The University of Maryland, Baltimore, is Building Multidisciplinary Education & Training in the Science and Practice of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies

By: Dr. Megan Meyer & Dr. Andrew Coop

An important first step in this effort was to survey two groups essential to scaling safe and effective PAT delivery: social workers and nurses. This research, supported by a seed grant from the UMB Center for Addiction, Research, Education and Service (CARES), surveyed social workers and nurses in the Mid-Atlantic region to identify their existing knowledge, attitudes, practice experiences, and training needs related to psychedelics and PAT. Overall, two-thirds of those surveyed believed psychedelics show promise for treating psychiatric disorders and agreed they should be legalized for therapeutic purposes. However, a majority (61%) reported not being comfortable discussing psychedelics with their patients, nearly 50% expressed interest in receiving further training on PAT, and over 90% of those interested in training indicated they prefer training to be delivered through continuing professional education (CPE) programs. (See study details and results here)

Responding to these findings, the team launched an interdisciplinary workshop series titled Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Science and Practice of Psychedelic Therapies, which ran from October 2024 to May 2025. This series, delivered through CPE departments across the three schools, was attended by over 200 participants (licensed practitioners and current UMB students). Funded by a seed grant from the UMB Center for Interprofessional Education, the series provided participants with foundational knowledge and skills related to the history and psychopharmacology of psychedelics; the state of clinical research about the efficacy and risks of different psychedelic compounds used in PAT for specific mental health conditions; access, social justice, and diversity issues related to the delivery of psychedelic therapies; methods for integrating this knowledge into existing clinical practices; and the legal landscape for healthcare providers. 

Building on our successful work so far, we are now working to develop interdisciplinary credit-bearing courses hosted by the schools of social work and pharmacy and available to students across our campus as electives. We have already created a science-focused credit-bearing course as an elective within our Medical Cannabis MS program, which will be a component of the larger certification.  This phase of work is being supported by a 2-year sustaining grant from the UMB Center for Interprofessional Education and the University Psychedelic Education Program (U-PEP), where Drs. Meyer and Cagle from the School of Social Work and Dr. Colloca from the School of Nursing are fellows. 
UMB’s credit-bearing courses will provide students with foundational knowledge and skills in the science of psychedelics and practices of PAT and prepare them to get additional training through an interdisciplinary certificate in PAT delivered by our CPE departments, the building of which is our next focus. Ultimately, our efforts will allow UMB to serve two target audiences (students and licensed health and mental health providers) with two levels of training (basic education and advanced training), as the state considers legalization of PAT. 

Throughout our 3-year effort, the UMB team has also steadily worked to raise awareness among the scientific community and broader public about the need to train our work forces in the emerging science and practice of PAT. For instance, early in the effort, Dr. Meyer published an Op-Ed in the Baltimore Sun to help others understand that because social workers provide the majority of mental health services in the country, training this workforce is crucial for realizing the potential of PAT. She was subsequently interviewed by other media outlets (see interviews with Raise the Line and One the Record). Dr. Luana Colloca from the School of Nursing convened a panel of experts who discussed the problem of the placebo effect in psychedelic research as part of the Placebo Beyond Opinion Lecture Series. Dr. Andy Coop testified in support of Maryland Senate and House bills in spring 2024 that resulted in the creation of the Maryland Task Force on the Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances. He was subsequently appointed by Maryland’s Governor Moore as Chair and the final report by the task force is expected to be submitted to the state legislature by the end of October 2025. An interim report was released in July 2025, envisioned as an educational resource for all.  During the task force’s deliberations, Dr. Meyer testified to the Model of Access subcommittee on the critical training needs of social workers and UMB’s curriculum building and training efforts.  Dr. Coop has also participated in a number of public listening sessions (Town Halls) around the state of Maryland to educate the general public and, importantly, be educated by the general public on all issues regarding psychedelics.  

While we are pleased with our accomplishments to date, and securing the small campus grants described above, we still face significant financial challenges as we work to institutionalize curriculum and training at UMB. Start-up costs and financial sustainability are critical for everything we do at a public university, and we must be mindful of the need to be at least revenue neutral, and preferably revenue-generating. Costs include covering internal faculty time to develop and deliver content, compensation for the contributions of external experts, support for instructional design and CPE staff, and marketing and communications, among many others.  Developing a business model that will help ensure continued support from senior administration at the university is critical. Since our aim is to make training for both students and licensed professionals affordable, our current model relies on low-cost training through CPE and credit-bearing electives for current students. While these delivery models may help UMB recruit students and increase enrollments in CPE offerings, they are not expected to generate significant revenue beyond running costs. A credit-bearing graduate certificate that is eligible for federal financial aid (MS or Certificate) would generate higher revenue, but would be less accessible. Therefore, our long-term plan centers around making UMB as competitive as possible for state or federal workforce training grants and philanthropic support once, as is expected, PAT becomes legalized in Maryland.     

Overall, UMB expects to be well-positioned to serve as a key training site for our licensed health and mental health workforces and to contribute to building the ecosystem of care that will be necessary to respond to this rapidly evolving landscape of psychedelic research, policy, and therapeutic treatments.