As the use of plant medicines and psychedelics in therapeutic and ceremonial spaces continues to expand in Colorado, abuses and harms will continue to be of pressing concern for all of us whether we are practitioners, educators, advocates, space-holders, or journeyers ourselves.

Abuses and harms are already happening across our communities, as we know from the Power Trip podcast and the numerous allegations of abuse that have surfaced here in Colorado, across the nation, and historically in psychedelic spaces.

At The Nowak Society, we have sexual assault survivors and psychedelic harm survivors on our Board, on our stages, and in the communities we are a part of. We care deeply about ethics, safety, and avoiding abuses of power in plant medicine and psychedelic spaces. We have hosted a number of speakers and talks throughout the years focused on survivors sharing their stories of abuse in psychedelic spaces, ethics for practitioners, power and shadow work in psychedelic spaces, and the considerations we all must engage in to create greater relational safety for everyone in therapeutic spaces. 

There is of course much more to do. At The Nowak Society, we are presently exploring best practices, as an educational non-profit, to respond to and address reported instances of abuse or harm in the community. While we understand we are not an organization set up to adjudicate instances of alleged harm, we seek to live up to the moment that is calling with thought and care. To that end, we are excited to be engaging consultation with experts in ethics and law to develop tools, policies, and practices that will guide us in moving forward responsibly and ethically in this highly complicated and urgently important work.