A Q+A with BPS Founder Dr. Christina O’Flaherty on bridging the gap between modern psychiatry and the psychedelic underground
Boston Psychedelic Society Founder Dr. Christina O’Flaherty’s life is a fascinating mosaic of personal exploration and professional dedication to healing. From her childhood in the Virginia suburbs, where she nurtured a curiosity for the natural world and sacred rituals, O’Flaherty’s path was set. Her academic journey, culminating in a PsyD, led her to train under esteemed mentors like trauma expert Dr. Christine Courtois.
From there, O’Flaherty’s career has spanned diverse and demanding environments, from working with first responders after 9/11 in New York City to conducting research in Australia and Germany. After establishing a private trauma practice, a deeply personal loss profoundly shifted her perspective, leading her to become a certified meditation instructor and deepening her conviction in the integration of spiritual practices with community-based healing. This belief spurred her to found the thriving Boston Therapist Collective in 2018.
In 2022, a transformative experience at a conference on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy ignited a new passion in O’Flaherty. Struck by the potential of psychedelics to facilitate inner healing, she immersed herself in this field, completing a year-long training certificate and founding the Boston Psychedelic Society. For O’Flaherty, this work is a “homecoming,” a convergence of her lifelong interests in spirituality, ritual, and the power of community to heal and transform.
When and why did you first become interested in psychedelics?
I’ve always loved live music—especially big concerts that felt like stepping into another realm. There was a magic in the synergy between the band and the crowd, an electrifying “here and now” presence that pulled me completely into the moment. And no, psychedelics weren’t part of those early experiences for me, but I knew they were a part of that culture and was curious about their effects. Even in their absence, I could appreciate the expanded consciousness I found through music and human connection.
Years later, Michael Pollan’s “How to Change Your Mind” sparked my professional curiosity about altered states of consciousness. That curiosity deepened when I attended a conference in San Diego on trauma and psychedelics, where combat veterans, survivors of childhood abuse, and leading researchers shared powerful stories of psychedelic healing. I was riveted.
Back in Boston, I organized a talk for the Boston Therapist Collective with a colleague who had completed the MAPS and CIIS’s training program in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Afterward, I asked him to connect me with a facilitator so I could explore the work personally. That first session marked the beginning of my own journey with psychedelic transformation.
What’s the Boston Psychedelic Society’s origin story?
Over the past few years, watching the Boston Therapist Collective grow into a vibrant, connected community of clinicians has shown me something about myself—I’m a community builder at heart. I love creating spaces where people can come together and form real connections.
I’d long admired the kind of thriving psychedelic communities I saw in other cities—especially the Brooklyn Psychedelic Society. I followed their events on social media and even considered making the trip to experience it firsthand. Instead, I reached out to their executive director, Colin Pugh, and sought his expertise and experience in building such a rich and diverse community over the past decade. Inspired by his story, I decided to start one here in Boston.
One of the biggest concerns surrounding psychedelic-assisted therapy is the high cost of treatment sessions. How do you think this issue can be addressed—be it legislatively, commercially, or otherwise—to make psychedelic medicine more accessible to a broader range of participants?
I’ve been paying close attention to how psychedelic work is being legislated in other states. For example, in Oregon, where I am currently applying for licensure as a facilitator, I am required to submit an accessibility and equity plan. This social plan must address internal and external equity strategies and is assessed for effectiveness … upon renewal of licensure. This seems a good measure to take. Continuing education in the areas of cultural and racial equality and racial justice are also required. Scholarships should be granted to allow a diverse student population entering the workforce in this area.
Through the Boston Therapist Collective, I’ve created the Boston Therapy Bank so that therapists can “donate” pro bono, low-cost therapy, groups and talks to local nonprofits that work with underserved groups. Once legal, psychedelic facilitators can donate their time and partner with nonprofits and others working to create equity in mental health treatment.
Another challenge facing potential psilocybin therapy providers in Oregon and Colorado and ketamine-assisted therapy practitioners across the United States is the high cost of certification and licensing for clinicians who want to provide psilocybin-assisted therapy. What are your thoughts on how to address this barrier and encourage demographic diversity throughout both the psychedelic community and the mental healthcare industry at large?
Training programs should be targeting underrepresented groups and scaffolding their entry to education through presentations and workshops. They can also collaborate with racially and culturally diverse academic institutions and actively recruit from them. Creating inclusive communities that seek to populate from underrepresented groups fosters more equitable pathways to training and education.
[As does] greater education about cultural humility in the psychedelic setting and awareness of how race, culture, and power dynamics influence client experience.
Grassroots advocates for psychedelic policy reform in the US and abroad have gained and maintained remarkable traction and influence. So far, they have spearheaded efforts in 10 cities in Massachusetts and statewide reform movements led by grassroots groups in Oregon, Colorado, and, most recently, New Mexico. As a community-building focused organization, how do you see the Boston Psychedelic Society influencing future collaborative efforts across the grassroots community in Massachusetts to enact psychedelic policy reforms at the local and/or state level?
We partner with Mass Healing, an advocacy and community group to raise awareness through fun, inclusive, and informative events that draw folks from a wide range of backgrounds. One of our members is also seeking to start a Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) chapter locally. In order to gain traction with younger voters.
As interest in psychedelics continues to grow across the United States and around the world, what do you see as the best-case and worst-case scenarios for its future in the United States?
Psychedelic medicine is accessible to all who seek it, offered by competent, ethical providers who have done their own inner work. Care emphasizes intention setting, the influence of set and setting, and integration as an essential part of the process. Small, facilitated group experiences and ongoing community support are widely available.
The history of these medicines—and the Indigenous peoples who have worked with them for centuries in spiritual ceremonies for healing, planetary connection, and ancestral wisdom—is honored and integrated into western practice. Research takes a wide lens, exploring not only clinical outcomes but also the role of interpersonal connection, music, and the spiritual in healing.
Legislators collaborate with organizations like the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund, Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, and the Native American Church of North America. Training programs address the risks of exploitation, prioritize trauma-informed care, and include diversity education alongside both didactic and practical experience.
My worst case scenario: exploitation, restricted access, persistent stigma, and unsafe practices. To this I’d add an overly clinical and sterile approach–one that neglects the value of community, ceremony, and multifaceted transformation these medicines can offer.
What would you say to parents, families, and individuals who might be against or still on the fence about the use, decriminalization, and/or legalization of psychedelics?
I’d warmly invite them to a community event to hear the stories of growth, healing, and transformation shared at these events. They’d encounter folks from all walks of life and backgrounds and I think that would support the understanding that these medicines change lives for the better when individuals are held in a supportive community.
What’s next for your personal and organizational work?
BPS is working on a regular integration circle, a psychedelic show and tell, in which participants can share their psychedelic experience through an object they bring to represent it, a community hike, a breathwork event, and even a local ’90s dance party. We also have a few panel discussions in the works.
Who are some other lead innovators and/or advocates in the psychedelic science community that you think more people should know about and hear from?
I have deep respect for Jamie Morey and her co-founders at Mass Healing. Jamie has worked tirelessly to change policy and create community. I could mention a lot of the big names in psychedelic medicine and research, who might be widely recognized, but I’d prefer to acknowledge my colleagues and peers who have created diverse, inclusive psychedelic communities, often offering medicine work for donations. They have invested in years of training, many from indigenous medicine people, and take on risk because they believe in these medicines and their healing properties.
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