As psychedelic-assisted therapy moves from research toward broader implementation, the therapist role is being formalized even though the pathways into it are not well understood. This paper uses professional identity formation theory to examine what becoming a PAT therapist involves, how it unfolds, and what supports it. It argues that therapists entering PAT are already established practitioners, entering a field without a single coherent identity or community of practice, and that altered-state experiences may shift the standpoint from which therapists later reflect on their own development. The authors suggest that PAT therapist development may require an expanded account of professional identity formation capable of theorizing formation when both the professional role and the reflecting self remain in flux.
In interviews, twenty Australian psychologists expressed that a therapist's own lived or living experience with psychedelics could enhance empathy, confidence, and therapeutic rapport in psychedelic-assisted therapy, especially given lingering stigma. They noted that the intense, altered states of PAT demand deeper therapist familiarity, which lived experience may uniquely improve beyond standard training. Most supported optional, safe, and structured inclusion of such experience in formal training, respecting ethical considerations. The findings indicate growing professional openness to experiential learning as a valuable, though not mandatory, component of preparing psychedelic therapists.