Using psychedelics to treat racial trauma

Tapestry53:52Psychedelic healing and friendships

The psychologist Monnica Williams co-created a series of graduate courses in Psychedelics and Spirituality Studies at the University of Ottawa. She has a special interest in the use of psychedelics to heal racial trauma. As an only child, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff figured that having a big group of friends was the way to feel fulfilled in life. When she finally found herself in a large friend group she was surprised by what it was really like.

These days, there's plenty of research that shows the therapeutic use of psychedelics, and how they can help in healing or managing all kinds of mental health conditions from PTSD, to clinical depression and anxiety.  

But when it comes to who is allowed to partake in this kind of therapy, Black people in the United States are often left out of that picture. 

Thanks to the profound effects of the U.S. federal government's war on drugs and the legacy of anti-Black racism, the fear and stigma surrounding drug use — even in a therapeutic setting — is a lot more pronounced for Black Americans. 

Monnica Williams is a psychologist working in the U.S. and Canada, who specializes in the use of psychedelics to heal racial trauma. In 2021, she co-created Canada's first ever psychedelic master's degree program at the University of Ottawa, titled "Psychedelics and Spirituality Studies."

She spoke to Tapestry's Mary Hynes about her research, and the ways that psychedelic therapy can be transformational for Black communities, despite the fact that they've historically been excluded from these treatments. 

The old stereotype of psychedelics that's been around for so long is the 'Summer of Love', hippies, the flower child … and that person in popular culture is almost always white. What does that picture miss?

It misses a lot of the reasons for why that picture is so white. It misses the Indigenous history of psychedelics, it misses the war on drugs, it misses the underground communities of people of colour who've been using psychedelics for healing and support. So yeah, there's a lot of things left out of that.

I'm interested in your work at the University of Ottawa, tell me about the course in psychedelics and spirituality. How did that begin?

I started at the University of Ottawa, maybe in the summer of 2019. And I was so excited to find a kindred spirit in actually classics and religious studies, Anne Vallely, who was also interested in psychedelics. She had just put on a conference for psychedelics and end-of-life care that I had actually attended. She had been wanting for some time to have some sort of academic programming around psychedelics and I really wanted to start a certification or a graduate diploma that clinicians could take so that they would then be qualified to operate as psychedelic therapists. So we got together and thought, "What can we do to get started on this?" A the very first step was to do this.

I would love to put a face on this — an anonymous face to be sure — but can you tell me about someone you've worked with who found this to be a bit of a game-changer in terms of racial trauma and healing from some really serious scars? Have you seen someone go through that kind of transformation in your work?

Absolutely. So because most psychedelics are not yet legal, it's hard to to get them outside of a research study, but one psychedelic that is actually legal is ketamine. And we have been using that at my clinic in Connecticut for ketamine-assisted therapy. 

There was one case that I can think of specifically where a woman came in with racial trauma. She had also had some childhood trauma, but it was due to racism and discrimination on her job that she had become completely disabled. I supervised it, but there were two other therapists who worked with her directly, and she did the ketamine assisted therapy. 

She had some amazing breakthroughs. Her symptoms just melted away. She made big changes in her life, she left that job, where she was being abused, moved to another state to take a better opportunity, left an unsatisfying relationship. I mean, it was transformational. And we see things like that a lot. But in this case, it happened to be a Black woman and her challenges were around racial trauma. So we know that it can help. 

How do you keep people safe when they're trying to address racial trauma with this kind of therapy? What are some of the safeguards in place given that these are very powerful substances?

First of all, before undergoing psychedelic therapy, everybody gets a physical and you get signed off by an MD to make sure that you're healthy enough for it, that there aren't other conditions that could make this process not such a great experience, and also medications that could interfere with it. Also, some of these substances can raise your blood pressure. So for example, if someone has hypertension we'd want to make sure that's under control. 

For the actual outcome or psychological piece of it, we know that people are going to do a lot better if they feel safe, if they feel understood and supported. And so prior to the psychedelic journey, it's important for us to get to know the clients and feel like we understand them, and that they understand what's going to happen and that they trust us. And that will really help facilitate the safety. 

Now for racial trauma, there's a whole additional layer, because it deals with racism, and frankly, most people in our culture are not so good at talking about and supporting people around experiences of racism. So it's very, very important that the therapists are well trained to support people who are going to have potentially some upsetting thoughts, memories come up around racism, and then are able to be there with them for that. Particularly if they're not a person of colour, we want to make sure that the therapist doesn't get defensive or find subtle ways to attack the client because that could be potentially traumatic for them. Because when you're going through a journey, you're very vulnerable and open, you want to make sure not to do anything that could make their trauma worse.

Where's this headed? Do you see a near future where psychedelic journeys are an acknowledged clinical part of treating racial trauma and other sorts of pain?

Absolutely, it's happening now. People are looking for psychedelics to heal from their trauma, and there are several clinics across the U.S. that are engaged in this work on expanded access. All of us who are on the list, we get calls every day from people desperate to be in the study and to get on the list. And it's painful because each site is only going to have maybe four or five participants that are going to be cleared to participate in expanded access. You can easily have a waitlist of 100 people. So there's a big need for it. There's a demand for it. People want it. It's going to happen. It's going to be a game changer.

Q&A edited for length and clarity. Written and produced by Tayo Baro.