Building a Culture of Safety in MDMA Therapy: Protecting Clients & Staff

There are two parts to safety in a clinic administering MDMA therapy: staff safety and patient safety. Your staff needs to work in a safe environment, while also understanding how to keep clients safe.

Risk Identification

Staff must be trained to understand the potential risks associated with MDMA therapy. While this breakthrough treatment has untold potential, no substance is inherently safe for every person.

Staff must understand what makes a suitable candidate for MDMA therapy, the list of potential adverse reactions, how to recognize them, and the ethical considerations of administering such a substance to people with potentially fragile mental states.

Reporting Procedures

Your staff can only be as proactive as their managers are, which means knowing that their concerns will be taken seriously.

Clear and accessible communication channels help staff easily report any safety concerns, suspected abuse, or incidents that could compromise safety. These reports must be taken seriously by upper management in order to be effective: not feeling empowered to report problems is a recipe for liability and creating unsafe conditions for staff.

Emergency Response Protocols

MDMA clinics are not doctor’s offices, but staff must still be trained in emergency response procedures. Your team needs to know how to act if there is a medical emergency with a client, a psychological crisis from the substance, or a security threat. A pinch of prevention is worth an ounce of cure, especially in situations dealing with mind-altering substances.

Trauma-Informed Care

A person coming for MDMA therapy is carrying baggage with them. Staff must understand trauma-informed care, which takes a longitudinal view of mental health, treatment suitability, and potential reactions.

Training your staff with trauma-informed care practices helps ensure a safe and supportive environment for the most vulnerable of clients, and goes a long way towards creating a positive experience.

Keeping patients safe before, during, and after their MDMA experience is the cornerstone of success for MDMA therapy.

Comprehensive Screening

Not every person is a good candidate for MDMA therapy. Your screening process should be thorough to assess client suitability, taking a longitudinal view of their experiences, mental health, physical health, and family history. MDMA is a powerful, mind-altering substance – any red flag should be taken seriously.

Informed Consent

Just because a person wants to try MDMA therapy doesn’t mean they understand what it entails or how powerful the experience can be. Provide clear and detailed information about the process in conversation and in writing. Outline the potential benefits and risks and take time to dive into each thoroughly so people walk into the session with proper expectations.

Ongoing Monitoring

Clients should not be left alone during the MDMA experience. Develop robust protocols for ensuring clients have support while the substance is active and are monitored during the comedown. You should also check in with clients after the experience to assist with integration, identify adverse reactions, and provide continuous support during a time of change.

Crisis Management Plan

MDMA can trigger adverse reactions and bring up heavy past experiences. You need a clear crisis management plan to help your staff address any psychological crisis that may arise during sessions. The point of MDMA therapy is to move past experiences, but the process of doing so isn’t easy.

How can you ensure that your workplace is one that encourages open communication? It’s a process rather than a destination and takes continuous work and attention.

Ensure that your staff feel supported. MDMA therapy can take an emotional toll on staff, and providing resources to peer support groups, individual counseling, or stress management resources can help ensure people have outlets. Regular team meetings that keep safety concerns at the forefront show your staff that you take safety seriously and keep protocols top of mind for them.

Open communication also involves the people taking the MDMA. Create a feedback mechanism for clients to report concerns about policies or staff, suggest improvements, and feel heard. For the most honest feedback, make it anonymous or confidential and tell the client that their identity is kept confidential.

Continuous Improvement

Safety, like communication, takes continuous time and attention. Developing safety protocols alone isn’t enough to ensure a culture of safety – it must be top of mind for everyone who works there, from the top down.

Conduct regular risk assessments around the organization. This is part of a comprehensive risk management plan: monitoring and tracking risks. This helps you create a longitudinal view of exposures within the organization and identify new or evolving safety concerns.

Part of this assessment should be analyzing available data: client screenings, incident reports, therapy notes, and feedback mechanisms. Patterns may emerge to help you identify areas of improvement to update and adapt your protocols accordingly. These evaluations should also factor into your annual umbrella of insurance coverage, adjusting policy sizes as needed based on data.

Finally, it’s important to stay up-to-date on evolving research on MDMA, recommended protocols, suggested insurance policies, and assisted therapy best practices to ensure that your organization is doing everything possible to protect staff and patients.

Protecting your psychedelics company can seem confusing; however, we’re a full-service insurance brokerage working with carriers worldwide to offer you the best coverage possible. We’re here to help! Please reach out to us today by email [email protected] or calling 646-854-1093 for a customized letter or learning more about your psychedelics insurance options.