Two faculty members from the Brown School are among the first cohort to complete a specialized training program designed to help social work and nursing educators integrate psychedelic-assisted therapy content into academic curricula.
Tonya Edmond, professor, and Ryan Lindsay, professor of practice and chair of the mental health concentration, were among 63 participants selected from 30 institutions across 22 states for the inaugural 2025 Faculty Fellow cohort of the University Psychedelic Education Program’s (U-PEP) Faculty Education Program. The cohort completed training at the Usona Institute in Madison, Wisconsin, a nonprofit leader in psychedelic-assisted therapy research.
As interest grows in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for mental health conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and anxiety, the need for scientifically grounded, interdisciplinary education in this emerging field is becoming increasingly vital.
The U-PEP Faculty Education Program equips educators to develop and embed evidence-based, culturally responsive content on the therapeutic use of psychedelics into coursework. During the training, participants deepened their knowledge of psychedelic-assisted care, connected with interdisciplinary peers, and explored strategies for incorporating this material into higher education curricula.
As Faculty Fellows, Edmond and Lindsay are now positioned with the knowledge, tools, and momentum to drive meaningful curriculum development and foster critical conversations around psychedelic therapy at their home institutions.
They join Professor Leopoldo J. Cabassa in advancing psychedelic education and research at the Brown School. Cabassa completed U-PEP’s pilot training in 2023 and now serves as a faculty mentor for the program and is a member of the U-PEP Learning Collaborative.
All three faculty members are part of the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies Learning Community (PAT-LC), an interdisciplinary group at the Brown School co-directed by Cabassa. This fall, Edmond will teach a new course for Master of Social Work students titled Foundations of Psychedelic Healing in Clinical Social Work.
Cabassa is also a co-founder of the Center for Holistic Interdisciplinary Research in Psychedelics (CHIRP)at Washington University, along with Ginger Nicol, professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine, and Rebecca Lester, professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences. Edmond serves on CHIRP’s steering committee and co-leads a workforce development research project for the center. She is also currently serving as a psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) facilitator in a Usona-sponsored study led by Nichols that is testing the effectiveness of psilocybin in treating major depression.