Our Strategy: Learn, Support, Communicate
We aim to Learn more about post-psychedelic difficulties and what helps people recover from them; Communicate those findings to the general public; and Support those experiencing post-psychedelic difficulties.
In the past year we have achieved:
150
Attendees at our online support group
104
Stories published on the Ecstatic Integration newsletter
14,000+
Subscribers to the Ecstatic Integration newsletter
1,000+
Attendees across seven Psychedelic Safety Seminars
4
Published academic articles
Who we are
Our team has an unrivalled track record of research on spiritual emergencies, difficult meditative experiences and psychedelic integration. In addition, our supervisory team includes psychologists and psychotherapists with field-leading experience in psychedelic therapy and spiritual emergencies, including Robin Carthart-Harris, Daniel Ingram, Anna Oleksyuk, Daan Keiman, Nir Tadmor and Julieta Galante.
Jules Evans
Director of Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project
- Evans, Jules (2017), The Art of Losing Control, Canongate Books.
- Evans, Jules and Read, Tim (Eds). (2020). Breaking Open: Finding a Way Through Spiritual Emergency. Aeon Books.
- Evans, Jules (2012). Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations. Penguin Random House.
- Lutkajtis, A., & Evans, J. (2023). Psychedelic integration challenges: Participant experiences after a psilocybin truffle retreat in the Netherlands, Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 6(3), 211-221. doi: https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2022.00232
- Evans et al (2023). Extended difficulties following the use of psychedelic drugs: a mixed methods survey. Plos ONE.
- Evans & Adams (2025). Guruism and Cultic Social Dynamics in Psychedelic Organisations'. Current Topics in Behavioural Neuroscience.
- Evans J (2023). More Evolved Than Thou: Evolutionary Spirituality as a Frame for Psychedelic Experiences. Frontiers in Psychology.
Dr Oliver Robinson
Associate Professor, University of Greenwich
- Robinson et al (2024). Coming Back Together: a qualitative survey study of coping methods followed extended post-psychedelic difficulties. Frontiers of Psychology
- Robinson et al (2024). An investigation into the varieties of extended difficulties following psychedelic drug use: Duration, severity and helpful coping strategies. Journal of Psychedelic Studies
- Michael, Pascal; Luke, David; Robinson, Oliver (2021), An encounter with the other: a thematic and content analysis of DMT experiences from a naturalistic field study. Frontiers in Psychology.
- Robinson, Oliver (2018). Paths Between Head and Heart: Exploring the Harmonies of Science and Spirituality. O Books.
Dr David Luke
Associate Professor, University of Greenwich
- Irvine, Alexander and Luke, David (2022), Apophenia, absorption and anxiety: evidence for individual differences in positive and negative experiences of Hallucinogen Persisting Perceptual Disorder. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 6 (2) . pp. 1-16 ISSN: 2559-9283 (Print), 2559-9283 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2022.00195).
- Luke, David (2019), Otherworlds: Psychedelics and Exceptional Human Experience., Aeon Books.
- Luke, David (2021). DMT Entity Encounters. Prk Street Press.
Eirini Argyri
PhD candidate, University of Exeter
- Argyri et al (2024). Navigating groundlessness: existential confusion and ontological shock following psychedelic experiences. PLOS One (preprint)
- Robinson et al (2024). An investigation into the varieties of extended difficulties following psychedelic drug use: Duration, severity and helpful coping strategies. Journal of Psychedelic Studies.
Rosalind McAlpine
PhD candidate, University College London
- McAlpine et al (2024). Development and psychometric validation of a novel scale for measuring 'psychedelic preparedness'. Nature
- Wood et al (2024). Strategies for resolving challenging psychedelic experiences: insights from a mixed-methods study. Journal of Psychedelic Studies.
- Evans et al (2023). Extended difficulties following the use of psychedelic drugs: a mixed methods survey. Plos ONE.
- Robinson et al (2024). An investigation into the varieties of extended difficulties following psychedelic drug use: Duration, severity and helpful coping strategies. Journal of Psychedelic Studies.
Pascal Michael
PhD, Greenwich University
- Michael and Mosina (2024). Recreational use of psychedelics at music festivals: Motivation, nature of experiences and learnings. Journal of Psychedelic Studies.
- Argyri et al (2024). Navigating groundlessness: existential confusion and ontological shock following psychedelic experiences. PLOS One (pre-print)
- Carhart-Harris et al (2021). Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for depression. New England Journal of Medicine. 384:1402-1411, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2032994.
- Murphy et al (2022), Therapeutic alliance and rapport modulate responses to psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 12:788155 DOI:10.3389/fphar.2021.788155.
Joy Krecke
Phd candidate, Exeter University
Our funding
From Sep2024 to Sep2025, we have received funding from the William G. Nash Foundation, the Sarlo Family, and two private philanthropists who have asked to remain anonymous but who do not have corporate interests in the industry. We have also received small donations from people we have helped or supporters of our work. In addition, we are helping to organize a 2025 event on psychedelic safety research supported by the Jurvetson Foundation.
If you're interested in donating to support our work, for donations larger than $5000 get in contact and we will connect you to our fiscal host, the US 501-c-3 registered charity Emergence Benefactors. Or you can donate to them directly here - please make a note that the donation is for CPEP.
For smaller online donations you can donate directly here.
Our ethics
We are committed to improving safety and highlighting risks and harms in psychedelic culture and industry. However we try to be balanced and to also acknowledge and highlight the benefits people sometimes feel they have got from psychedelic experiences.
CPEP is agnostic about whether people take psychedelic drugs or not - we take a realistic, pragmatic view, accepting the fact that people always have and always will take psychedelic drugs, and some proportion of them will be harmed by their experience. We seek to minimize or avoid that harm, where possible.
The founder of CPEP, Jules Evans, also runs the Substack newsletter Ecstatic Integration. No funder of CPEP has ever sought to influence the editorial of Ecstatic Integration, nor would they be able to if they tried. If EI ever writes directly about a CPEP funder we will acknowledge that funding in the article.
We strive to be careful and sensitive in our dealings with vulnerable people in crisis, respecting their wishes around publicity and anonymity.
We also strive to improve our organisation and services, to respond to feedback and to welcome criticism.