What it is
Pacifica does have psychedelic-specific programs, but they are continuing-education courses, not a facilitator credential, and it is important not to confuse the two. They live in Pacifica Extension — the institute's non-degree arm — as a two-level series called 'Psychedelics and Depth Psychology'. Level 1, 'Treatment and Transformation in an Animated Cosmos', ran 16 weeks (May-August 2025) for 14 CE credits. Level 2, the 'Advanced Psychedelics Graduate Certificate', ran 12 weeks (September-December 2025) for 10 CE credits. Both are $1,095 at the general rate, both are delivered as a weekly pre-recorded lecture plus a two-hour live Zoom discussion, and Level 1 is explicitly not a prerequisite for Level 2. Despite the words 'Graduate Certificate' in the title these are non-credit Extension offerings — the course page says so bluntly: 'This Certificate neither requires nor confers a license or degree.'
What you actually get is a very good reading list and unusual access to people who built the field. The Level 2 faculty includes Michael Mithoefer, MD, who ran the first MAPS Phase 2 MDMA trial and supervised therapists on the Phase 3 trials; Rosalind Watts, PhD, former clinical lead of the Imperial College psilocybin-for-depression trial and author of the ACE/ACER integration models; Saj Razvi, a former MAPS Phase 2 clinical researcher and co-developer of Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy; Neil Hanon, MD, who leads Grof Legacy Training in Canada; Jungian analyst Linda Carter on ketamine as an adjunct to analytic work; and psychiatrist Brian Stafford, MD, MPH, who anchors both levels. Level 1 added Robin Carhart-Harris, Bill Richards, Janis Phelps (founder of the CIIS program), Bia Labate and Michael Winkelman. The framing throughout is depth-psychological and mythopoetic — Jung, Grof, Hillman-adjacent language, IFS, ecopsychology — rather than protocol-and-checklist clinical training.
For a California licensee the practical value is narrow but real and cheap. Pacifica is an approved CE sponsor for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences via CAMFT (provider #60721), so the 10 or 14 hours count toward LMFT, LCSW, LPCC and LEP renewal, and separately for psychologists through the California Psychological Association (PAC014) and for RNs (CEP 7177). CE credit costs an extra $30 and requires attendance at every live Zoom session — recordings alone earn the certificate of completion but not the CE hours. Discounts exist: $930.75 for Pacifica alumni and seniors, $876 for Lifelong Learner members, $657 for Pacifica Extension students on Level 1, with a 50% deposit option, installments, and a limited scholarship pool.
The honest headline is that Pacifica runs retreats, short courses and CE certificates rather than a facilitator training credential, and that it has never sought or held state approval to train psilocybin facilitators. There is no practicum, no supervised client contact, no consultation hours, no admissions screening beyond payment, and nothing that any regulator recognizes. There is also nothing currently scheduled: as of 6 August 2026 the Level 2 course is listed with dates 'TBD' under Coming Soon on Pacifica Extension's program index, and Level 1 sits under 'Previous Programs'. Earlier one-off offerings — the eight-week 'Sacred Medicine and the Psyche' (2021, $595-$895, run with the Institute of Transpersonal and Archetypal Studies) and the two-day 'Psychedelia' film symposium (2021, co-sponsored by Chacruna, Fluence and MAPS) — are likewise archived. Note also that Pacifica's retreat site, retreat.pacifica.edu, now redirects to the Extension site; there is no separate psychedelic retreat program.
What it lets you do
This is the section the program’s own marketing is least specific about, so it runs before everything else. It was established against the program’s own materials and against the two state registers that matter — Oregon’s approved-curriculum list and Colorado’s.
- Bank 10 or 14 hours of California BBS-qualifying continuing education toward LMFT, LCSW, LPCC or LEP renewal for an extra $30 on top of tuition — Pacifica is a CAMFT-approved CE provider, #60721 (and CPA PAC014 for psychologists, BRN CEP 7177 for nurses).
- Get a genuinely well-taught theoretical grounding in psychedelic-assisted therapy models from people who ran the pivotal trials, without pretending it is clinical training.
- Do better preparation and integration work with California clients, which is legal psychotherapy and requires no special credential of any kind.
- Bring depth-psychological, Grofian, IFS and somatic framing to ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in California — the only psychedelic modality a California therapist can practice today, and one where the therapist provides the psychotherapy while a physician, NP or PA handles the prescribing.
- Add a recognizable, low-cost line to a CV while deciding whether a $10,000-plus facilitator training is worth it.
- Change your license or scope of practice in any way. Pacifica states it directly: 'This Certificate neither requires nor confers a license or degree.' The California BBS neither recognizes nor requires it.
- Qualify you to facilitate psilocybin anywhere. Pacifica is not on the Oregon Health Authority's list of programs with approved curriculum, nor on Colorado DORA's list of Approved Natural Medicine Training Programs — both checked 6 August 2026.
- Give you any supervised client contact. There is no practicum, no consultation hours, no case supervision and no skills assessment — only lectures, readings, a discussion forum and live Zoom seminars.
- Let you administer psilocybin or MDMA to anyone in California. Both remain Schedule I federally and California has no regulated access program.
- Screen you for suitability. Enrollment is open to anyone who pays, including people with no clinical license at all, which is a real difference from the admissions-gated programs at Berkeley or CIIS and should factor into how a hiring clinic reads it.
Because of the availability, power, and growing legalization of these medicines for clinical, ceremonial, and recreational uses, these ideas and conversations around psychedelics are open to everyone. This Certificate neither requires nor confers a license or degree.— Pacifica Graduate Institute — Pacifica Extension, in its own materials
Why the answer is this narrow →
Cost, length and who can apply
What you would study
- Level 2, Week 1 — Orientation to Level 2 Psychedelics Certificate
Overview and orientation, cohort formation into 'home pods'. Brian Stafford, MD, MPH and Katie Stone.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 2 — A History & Orientation to Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy and Models
History of psychotherapy and evidence-based therapies; evolution of psychedelic-assisted therapy theory, approach and research; comparison of psychedelic and non-psychedelic frames; and explicitly 'the challenges of getting psychedelic assisted therapy approved by the FDA and the consequences of its rejection'. Brian Stafford.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 3 — Psychedelic Healing through a Mythopoetic Lens: Depth Psychology and the Descent to Soul
Archetypal and initiatory themes, shadow integration, ancestral healing and cultural repair in psychedelic work. Simon Yugler, author of 'Psychedelics and the Soul'.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 4 — Pathways of Regeneration: MDMA and psilocybin in treating mental health challenges
A biopsychosocial, ecosystemic model combining low-to-moderate doses of MDMA and psilocybin; two case studies; the psychedelic landscape in South Africa. Mama Mycelia (Megan Hardy and Kate Ferguson).
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 5 — Ketamine as Adjunct to Clinical Depth Psychology: 'The Combination Method'
Case-study work on ketamine infusions alongside analytic treatment for depression, dissociation and suicidal ideation, and using active imagination afterward for integration. Jungian analyst Linda Carter, MSN, CS, IAAP. The most directly applicable session for a California clinician, since ketamine is the only modality legally available here.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 6 — A Grofian approach to holotropic states of consciousness
Grof's cartography of the psyche, COEX systems, unfinished gestalts, spiritual emergence; directive versus facilitating approaches. Neil Hanon, MD, who leads Grof Breathwork and Psychedelic Therapy training streams in Canada.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 7 — Internal Family Systems and MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD
The therapeutic method used in the MDMA clinical trials, spontaneous parts-work under MDMA, and unpublished sub-study data. Michael Mithoefer, MD, who ran the first MAPS Phase 2 trial and supervised Phase 3 therapists.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 8 — Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy (PSIP)
Autonomic nervous system states, traumatic transference, and selective inhibition; an actively relational alternative to the sitter model. Saj Razvi, former MAPS Phase 2 clinical researcher.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 9 — Creating Islands of Connectedness: the ACER Integration model
Accept, Connect, Embody, Restore; theoretical grounding in ACT, ecotherapy, liberation psychology and peer-led care, plus a critical look at the limits of online mutual-aid communities. Rosalind Watts, PhD.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 10 — The role of music in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy
Reading and viewing only, no live meeting (US Thanksgiving week).
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 11 — The Nature-Based Map of the Human Psyche and Wild Mind Way of Psychedelic Facilitation
Eco-depth work of the Animas Valley Institute; adaptations for preparation, journeying and integration. Brian Stafford.
source ↗ - Level 2, Week 12 — Integration of the psychedelic-assisted therapy models and approaches
Small and large group synthesis of the twelve weeks. Brian Stafford and Katie Stone.
source ↗ - Level 1 (16 weeks) — Psychedelics and Depth Psychology: Treatment and Transformation in an Animated Cosmos
Survey course covering current and historical use of plant-based medicines in Western societies; use and challenges in Indigenous cultures; the worldview underlying modern medicine and psychiatry; the history and status of clinical research; animistic and shamanistic worldviews; biopharmacology; micro, suitable and heroic dosing; the qualities, skills, ethics and training to look for in a psychedelic-assisted therapist, ceremonialist or sitter; set and setting; contraindications, supporting challenging journeys and harm reduction; and the legal history and status of these medicines in the US and worldwide. 14 CECs. Last run 7 May - 20 August 2025.
source ↗
Who teaches it
Faculty is a large part of what these programs actually sell, and it changes between cohorts — check the current list before you decide on this basis.
- Brian Stafford, MD, MPH — anchors both levels; triple-board-trained psychiatrist, former Anschutz Family Chair in Early Childhood Psychiatry, completed the CIIS/MAPS psychedelic-assisted therapy program, now a Senior Guide and trainer at the Animas Valley Institute. He teaches psychedelics at Pacifica and facilitates preparation, journeying and integration privately.
- Michael Mithoefer, MD — ran the first MAPS-sponsored Phase 2 MDMA trial for PTSD with Annie Mithoefer, and supervised therapists on the Phase 3 trials. The single biggest name on the roster.
- Rosalind Watts, PhD — former clinical lead of the psilocybin-for-depression trial at Imperial College London; created the ACE/ACER integration models and the Watts Connectedness Scale.
- Saj Razvi — founder and Director of Education at the Psychedelic Somatic Institute, former MAPS Phase 2 clinical researcher, co-developer of PSIP; teaches clinicians to work legally with ketamine and cannabis in private practice.
- Neil Hanon, MD, FRCPC — Canadian psychiatrist, certified Holotropic Breathwork facilitator, co-founder of Jamaica Grief Retreats, former Medical Director of TheraPsil; since 2023 leads Grof Legacy Training's Canadian Breathwork and Psychedelic Therapy streams.
- Linda Carter, MSN, CS, IAAP — Jungian analyst in Carpinteria, 45+ years in practice, on ketamine as an adjunct to analytic treatment.
- Simon Yugler — depth-psychology MA from Pacifica, author of 'Psychedelics and the Soul'; has taught for five facilitator training programs including CIIS, Naropa and InnerTrek.
- Katie Stone — co-facilitator of the Level 2 orientation and closing sessions.
- Level 1 additionally featured Robin Carhart-Harris, Bill Richards, Janis Phelps (founder of the CIIS certificate), Beatriz Caiuby (Bia) Labate, Michael Winkelman, Allison Hoots, JD, Geneen Marie Haugen, Brian Richards, Dylan Martinez Francisco and Henrique Fernandes Antunes.
What people say about it
Quoted with the source attached in every case, including the program’s own claims about itself — which are labeled as such — and the critical ones.
Where it stands right now
No cohort scheduled. Verified 6 August 2026: the Advanced Psychedelics Graduate Certificate Level 2 is listed on Pacifica Extension's program index and its own page with dates 'TBD', categorized under Coming Soon; the Level 1 introductory certificate is filed under 'Previous Programs' with its last run 7 May - 20 August 2025. Pacifica Extension's currently enrolling 2026 catalog is otherwise mythology, Jungian, ecopsychology and astrology programming, with no psychedelic offering open.
What I could not establish
These are the things I looked for and could not establish. Take them to the program, and notice how quickly and precisely they answer.
- No 2026 dates or 2026 pricing for either level — both are 'TBD'.
- No stated intention either way about whether Level 1 will run again; it has been moved to 'Previous Programs'.
- No enrollment numbers, completion rates or any outcome data for either level.
- No independent reviews, journalism or third-party discussion of these specific courses could be found.
- No verified program-specific video. Pacifica's YouTube channel covers its degree programs, not this certificate series.
- Pacifica publishes no admissions criteria and no code of conduct for these open-enrollment courses, so it is not clear what, if anything, is screened for.
- Whether the $30 CE fee is per level or per certificate is not stated explicitly beyond the line item.
- Could not verify any FDA action on MDMA-assisted therapy after the August 2024 complete response letter within reachable sources; this record assumes no FDA-approved MDMA product exists and that psilocybin and MDMA remain Schedule I federally.
Sources for this page (8)
- Advanced Psychedelics Graduate Certificate Level 2 — full curriculum, faculty, pricing, CE approvals, scope disclaimer
- Psychedelics and Depth Psychology (Level 1) — 16 weeks, 14 CECs, pricing, 2025 dates
- Pacifica Extension program index — current 2026 catalog and 'TBD' status
- Sacred Medicine and the Psyche (2021, archived) — eight weeks, $595-$895, with ITAS
- Psychedelia symposium (2021, archived) — co-sponsored by Chacruna, Fluence, World Psychedelics Day and MAPS
- Pacifica Graduate Institute — degree programs and Extension links
- Oregon Health Authority — approved training program list (Pacifica absent, 6 Aug 2026)
- Colorado DORA Natural Medicine homepage — approved training program list (Pacifica absent, 6 Aug 2026)