Desert Healing Institute — Veteran Psychedelic Therapy

Desert Healing Institute is a veteran-focused psychedelic therapy program in Scottsdale, Arizona offering ketamine-assisted psychotherapy on-site and coordination for legal psilocybin access in Oregon, Jamaica, and other jurisdictions. The program was founded by retired Army Colonel Dennis Harlan and is staffed by licensed clinicians, many of whom are veterans themselves. Arizona does not have a regulated psilocybin program, but the state's proximity to Nevada (where ketamine is widely available and ibogaine access is being organized) and the legal frameworks in Mexico's Baja California health-tourism corridor make Desert Healing a coordination hub rather than a direct access provider for psychedelic experiences other than ketamine. The program operates a full clinical pre-clearance service: medical evaluation, psychological screening, safety planning, and integration therapy that prepares veterans for legal experiences in other jurisdictions and supports their return. Veteran-specific considerations include moral injury processing, MST (military sexual trauma), co-occurring TBI, and the specific cultural dynamics of veteran identity. All clinicians are trauma-informed and the majority hold veteran status themselves. Sliding-scale and scholarship funding available through partnerships with Heroic Hearts Project and Mission Within.