Coloradans will soon have legal access to psychedelic-assisted therapy with the first licensed psilocybin businesses expected to open this spring. This novel type of mental health treatment involves ingesting large doses of “magic mushrooms” under the supervision of a licensed guide.

People who are interested in trying a therapeutic dose in Colorado will need to go to licensed businesses known as healing centers and connect with accredited guides called facilitators.

In Oregon, the only other state where psychedelic-assisted therapy is legal, patients typically take a large dose of mushrooms before putting on an eye mask and headphones and lying down to experience the trip — which can take up to six or eight hours. The facilitators are there to help their patients navigate intense or challenging emotions and to assist should they need to move around while under the influence.

Sessions can be costly since individuals pay for a facilitator’s time and the drugs provided onsite. In Oregon, a psilocybin session costs upward of $1,000.

But some of Colorado’s prospective healing center owners have ideas about other ways to offer their services. That includes one who hopes to build a space for microdosing, as well as others seeking to pair psychedelic-assisted therapy with other wellness techniques like yoga.

We spoke with seven people who have applied for healing center licensure so locals can understand the variety of approaches coming to Colorado’s psychedelic therapy landscape.

Private practices

Psychedelic therapy is billed as a medical treatment, so it’s no surprise that existing mental health professionals plan to add it to their practices.

Alison Lee, co-owner of Reset LLC in Centennial, has been a licensed counselor for about 15 years, working with both kids and parents. During the pandemic, however, she decided to switch her focus and explore how psychedelics could help heal trauma, specifically generational trauma that gets passed down through families.

Lee is working on obtaining her facilitator license so she can guide clients through large-dose trips, as well as provide preparation and integration sessions to book-end those experiences. She and her husband Josh purchased the condo now home to Reset LLC and renovated it from a call center to a “cozy, safe space” where these journeys will take place. Lee plans to hire additional facilitators to expand the healing center’s client capacity.

Even though this treatment is now legal, Lee said there’s still a taboo around psychedelics. She hopes to help the public understand more about them and offer something new to her patients who have tried traditional approaches without success.

“I am excited for a tool in my therapy toolbox that I feel most confident is going to help the most amount of people,” Lee said.

Counselor Dori Lewis has been offering ketamine therapy at her group practice, Reflective Healing in Fort Collins, for several years. Lewis hopes to add psilocybin therapy soon because psychedelics make natural complements to transpersonal psychotherapy, which explores how individuals experience “interconnectedness to our environment, to our community and beyond,” she said.

While Reflective Healing does not exclusively offer psychedelic-assisted therapy, Lewis sees it as a valuable addition to other modalities. In addition to working with ketamine and psilocybin, Lewis is also trained to administer MDMA therapy, though it’s not yet legal. She participated in clinical trials by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

“My dream is that I will have MDMA, mushrooms, and ketamine available so that we can create treatment plans that meet the needs of the unique person sitting in front of us,” she said. “Psychedelics are a great tool, but in and of themselves are not enough. It’s a tapestry of healing that we hope to be able to provide.”

Additionally, Lewis co-founded one of Colorado’s approved training programs, called Elemental Psychedelics, so Reflective Healing intends to be a practicum space for aspiring facilitators.

Holistic wellness centers

Several Coloradans want to open healing centers that integrate psychedelics into other wellness practices.

Go Within Collective in Lakewood, for example, plans to be home base for independent facilitators who specialize in treating various health conditions. Co-founder and CEO Jillian Gordon’s expertise is in using psychedelics to help individuals experiencing chronic pain and creating healing spaces for men. Other practitioners in the Go Within Collective’s network specialize in end-of-life care and acute trauma, she said.

Gordon’s vision is to offer psilocybin-assisted therapy alongside other mindfulness and therapeutic practices, such as yoga, meditation, breathwork, and somatic therapy and movement. Retreats and mushroom cultivation classes are also part of the plan.

Over the last five years, Gordon has worked in the psychedelic underground, but she wants to transition into the regulated industry, firstly, so Colorado’s newly licensed facilitators have a place to work. (That was a challenge in Oregon, where the number of facilitators outpaced the number of service centers where they could be employed.) Gordon also hopes to inspire others to join the industry and raise the standard of care.

“I do feel a responsibility to a certain degree to make sure my community is held accountable,” Gordon said. “For me, honestly, it’s a calling.”

Elizabeth Cooke opened The Center Origin in Denver in 2023 with a roster of practitioners specializing in yoga, massage, breathwork and reiki. Her goal was to build a community and brand recognition in anticipation of psychedelic therapy becoming available.

While the business model will soon shift primarily to facilitated trips, Cooke plans to offer clients access to providers of the aforementioned services to enhance their therapeutic experiences, either as part of the preparation process or as part of integration afterward. She expects to offer one-on-one guidance, as well as group sessions.

Cooke, who previously worked as a social worker and co-founded cannabis edibles company Coda Signature, said part of her long-term vision includes being able to make and sell microdosing products, mushroom chocolates and gummies.

“Coming online with this, it seemed like a combination of everything — it’s bringing my entire career together,” she said. “To me, a healing center is able to provide the most to people.”

Spiritual retreat centers

Aside from the potential medical applications, many people use psychedelics for self-exploration or as spiritual and religious conduits.

Arvada resident Austin Mao has spent the last three years building a “church,” called Ceremonia, as a space for people seeking mystical or transcendental experiences using psychedelics.

The church hosts multi-day retreats that include workshops and one or more psilocybin “ceremonies,” Mao said.

Ceremonia doesn’t offer one-on-one guidance. Instead, it brings together groups, which makes it more affordable for participants, Mao said, and offers them an embedded support system.

“In speaking with longstanding psychedelic therapists and leadership, the consensus that we have is that peer support and group work is the future of not only psychedelic healing but also therapy,” he said.

Additionally, Mao created one of Colorado’s approved training programs called Ceremonia Edu, so the church intends to be a practicum space for aspiring facilitators.

A microdosing coffee shop

While guided trips on large doses of mushrooms may be suitable for some, Jeff Parton and Manon Manoeuvre believe smaller dosing options are more approachable to a broader demographic. That’s why their Denver business, Vivid Minds Coffee & Tea House, will focus on microdosing.

Their concept includes two separate spaces. The first is a coffee shop serving drinks with non-psychedelic “functional” mushrooms, where the owners expect to host educational classes on psychedelics. The second is a lounge with stations for painting, games, and journaling so people can take microdoses and indulge their creativity. The plan includes having several facilitators on hand at any given time to accommodate both individuals and groups.

“That will just change the dynamic of mushrooms and psychedelic healing in so many different ways. The fact that you’re in a coffee shop, you get your little latte and your biscuit and you go downstairs and you can choose what activity you want to do and what medicine you want to try,” said Manoeuvre, who is working on obtaining her facilitator license.

“I see in the future psilocybin bachelorette parties,” she added.