SoundMind Center is a collective of psychiatrists, psychotherapists, breathwork practitioners, and community organizers dedicated to providing affordable, accessible, inclusive care to all Philadelphians, especially those who typically face marginalization within the healthcare system. Our clinicians and healers offer a blend of legal psychedelic-assisted therapy, mindfulness, breathwork, and a range of psychotherapies to treat depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), race-based trauma, and other mental wellness concerns.

Why Psychedelics? 

Psychedelic-assisted healing has a centuries-long lineage in traditional religious and healing practices from across the globe. More recently, western medicine has opened its eyes to the power of psychedelics, spurring a psychedelic renaissance in the fields of medicine and mental health. Decades of research have shown that, when paired with supportive care by a trained therapist or healer, psychedelics can have rapid, transformative benefits in treating trauma, anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns.

Making Psychedelics Accessible to All 

As with most innovative new treatments in medicine, psychedelic-assisted therapy has been made available first and foremost to individuals who hold racial, ethnic, financial, and other forms of privilege that makes it easier for them to access care, and find clinicians who look like them and understand their culture. At SoundMind, we are dedicated to ensuring that psychedelic-assisted care can reach all Philadelphians, especially BIPOC people, queer folk, neurodiverse individuals, and others who hold marginalized identities. Access is everything to us. This means:

• We are located in the heart of West Philly, close to public transportation.

• We are a non-profit model, and work to provide scholarships and other funding support to reduce the costs of care for those who cannot afford it.

• Our clinicians operate from an actively anti-racist, multicultural framework that aims to make all our clients feel physically, emotionally, and culturally safe. 

• We host free community events, provide online education materials, and create informational animations to make knowledge of psychedelic-assisted therapies and other mental wellness approaches more accessible. 

• We provide trainings for clinicians who are interested in learning more about psychedelics, and offer scholarships to support BIPOC, queer, and neurodiverse clinicians in receiving this training.

Why donate? 

As the psychedelic renaissance takes off, many start-ups and clinics have been primarily interested in profiting off the popularity of these new treatments. We are not about that. We are intentionally a non-profit organization and will not take venture capitalist funding because we know that putting profit first would compromise our mission of making these life-changing treatments affordable and accessible to our community. This means SoundMind relies on the support and generosity of local donors, non-profit grants, and community members like you! As we launch, we have a number of ways, big and small, for people to help. 

• Visit our registry, to help us buy equipment and furnishings we need to finish our therapy spaces 

• Visit our donate page to contribute generally or specifically fund treatment for low-income folks or training for therapists of color. 

Is this really legal?

SoundMind currently offers ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) alongside other integrated psychotherapy and bodywork methods. Ketamine is a safe, legal medication that has been in use since the 1960s. Our treatment model is 100% legal and is administered with care by a team of providers that includes a prescribing physician and a psychotherapist. Though ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is currently the only legal psychedelic-assisted treatment, approaches using MDMA and psilocybin (magic mushrooms) are in the final stages of FDA approval and may be legally available in the next couple years. Our clinicians are preparing for the approval of these new medications by undergoing approved trainings to administer these treatments.  

Why West Philly? 

West Philadelphia has a rich and complex history as a hub of African American culture and advocacy, as well as the site of egregious acts of white supremacy and racism. It was the first and only U.S. neighborhood to be bombed by its own city government in 1985 when Mayor Wilson Goode ordered the armed attack on the headquarters of MOVE, an Afro-centric political group, and destroyed an entire block on Osage Avenue and Pine Street. Like so many other American cities, Philly has been the target of sustained police brutality and over-incarceration for generations. More recently, Philadelphia has also become home to thousands of global refugees, including evacuees from Puerto Rico fleeing Hurricane Maria and the subsequent earthquakes. These folks have faced the trauma of natural disaster, the destruction of their homes, displacement, and landed in a city woefully unprepared to help them settle and build new lives. Despite these many adversities, West Philly remains a vibrant epicenter of multicultural arts, culture, and community.

At SoundMind we operate within an anti-racist, anti-oppressive therapy framework, and we passionately believe in the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapies to provide healing from racial trauma and other forms of discrimination- and oppression-based traumas. These factors were central in our selection of location in a predominantly African American neighborhood in the heart of West Philly, with easy public transit access to the city’s lower-income neighborhoods.