Responding to a crisis

Criterion 37 follows the recognition of a crisis with the immediate response. The facilitator has to attend to the person, summon the help the situation requires, and keep the rest of the group supported. Psychological First Aid offers a useful framework for this work through preparation and the actions of looking, listening, and linking people with support (World Health Organization et al., 2011). This module applies that framework to psychedelic settings while addressing medical emergencies, suicidal thoughts, environmental distress, team communication, and transfer of care. The response must fit the practitioner's actual qualifications and legal authority. A person who is becoming quiet or cooperative may still need medical assessment, and a difficult experience should never be assumed to be healing simply because it is intense.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, the trainee will be able to:

• Assess immediate safety, coordinate a proportionate response, and continue reassessment.
• Use the Psychological First Aid action principles of look, listen, and link, with preparation for the setting.
• Act promptly with clear communication and coordinated tasks.
• Match the immediate action to the crisis type across the physical, psychological, and existential domains.
• Apply the correct medical emergency scope: recognize, activate help, basic first aid within training, monitor.
• Explain the limits of medication administration in the facilitator's role, including authorized first aid exceptions and the need for advance clinical planning.
• Apply the correct self harm scope: stay present and escalate to appropriate professionals, never manage alone.
• Reduce environmental stressors to de escalate a heightened state.
• Coordinate a team response and protect the wider group during an individual crisis.
• Locate the deeper integration of the crisis event in Criterion 38.
• Prepare and rehearse emergency roles, equipment access, communication, and coverage for the group.
• Produce an accurate event record and follow through on corrective actions.

Key Terms

Immediate course of action. The response taken when a crisis is recognized, including protection from immediate hazards, activation of appropriate help, support within training, and continued observation until responsibility is transferred.

Psychological First Aid. Practical and humane support for people affected by severe distress. The WHO guide organizes the work around preparation and the action principles of look, listen, and link. It is a support framework that can be used by appropriately prepared helpers (World Health Organization et al., 2011).

Proportionate response. Assistance matched to the observed danger, current condition, and the person’s needs, with continued reassessment as the situation changes.

Stabilization. Care that addresses immediate threats and supports a safer, more manageable condition. Medical stabilization requires the appropriate clinical team; supportive measures continue within the facilitator’s role.

Grounding. An invitation to attend to something in the present, such as the room, a familiar voice, or contact with a chair. The person can decline or stop. Attention to breathing or bodily sensations may be uncomfortable for some people.

Activation and escalation. Bringing in the appropriate help a crisis requires: emergency services or on site medical staff for a medical emergency, and crisis or mental health professionals for risk to self, rather than the facilitator managing the emergency alone.

Environmental adjustment. Changing an aggravating feature such as sound, light, temperature, crowding, or smoke, then checking the person’s response while continuing any needed clinical assessment.

Group safety. The arrangements that allow staff to attend to an individual emergency while continuing appropriate observation and support for everyone else present.

Core Teaching

Beginning the response

Once a crisis is recognized, assess immediate hazards and activate the help required. Delayed action can allow a medical problem to worsen, and an intrusive response can frighten someone further. The facilitator needs to check what is happening without assuming that distress reveals material the participant needs to endure. Severe agitation, collapse, abnormal breathing, injury, confusion, or a marked change from the person's earlier condition can require urgent medical care. Supportive conversation can continue while help is being arranged. The decision about further participation follows the person's condition, their wishes and capacity, and any required clinical assessment. Reflection on the event belongs to the later work in Criterion 38.

Safety and proportionate care

Begin with the person's physical condition and the immediate surroundings. Notice whether they are approaching stairs, unable to remain upright, overheating, or having difficulty breathing. Consider the severity and course of the problem when deciding what support is needed. Crying by itself does not establish an emergency, but a reassuring explanation for crying does not account for accompanying collapse or chest pain. Speak calmly and keep instructions brief. A composed helper may make communication easier, although composure cannot establish that the person is medically safe. Continue reassessing as the situation changes.

Using Psychological First Aid

The WHO guide describes looking for safety concerns and urgent needs, listening to what the person needs without pressing for an account of the event, and linking them with practical help and support (World Health Organization et al., 2011). In a psychedelic setting, this can include checking the room, offering company, asking whether a stimulus is uncomfortable, and contacting medical staff or a trusted support person as appropriate. The guide reflects humanitarian practice and expert consensus. It does not confer clinical authority, validate a psychedelic crisis protocol, or establish that a particular grounding exercise will resolve an emergency. Use its supportive approach alongside the program's clinical and emergency procedures.

Keeping communication usable under pressure

Move promptly and tell colleagues what you need them to do. Use a person's name when assigning a task, and have them confirm that they heard it. A helper who is speaking rapidly, asking several questions at once, or crowding the participant can make it harder to understand what is being requested. Keep one person speaking with the participant while other staff carry out their assignments. Rehearsal helps staff become familiar with these roles, including who takes over when the usual lead is absent. Afterward, review whether instructions were understood and completed, rather than judging the response by how confident staff appeared.

Responding to medical and psychological concerns

For a suspected medical emergency, contact emergency services or the designated medical team immediately, describe the observed signs, and provide first aid within current training and local authorization. Follow dispatcher instructions and continue observing breathing, responsiveness, and any change in condition. Do not delay the call while trying to settle the person through conversation. Panic, dissociation, and frightening interpretations may respond to a familiar voice, orientation, or a quieter setting, but these presentations can overlap with medical illness. Ask directly about suicidal thoughts when there is a concern about safety. A facilitator can ask what the person is thinking and help them connect with qualified care; an independent clinical risk assessment or treatment plan requires the appropriate competence. Where danger is immediate, maintain safe observation and activate emergency help. Spiritual language should be heard respectfully while the same assessment of physical condition, functioning, and safety continues.

Medication and clinical responsibility

A facilitator should not improvise a medication regimen for agitation, hypertension, seizures, or suspected serotonin toxicity. Prescribing and administering medication depend on professional scope, local law, standing orders where applicable, and the clinical setting. A blanket statement that a helper may never give medication is also inaccurate: some jurisdictions authorize trained laypeople to provide specified emergency medicines, such as naloxone, under defined arrangements. Establish what is permitted before the program operates, maintain the required training and supplies, and follow the relevant emergency protocol. This workbook provides no substitute drug regimen.

Medical planning includes determining whether the proposed service is authorized, whether qualified staff can provide the required care, and whether the setting can support foreseeable complications. A clinician's legal exposure around controlled substances requires advice specific to their role and jurisdiction. The presence of an unlawful substance does not establish that emergency treatment must be withheld or delayed. Describe suspected exposure honestly to responders, including uncertainty about the substance or dose. Before a session, coordinate medication questions and medical concerns with the client's treating clinicians. If the program cannot meet an identified care requirement, defer participation and arrange the appropriate referral. Criterion 41 examines the legal questions without treating this workbook's descriptions as a legal test (Johnson et al., 2008).

Assigning staff and supporting the group

Before participants arrive, identify who will attend to an emergency, call for assistance, meet responders, and remain with the group. Confirm backup arrangements for staffing gaps and simultaneous needs. During an event, one colleague may need to move other participants away from the activity, answer brief questions, and continue observation. Give accurate information without disclosing the affected person's private history or promising that everything is fine. Staff need to know where they can call from if reception fails and how responders will enter the building. If the available team cannot safely support the group while managing an individual emergency, activate the program's additional help or closure arrangements.

Transfer of care and continued observation

As the acute event settles, continue checking the person's condition and follow the instructions of the receiving clinician or emergency team. Record what changed, what help was requested, and who accepted responsibility. If the person remains at the site, identify the staff member responsible for observation and the criteria for further escalation. A participant who appears calmer may still be confused, physically unwell, or unable to travel safely. Decisions about returning to the session or leaving require the relevant assessment and a practical plan. Arrange follow up, explain how to obtain urgent help after departure, and make space for later discussion without requiring an immediate account of the event.

Sensory support during a crisis

Begin by asking what is bothering the person, if they can answer. A room that looks calm to a facilitator may contain a painfully loud speaker, a flickering light, smoke, a scratchy blanket, or people standing too close. Notice whether distress began when the music changed, someone approached, the room became crowded, or a scent was introduced. These observations may help you remove an aggravating condition. They do not establish the cause of the crisis or rule out a medical problem.

Offer one change at a time when circumstances allow. Lower a nearby speaker, stop incense, increase ventilation, or offer a different seat. Ask whether the change helps. Avoid introducing another strong smell to cover the first one. Some people want music reduced; others find abrupt silence unsettling. A participant using hearing aids may need a different adjustment from someone wearing headphones. Removing a hearing aid without permission can reduce the person's ability to understand you. Ask before touching equipment or the person.

Grounding needs the same flexibility. Looking around the room, feeling a supported foot, holding an ordinary object, or listening to a familiar voice may be tolerable when attention to breathing or the inside of the body is not. Offer a choice that is easy to decline: “Would you like me to turn the music down?” Wait for a response before adding another instruction. Keep enough light for safe movement and observation. A quieter room needs a clear exit, appropriate supervision, and access to help; it should never become a place where someone is isolated or prevented from leaving without lawful justification.

Research on music in psychedelic therapy supports taking the person's response to music seriously. Kaelen and colleagues (2018) described how music could support or obstruct the experience in a small study involving psilocybin therapy. That work does not prescribe a universal volume or playlist. Ask about sound sensitivity and preferences during preparation, provide a way to request changes during the session, and record any stimulus the person later wants to avoid.

A crisis on the telephone or online

Remote support has limits that need preparation. At the beginning of a planned remote encounter, confirm the person's current location, a callback number, and the emergency arrangements relevant to that location. Agree on what happens if the connection fails. Confirm whether messages and calls are safe to receive, especially when another person in the home may monitor the phone. A number collected at intake may belong to a different address or country by the time the person calls in distress.

If a crisis develops, keep communication simple and arrange the appropriate local help. Ask whether someone nearby can assist and whether that person is safe to involve. Do not assume a partner or family member is an appropriate contact. If the person is driving, encourage them to stop in a safe place and obtain assistance. Do not ask them to drive themselves to care while impaired or acutely distressed. If you lose contact, follow the agreed emergency procedure using the information available; document the interruption and the steps taken.

Someone describing suicidal thoughts needs a direct, calm question about their safety. Asking whether they are thinking about suicide does not increase suicidal thoughts, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (2024). A facilitator can ask, listen, and help connect the person with qualified care. An urgent threat requires emergency action. A remote facilitator should not promise continuous observation they cannot provide or treat a reassuring text as a complete assessment.

Information for the receiving team

Identify a person to meet responders and provide a concise account. Give the current concern, when it began, what was observed, and what has already been done. Share relevant medications, allergies, known conditions, and substance exposure when known. Distinguish the client's report from a verified fact. If the substance or amount is uncertain, say so. Relevant packaging or product information may help responders; follow their instructions about handling it.

Record the time help was requested, the service contacted, who accepted the handoff, and any instructions given. Do not describe an unanswered call as a completed transfer. Keep the other participants informed about arrangements that affect them while protecting the distressed person's information. Afterward, review staffing, access to emergency equipment, communication failures, and environmental conditions. Staff may need supervision and support of their own. The operational review should not require the client to retell the experience for the group's benefit.

Preparing for the emergencies the service can encounter

Before opening a program, work through the foreseeable emergencies with its clinical lead and local responders. The plan needs to fit the substance, the people being served, the building, and the time required to reach definitive care. A remote property with a locked gate and unreliable reception presents a different problem from a clinic next to a hospital. Put the actual address, entrance instructions, emergency contacts, and backup communication method where the staff making the call can reach them. Confirm what emergency equipment is required, who checks it, and who is trained to use it. Record the check and replace missing or expired supplies before clients arrive.

Prepare for more than one person needing help. A group may include someone in medical distress, another person frightened by what they witness, and a participant who needs assistance to use the toilet. Decide who remains with each person and when the session must be suspended because coverage has become inadequate. Include fire, severe weather, an unsafe visitor, a staff member becoming ill, and a failure of power or communication in rehearsals. These exercises should reveal whether the plan can be carried out with the people and equipment actually available.

Physical needs during prolonged distress

Attend to ordinary bodily needs during observation. Ask about pain, nausea, temperature, a need to change position, and access to a toilet when the person can respond. Someone with a neck injury may find the standard floor mattress painful. A blanket that helped earlier may become too warm. Discuss movement and positioning with the person and obtain clinical direction when consciousness, injury, or physical instability makes movement unsafe. Keep the route to the toilet clear and agree on assistance that protects privacy while meeting the person's actual needs.

Vomiting, choking, collapse, a seizure, abnormal breathing, severe chest symptoms, or rapidly changing consciousness requires the appropriate emergency response. Staff should follow their current first aid training, dispatcher instructions, and the site's clinical protocol. Do not offer food, drink, or oral medication to someone who cannot safely swallow. Distress can make thirst difficult to interpret, so avoid pressuring a person to drink large amounts as a routine response. Persistent vomiting or inability to tolerate fluids needs medical review. Keep any measured observations and clinical instructions in the event record.

When a person wants to leave

Ask what is making the person want to leave. They may need less noise, distance from a particular staff member, a private conversation, or a different form of help. Explain the immediate concern about travel or departure and offer workable choices. A quieter supervised area, a different helper, or contact with a chosen support person can sometimes address the problem. Tell the client what assistance is available and what the program cannot safely provide.

If the person appears unable to understand the situation or there is an immediate threat of harm, obtain qualified emergency assistance under the applicable procedures and law. A general consent form does not create authority to detain someone. Staff should not improvise restraint or seclusion, threaten police involvement to obtain cooperation, or surround the person in a way that escalates fear. Record the request, observed condition, choices offered, assessment obtained, and what happened. Keep the person's account in the record even when staff disagree with their explanation.

Recording the response while care continues

Assign documentation to someone who can record without interrupting essential care. Note the onset time as known, the observations that prompted concern, actual measurements with units, relevant exposure, calls made, instructions received, and response to each action. Separate the time an event occurred from the time it was recorded. If nobody could write during the emergency, reconstruct the sequence promptly afterward and identify the sources and uncertainties. Avoid asking each staff member to sign an identical account when they witnessed different parts of the event.

AHRQ's SBAR tool organizes communication around the situation, relevant background, assessment, and recommendation or request. A facilitator can use that structure to tell a receiving team what is happening and what help is needed, while keeping assessment within their qualifications (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). Ask the receiving person to confirm the next responsibility. Record whether the client was transported, remained under observation, or received another disposition, together with the responsible clinician's instructions when involved.

Reviewing a response that exposed a program problem

After immediate care is secure, preserve the relevant records and arrange a practical staff review. Examine the sequence of decisions, staffing, equipment, communication, and environmental conditions. Include a near miss, such as a medication discrepancy discovered before administration, even when nobody was harmed. Identify the correction, the person responsible for completing it, and how the program will check that it worked. If the same missing equipment or unanswered emergency number appears at the next rehearsal, the earlier review remains unfinished.

The client's later conversation serves their recovery and questions. A staff review serves the program's responsibility to improve its work. Coordinate them carefully, with appropriate consent for information sharing, and provide a route for the client to speak with someone independent of the people involved. The person should be able to obtain continued care while a complaint or incident review is underway.

Monitoring in clinical research

FDA’s July 2026 guidance for psychedelic clinical investigations recommends two monitors during the treatment session, specifies their qualifications, and describes physician availability. These recommendations concern trials under an investigational new drug application. A research team should read the complete guidance and approved protocol when establishing staffing and coverage (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026).

Continuing care after a suicide related crisis

After immediate safety and qualified assessment, confirm the plan for continuing care. A clinician trained in safety planning can work with the person on recognizable warning signs, practical coping responses, people and services to contact, and steps to reduce access to means of harm. The client needs a plan they can find and use, with a clear arrangement for follow up. A promise to remain safe cannot establish that the underlying concern has resolved.

Stanley et al. (2018) found that safety planning with follow up was associated with reduced suicidal behavior and greater treatment engagement in a cohort comparison involving Veterans Health Administration emergency departments. The study supports attention to a specific clinical intervention and follow up. The facilitator should confirm the qualified care arranged, help with agreed practical tasks, and document the remaining responsibility. Immediate danger still requires emergency action.

Clinical and Decision Tools

Tool 1 Psychological First Aid in the immediate response

Use the guide's action principles to organize supportive tasks while following the program's emergency procedures (World Health Organization et al., 2011).

Tool 2 Match the action to the crisis type and stay in scope

Each domain has an in scope immediate action and a boundary the facilitator does not cross.

Tool 3 Communication during an emergency

Use brief instructions, confirm assignments, and maintain observation while help is being arranged.

Tool 4 Team roles and protecting the group

Plan and rehearse roles in advance. One person's crisis can ripple through a group; someone must hold the group.

Tool 5 Immediate response checklist

Confirm the response was safe, proportionate, compassionate, and in scope.

Emergency response record

Worked Example Coordinating an Immediate Response

This fictional example applies the practices discussed in this module.

Context: In a group ceremony, a participant suddenly stands, hyperventilating and panicked, and moves toward the door saying they have to get out. Two co facilitators are present.

Initial response: The lead facilitator approaches with space for the participant to move and checks for immediate hazards and signs of illness. The colleague remains responsible for the group and is ready to call for additional help.

Safer movement: The facilitator asks whether the participant wants to move to the quieter area and explains the nearby stairs. Staff offer an accessible route with accompaniment. They avoid cornering the person or obstructing a safe exit. Immediate danger is handled through the program's emergency procedures and authorized responders.

Orientation: The facilitator says where they are and offers company. If the participant would like a hand, the facilitator checks current willingness within the agreed touch arrangements. The person can decline. Staff continue assessing the rapid breathing rather than assuming it is caused only by fear.

Group support: The second facilitator tells the group that their colleague is attending to the participant and that additional help will be called if needed. They check whether anyone else needs support and protect the participant's privacy.

Reduce the stressor: Recognizing the loud group energy is feeding the panic, the facilitator supports the participant to a quieter adjoining space with one facilitator, lowering the sensory load.

Staying in scope, ready to escalate: The facilitator monitors for any medical red flag, ready to activate emergency help if breathing or safety deteriorates, and holds the participant steadily as the panic crests and eases. The event itself will be explored later, in integration, which is the work of Criterion 38.

Case Vignettes

For each vignette, identify the concern, describe the response, and explain your reasoning. Record your responses on a separate page.

Vignette A

A participant shows signs of a serious medical emergency, agitation, high temperature, muscle rigidity, racing heart. A facilitator, wanting to act decisively, decides to administer a medication they have on hand to try to bring the symptoms down, rather than calling for medical help.

Guided questions: What scope line did the facilitator cross? What is the correct in scope medical response? Why is rapid activation of medical care the safe action here (C1, C2)?

Vignette B

A client moving through intense grief is crying and shaking. The facilitator, made anxious by the intensity, rushes in with visible alarm and moves quickly to end the experience, and their panic spreads to the client and to two nearby participants.

Guided questions: What observations are needed before deciding how to respond? How can the facilitator provide support while checking for a medical concern? What changes would help the wider group?

Vignette C

During integration, a client says they have been thinking they would be better off dead. The facilitator, meaning well, tries to talk the client out of it themselves over the next hour, does not involve anyone else, and lets the client leave at the end without further support in place.

Guided questions: What direct questions and immediate support are appropriate? When is urgent professional help required? What needs to be established before the client leaves?

Vignette D

A distressed client is escalating in a bright, loud, crowded room. The facilitator focuses entirely on talking the client down and never adjusts the environment, so the sensory overload keeps re triggering the client no matter what is said.

Guided questions: Which environmental conditions should be checked? What change would you offer first, and how would you determine whether it helped? What concerns still require assessment?

Vignette E

In a group ceremony, one participant goes into crisis and both facilitators converge entirely on that person, leaving the rest of the group unattended. Several other participants, frightened by what they see and left without reassurance, begin to spiral themselves.

Guided questions: What was neglected? How should team roles have been divided? Why is protecting the group part of the immediate response?

Role Play and Practice Scripts

Practice with a partner or team, then exchange roles. Use fictional details and discuss the choices made in each response.

Grounding a panicking client

The partner reports panic. Practice a brief offer: “I am here with you. Would you like the music lower, or would a quieter place help?” Explain where you are and who is available. Offer an optional grounding activity and check the response. Do not promise safety you have not established or insist that the person focus on breathing.

Recognizing self risk and moving to escalate in scope

The partner says they would be better off dead. Practice asking directly whether they are thinking about suicide, listening, and arranging appropriate help. Explain what you will do next. Rehearse the program's emergency procedure when there is immediate danger, including coverage for the rest of the group.

Calling out a medical emergency and activating help

A partner describes medical warning signs. Assign tasks clearly: “[Name], call emergency services and give our location. [Name], meet the responders. I will stay with the participant. [Name], support the group.” Rehearse first aid within current training and the instructions of emergency personnel.

Holding the group while a crisis is handled

Practice informing the group without revealing private details: “A member of the team is with the participant, and we have requested additional help. I am staying here with you. Please tell me if you need support.” Avoid claiming that everyone is safe before the situation has been assessed.

Additional Practice

Remote contact and sensory distress

A client calls from an unfamiliar address after leaving a ceremony. Music in the room is making them more distressed, and they say they have not slept. The connection drops before you have confirmed who is with them.

Practice questions: Identify what information the remote plan should have established. Describe your next actions, how you would assess urgency within your role, and what you would record. How would you address the music without assuming it explains every symptom?

Applied Record Exercise

A staffing gap during a crisis

During a group session one participant collapses near the toilet. The staff member who normally calls responders is absent, the gate is locked, and another participant becomes frightened by the activity.

Task: Assign the immediate roles, activate the emergency plan, and identify the information needed by responders. Write the event record from the facts provided, leaving unobserved measurements blank. Then identify the staffing and access corrections to verify before the next session.

Review: The trainee activates appropriate help promptly, preserves group coverage, confirms a handoff, and assigns practical corrections without inventing observations.

Self Assessment and Reflection

Knowledge check

State the three principles of an immediate crisis response and what each requires.

Describe the Psychological First Aid frame and why its non clinical nature fits facilitator scope.

Describe how to assign and confirm tasks while responding promptly to an emergency.

State the correct in scope medical emergency response, and what a facilitator does not do.

State the correct in scope response when a client expresses risk to their own safety.

Explain how environmental de escalation and consented grounding work.

Describe how team roles are divided and why protecting the wider group matters.

Reflection

How do you respond under acute pressure, do you freeze, rush, or steady yourself? What would strengthen your composed urgency?

Where are you tempted to exceed your scope in a crisis, to treat, to medicate, to manage risk alone? How will you hold the line and escalate instead?

What crisis responses have you actually rehearsed, versus ones you would be improvising? What should you drill before you need it?

Observed Practice Assessment

Use the staffing gap exercise with one trainee leading the response and colleagues playing the participant, other staff, and receiving team. Introduce a change in physical condition after the first response.

The trainee recognizes the need for urgent help, assigns and confirms tasks, maintains appropriate observation and group coverage, and gives a handoff that identifies exposure, uncertainty, actions, and the receiving responsibility. Their event record distinguishes observed facts from interpretation and includes the next care task.

Delaying emergency assistance to continue an interpretive exercise, improvising medication outside authority, overriding refusal of optional touch, or leaving another participant without necessary coverage requires correction and another observed attempt.

The assessor records the scenario, date, work reviewed, observed performance, feedback, and any required practice. Use the ratings demonstrated, needs further practice, or not observed for each task. A verbal answer alone cannot establish performance on a task requiring demonstration. Confirm readiness only for the work assessed and within the trainee’s authorized role.

Summary

The immediate response combines observation, practical support, and prompt access to qualified help. Staff attend to the person's physical condition and surroundings, make clear assignments, and keep the group supported. Psychological First Aid provides a framework for humane assistance through looking, listening, and linking with support (World Health Organization et al., 2011). Environmental changes and grounding are offered according to the person's response and consent. Medical warning signs and immediate danger require escalation, with first aid provided within training and authorization. The event remains open until responsibility has been transferred, necessary observation is arranged, and the person knows how to obtain further help. Criterion 38 continues with recovery and integration after the crisis.

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019, November). Tool: SBAR. TeamSTEPPS. https://www.ahrq.gov/teamstepps-program/curriculum/communication/tools/sbar.html

Johnson, M. W., Richards, W. A., & Griffiths, R. R. (2008). Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22(6), 603-620. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881108093587

Kaelen, M., Giribaldi, B., Raine, J., Evans, L., Timmermann, C., Rodriguez, N., Roseman, L., Feilding, A., Nutt, D., & Carhart-Harris, R. (2018). The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy. Psychopharmacology, 235(2), 505-519. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4820-5

National Institute of Mental Health. (2024). 5 action steps to help someone having thoughts of suicide (Publication No. OM 24-4315). https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/5-action-steps-to-help-someone-having-thoughts-of-suicide

Stanley, B., Brown, G. K., Brenner, L. A., Galfalvy, H. C., Currier, G. W., Knox, K. L., Chaudhury, S. R., Bush, A. L., & Green, K. L. (2018). Comparison of the Safety Planning Intervention With Follow-up vs Usual Care of Suicidal Patients Treated in the Emergency Department. JAMA Psychiatry, 75(9), 894-900. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.1776

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2026, July). Psychedelic drugs: Considerations for clinical investigations. Guidance for industry. https://www.fda.gov/media/169694/download

World Health Organization, War Trauma Foundation, & World Vision International. (2011). Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers. World Health Organization. ISBN 9789241548205. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241548205