Why Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Should Be an Employment Benefit

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April 29, 2024 • 55 mins

Why Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Should Be an Employment Benefit with Sherry Rais, CEO and Co-Founder of Enthea

In this episode, Mathew and Sherry discuss why employers are starting to pay attention to alternative medicines, what the future of psychedelics in the workplace could look like, and how ketamine increases neuroplasticity in the brain to help us make new connections and reduce activity in the default mode network. Sherry tells us our brains can change, but as we age, change becomes more difficult. Things like meditation, breathwork, prayer, and psychedelics can help. You can't undo the trauma that happened to you, but psychedelics can help you reprogram and move on. They also talk about Mathew's first ketamine journey, and Sherry talks about why no two journeys are the same. She tells us it’s all about “set and setting," meaning your mindset, intentions, and surroundings. Even if you control these factors, there is still no way to control your experience, and there is always an aspect of trusting the process. Some people are afraid of a “bad trip," but Sherry reassures us that, unlike painkillers and other pharmaceuticals, psychedelics are non-toxic, and you cannot die from them or become addicted to them. This is just one of the many reasons some employers are beginning to see the benefits of allowing psychedelic-assisted therapy for their employees.

Sherry Rais is an avid runner, a big fan of chocolate and bread, and the CEO and co-founder of Enthea Ketamine-Assisted Therapy. Enthea is dedicated to providing access to safe and affordable psychedelic-assisted therapy as a public benefit. Before Enthea, Sherry was consulting for the UN and World Bank and pitched psychedelic-assisted therapy in refugee camps and high-conflict areas. That idea was not well received, so when she left to pursue this idea on her own, she expected to be met with more roadblocks, but the impact of the pandemic on people's mental health and more understanding in society at large resulted in much more openness towards psychedelic-assisted therapy. The mental health crisis is also a workforce crisis, so most employers are being more proactive in providing mental health care for their workers.

In this episode, you'll hear:

What ketamine does to our brains, why it could be a useful tool for some people, and how set and setting impact the journey
What psychedelics do that talk therapy can’t
Why Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy is not “doing drugs” and the worst outcomes

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