California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) — Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies Program
Home of the Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research — one of the first and most rigorous academic training programs for psychedelic therapists in the United States.
Type: Academic Institution
Location: San Francisco, CA
Members: Cohort-based enrollment
Membership: Enrollment-based (graduate certificate program)
Venues: ['1453 Mission St, San Francisco', 'online components']
Activities: ['certificate training', 'clinical supervision', 'research', 'public education', 'professional development']
About
The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco launched the Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research (CPTR) in 2018, making it one of the first accredited academic institutions in the United States to offer formal training in psychedelic-assisted therapy. The program is a post-graduate professional certificate designed for licensed mental health professionals — therapists, psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists — seeking to add psychedelic-assisted therapy competencies to their clinical practice.
The CIIS CPTR program draws on a faculty that includes some of the most experienced psychedelic therapists in the country, many with decades of experience in legal research settings. The curriculum covers psychedelic pharmacology, history and cultural context, therapeutic frameworks, the conduct of supervised sessions, and integration support — grounded in both scientific research and the experiential and indigenous traditions that predate the current research renaissance.
CIIS has also hosted the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research (CPTR), which serves as a hub for faculty research, public programming, and professional community events. As Oregon and Colorado launch regulated psilocybin programs requiring trained facilitators, CIIS has become a pipeline for clinical practitioners entering those programs.
Why It Matters
CIIS CPTR was among the first institutions to legitimize psychedelic therapy training in an academic context, and it remains a primary training pipeline for clinicians entering Oregon's Measure 109 system and Colorado's NMHA framework.
State Legal Context
See current psilocybin laws in California.