Course: Queering Psychedelics: Intersectionality, Healing, Spirituality

July 28th – October 6th, 2025 10:30am-12pm PDT/1pm-3pm EST

Psychedelics have encompassed a colorful history of the enchanted, wayward, and weird; its history also includes concrete ways queer folk have fundamentally shaped the substance, style, and spirituality of the psychedelic movement. At the same time, some queer people have been harmed by psychedelic culture’s heteronormative assumptions. As the psychedelic renaissance reaches a pivotal moment of mainstream interest and regulatory legitimacy, this course aims to foster accessibility and diversity in psychedelic science, practice, and discourses by addressing and dismantling sexist, heteronormative, transphobic, and homophobic forms of oppression in the psychedelic movement. This course will cover topics such as the cruel effects of patriarchy, practicing self-acceptance, the dark sides of psychedelic research such as conversion therapy, the move towards LGBTQ+ affirmative psychedelic-assisted therapies, transpersonal queer spirituality, sex positivity, trans and BIPOC issues, Indigenous perspectives in queer psychedelia, and pleasure. The course also grapples with how modern psychedelic research might address the unique needs and traumas of sexual and gender minorities—populations that can suffer from challenging mental health conditions brought on by social exclusion, pathologization, criminalization, and stigmatization. It is vital that queer spaces be established for exploring the unique needs, gifts, and strengths that LGBTQ+ communities bring to psychedelic medicine, and how psychedelic medicine can help queer folks move towards healing and liberation.

We ask that students register for this course on Eventbrite using an email associated with their Youtube Account. We will need this email to share the video lectures during this course. Price $700 USD

CE credits pending aproval

Scholarship Application

You can read more about the course, professors, and class details here!

Student Learning Objectives

At the end of the program, participants will be better able to…

1. Students will be able to name three characteristics of the patriarchy that influence life today
2. Students will be able to describe the difference between “positive psychology” and “clinical psychology”
3. Critique the heteronormative ideology that enforces a myth of “normal”
4. Apply the spiritual philosophies of polyamory and kink regardless of one’s own sexual behavior
5. Describe factors affecting clinician competence with transgender clients in psychedelic therapy
6. Analyze the cissexist impact of European colonialism and its impact on modern concepts of the sacred
7. Describe how identity-based trauma can impact the relationships, sexuality, and self-perception of LGBTQIA+ people
8. Discuss the role of pleasure in the psychedelic experience and how it can promote healing in queer people and communities

To view our recording policy and answers to other frequently asked questions, please visit this page.

Refund Policy click here

If you have general questions about this course, please contact paula@chacruna.net