, then a non-profit organization. He is a member of Chacruna Institute’s Women, Gender Diversity, and Sexual Minorities Working Group, where he works on issues affecting LGBTQI+ people. Dr Belser has authored over a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters and has given over fifty lectures, presentations, and Grand Rounds about psychedelic medicine.
Dr Belser studied at Georgetown University, the University of Cambridge, Columbia University, New York University, and Yale University. Dr Belser trained at Bellevue Hospital, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, and New York Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University. He has also received extensive training in psychedelic psychotherapy from recognized senior teachers. He is a student of somatic practices and is a licensed kundalini and hatha yoga teacher.
His website is http://alexbelser.com and his practice website is http://centerforbreakthroughs.com.
Alex Belser, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Problem:
The psychedelic-assisted treatment model in this country is too expensive and financially unsustainable. In the Expanded Access phase, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, with a ratio of clinician to patient of 2:1, will require 80 clinical hours and cost $12k-20k+ for a single four-month treatment. Similar cost impediments exist for ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. This is not a scalable model.
​
Solution:
Our team at Nautilus Sanctuary will pioneer work in group psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Group treatment offers many benefits over individual treatment. Not only does the group format reduce costs for individuals, numerous studies suggest that it allows for more opportunities for interpersonal learning. There is a longstanding precedent for psychedelic group treatment at UCSF, in Switzerland, and in many indigenous practices such as the Native American Church’s peyote rituals and ayahuasca circles, but there’s been little to no development of these models in private or not-for-profit practice settings in the U.S. We will develop and test a safe group model and disseminate best practices through white papers, conference presentations, and trainings.
Problem:
There is a training bottleneck for competent psychedelic psychotherapists. The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) offers a certificate program, but some trainees don’t actually get experience with psychedelic sessions. Additionally, MAPS is allowing therapists to apply to train at future expanded access sites, but the demand for training far outstrips supply. Most psychotherapists are being turned away, as many sites are unwilling to take on trainees.
Solution:
As an independent site, Nautilus Sanctuary will serve as a world-renowned center to train people in providing psychedelic medicine in legal and responsible ways. Trainees will be supervised by our core team of psychologists and psychiatrists during training programs that parallel our work with clinical participants. Training new clinicians is another important way to cut costs. We will seek affiliation with some of the many graduate school programs in clinical psychology and social work that exist in NYC and offer externships and internships for students interested in psychedelic treatment. This will serve as a win-win for both the growing field of psychedelic treatment professionals as well as the already burgeoning need from those seeking treatment. We will be able to provide high quality training in exchange for a lower cost supervised treatment by students and clinicians interested in learning more about working with psychedelic medicines.
Problem:
Psychedelic medicine has so far been mostly inaccessible. As compared to independent sites, university research with psychedelic medicines is cumbersome and slow. Also, there is a critical research gap as to whether psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy works equally well for systemically oppressed groups, including people of color, ethnic minorities, and LGBTQ people. We believe there is a strong need to provide psychedelic-supported experiences for the betterment of these and other populations.
​
Solution:
Nautilus Sanctuary will provide a platform to expand accessibility of psychedelic treatments. Using group treatments, supervised trainees, and paraprofessionals, we anticipate being able to provide clinical services at scale. We will also implement strategies to diversify recruitment of clients, drawing from New York City’s diverse population. We will develop strategies such as multiple subgroup outcome analyses to determine if psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy works for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual identity or gender identity.
Problem:
The two-therapist model drives cost up and challenges resources. An important structural development for the advancement of ethical practice of psychedelic medicine is the distinction between the traditional “therapist” role and the “sitter” role during treatments. Both roles are important and have significant overlap, but they carry important distinctions that can affect the safety of the experience for the participant, particularly when psychological vulnerabilities arise.
​
Solution:
​
By drawing this distinction, our intention is not to marginalize non-licensed persons, but rather elevate their status. Because of their extensive training in psychological theory and models of the mind, licensed mental health professionals are equipped to help contain and manage intrapsychic and interpersonal conflicts that may arise during a psychedelic experience, particularly at a relational level. Lacking this formal training, sitters are best equipped to hold space for an emotional experience and ensure physical safety. Good sitters are gifted individuals whose ability to maintain calm in the presence of strong emotional energy enables them to be a comfortable presence for people undergoing a psychedelic experience. Instead of excluding non-licensed people from participating in legal treatments that use psychedelics, we want to formalize their role. Doing so allows us to promote a trusting non-competitive relationship of interdependency between sitters and licensed practitioners that recognizes the skills that each bring to the task. This is similar to the supportive relationship existing between non-medically trained therapists and psychiatrists or nurses and doctors. By providing sitters with training and supported opportunities for practice, Nautilus Sanctuary will be able to more widely disseminate safe treatment options for people and, not unimportantly, cut costs.
Problem:
​
Current psychedelic practice targets mental illness while largely ignoring its promise to promote what Bob Jesse calls the “betterment of well people.” Psychedelics promote creativity, divergent thinking, and problem-solving, but these applications are largely ignored in the existing research paradigm. For example, psilocybin research at NYU by Dr. Belser (one of our founders) and colleagues at NYU suggests that patients report improved spiritual well-being, quality of life, feelings of peace, post-traumatic growth, improvements in relationships and interpersonal connectedness, and increases in altruism. The problem with creativity research and problem-solving research is that it is notoriously difficult to assess outcome. Do people who use psychedelics become better computer programmers, coders, painters, writers or leaders? If so, how can we measure these improvements?
Solution:
Nautilus Sanctuary will propose studies to work with groups of “healthy normal people” who are interested in tackling old problems in creative new ways, and systematically follow their progress. We will use translational research and mixed methods to identify specific instruments that would be most sensitive to the neurocognitive enhancement possibilities of psychedelic treatment.
Problem:
While psychedelic “integration” has been seen as an important component to care, most psychedelic treatment models involve either (1) clients dropping in for a one-time medicine session with minimal aftercare, or (2) clients getting a limited and fixed number of follow-up psychotherapy sessions. This leaves an “aftercare gap.” Clinical experience suggests that a comprehensive aftercare model is critical to the trajectories of psychedelic healing. Psychedelic integration must be integrated into our practice.
​
Solution:
Nautilus Sanctuary will develop psychedelic aftercare models of professional mental health support as well as community-based and peer-based integration support. A comprehensive aftercare program bolsters a financially sustainable fee-based model of care, in that integration sessions provide necessary revenue to sustain the work of the Center. Clinically this enhances the quality of service and will improve outcomes as clients struggle work to integrate lessons from their psychedelic medicine sessions and adopt better coping and self-care strategies that are aligned with their long-term goals. These gains are best realized in a supportive and sustaining community model.
Nautilus Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and we rely solely on donations to operate.
We sincerely appreciate any contribution.