Who Gets to Say You’re Legit?
Have you ever sat in ceremony with someone, maybe a guide or an elder, or just someone who’s been through it, and thought to yourself, this person just knows?
Not because they held a certificate.
Not because they paid fifteen grand for a training.
But because their presence was steady. Their integrity was palpable. Their wisdom came from lived experience, not from a classroom.
And maybe you’ve also met someone with all the right credentials who couldn’t hold space for a difficult conversation, let alone a transformative journey.
We’ve been there too.
Psychedelic healing is changing. Regulation is on the rise. Certification programs are popping up across the country, some approved by state governments and others run privately. They promise to train and verify a new wave of facilitators. On the surface, it might seem like progress. It might look like more structure, more safety, and more professionalism.
But we invite a deeper question.
If you are a Wayfinder, this is the moment to pause and ask:
- What does legitimacy mean to me?
- Who gets to define it?
- And how do I want to align my choices with what I truly value?
Certification or Gatekeeping?
There is no single agreed-upon standard for what makes someone capable of holding space for others in expanded states. No national board. No universal requirements. Right now, anyone can create a program and call it a certification.
Most programs are self-governed. Many are expensive. Some are brilliant and thoughtful. Others are hastily assembled to meet demand.
This leaves us in a strange place. One person’s “certified psychedelic guide” might have years of training and mentorship. Another might have completed a few weekend webinars. The title is the same, but the depth and readiness behind it can be wildly different.
So when we ask if someone is certified, we also need to ask, certified by whom? And what does that actually mean?
The High Cost of Being Taken Seriously
Many certification programs cost between eight and twenty thousand dollars. That price tag alone excludes people who are already underrepresented in healing spaces. It favors those with financial access and professional backgrounds.
Community elders. BIPOC and Indigenous wisdom keepers. Healers from immigrant, queer, or working-class communities. Many of these practitioners are either left out of the process entirely or expected to justify their wisdom in terms that fit into a Western academic model.
The people who have held this work for generations are being pushed to the margins. The very voices we most need at the center are often the least supported.
This is not just a question of inclusion. It is a question of survival for the soul of the work.
Training Does Not Equal Readiness
Let’s be clear. We value training. We believe in mentorship, supervision, and ethical preparation. But training alone is not enough.
Certification does not guarantee emotional maturity. It does not teach humility. It does not automatically create safe space.
We have seen licensed therapists cause harm. We have seen certified facilitators freeze when someone’s trauma rises to the surface. We have also seen gifted, intuitive space holders who are not certified in anything but who show up with deep care, fierce love, and incredible steadiness.
The paper does not prove the practice. Presence does.
When the System Collapses
In 2023, one of the most prominent certification programs in the world collapsed. The Synthesis Institute left hundreds of students without credentials, refunds, or clarity about what would happen next.
This should have been a wake-up call for the field. But instead, more programs emerged, often with the same expensive structures and the same promises of legitimacy.
If we continue building our future on unstable foundations, we will keep repeating the same story. One that centers money, credentials, and prestige instead of wisdom, care, and relational skill.
What We’re Really Asking
This post is not meant to dismiss training. It is a reminder to stay awake.
The world of psychedelics is shifting quickly. Legalization is coming. Along with it, systems will form that tell us who is allowed to do this work and who is not. That structure might be necessary in some ways. But it is also ripe for the same biases, hierarchies, and power dynamics we see in other institutions.
So before we follow the crowd or sign up for a certification just to “be legit,” we invite a different path.
Ask yourself what feels aligned.
Ask yourself what legitimacy means to you.
Ask yourself who you are here to serve and how your presence can be of service.
Because integrity is not something you can buy. It is something you live.
And in this moment, we believe the field needs more voices who are willing to say:
I am still learning.
I am walking with care.
And I will not outsource my truth.
