Our position
Ethical & Legal Approach
Anam Cara Centre is committed to providing trauma-informed, culturally aware, and ethically grounded education and support within the evolving landscape of psychedelic and contemplative therapies. This page sets out how we hold that responsibility, in law and in spirit.
Our position
Grounded in law, guided by care
Our position on psychedelic engagement is grounded in Australian law, in AHPRA's Code of Conduct, and in our commitment to global healing traditions and best practice. We believe that education in this field must be as rigorous as it is reverent, and that beauty and safety are not opposites but companions.
Anam Cara Centre supports a compassionate, evidence-informed approach to drug policy, including harm reduction and decriminalisation understood as public-health and trauma-informed care. We do not promote, supply, or facilitate access to substances that remain unlawful. Scheduled substances remain controlled in Australia, and we work only within the frameworks the law provides.
Education, not clinical practice
What we are, and what we are not
Anam Cara is an educational centre. We do not prescribe medication and we do not see mental health clients. We do not supply or administer any medicines to students or professionals. Those seeking mental-health support are warmly directed to their GP or psychiatrist.
Anam Cara Centre does not provide patient mental-health, NDIS, or Medicare services. Our programs are open to registered health professionals, to facilitators working in lawful settings, and to advanced students.
Scope of practice
Working within your own frame
Graduates provide preparation, integration, and therapeutic support within their existing scope of practice and within their jurisdiction's regulatory framework. Our training prepares therapists for this preparation and integration work within legal frameworks. It does not, on its own, qualify anyone to administer substances, and it is not a licence to practise beyond one's existing registration.
The Certificate provides a pathway toward AMAPP accreditation as a Psychedelic Prescriber, Psychedelic-Assisted Therapist, or Psychedelic Facilitator. Because no nationally agreed training standards yet exist in Australia, we are transparent about what our certification does and does not confer, and we encourage students to verify recognition with their own professional associations.
Our commitments
Trauma-informed and culturally aware
Every part of our teaching is trauma-informed and culturally aware. Ethics is not a single module but a thread woven through the SWIM model and the EMPATHS values, present in how we prepare, how we hold experience, and how we integrate. We work within the context of PACFA, whose Category A CPD endorsement holds our core training, and alongside AMAPP, the Australian Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Practitioners, in shaping ethical standards for the field.
We honour the diverse cultural roots of psychedelic healing, and the Indigenous lineages whose knowledge we are privileged to learn alongside.
We practise reciprocity, not extraction, seeking mutual respect and benefit in every cultural relationship.
We hold harm reduction as a foundation, meeting people where they are with honesty and without judgement.
We name the limits of our scope clearly, so that trust is never built on ambiguity.
Cultural holding and reciprocity
Bridging worlds with rigour and reverence
Anam Cara honours the diverse cultural roots of psychedelic healing, integrating Indigenous wisdom, ethical reciprocity, and community engagement into our approach. As Westerners learning from ancient plant medicine traditions, we hold that this must be done with respect and cultural sensitivity, learning from Indigenous curanderos while integrating their wisdom with modern, evidence-informed care.
Rather than abandoning our own traditions, we weave them together, bridging worlds with both rigour and reverence to cultivate mutual respect and holistic healing.
I am because we are. Ubuntu
Acknowledgement of Country
Always was, always will be
Anam Cara Centre acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters on which we live, learn, and gather. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and honour the enduring wisdom of First Nations peoples and their deep, continuing relationship with Country.
We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded, and that this always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land. We commit to learning from First Nations knowledge with humility, and to letting that reverence shape how we teach and how we practise.
We extend that same reverence to the Indigenous lineages of plant medicine, and in particular to the Asháninka curanderos of the Peruvian Amazon, whose knowledge we are privileged to learn alongside. We seek always to meet these traditions as guests and as students, in reciprocity rather than extraction.
Need support?
If you need care right now
Anam Cara Centre does not provide clinical or crisis services. If you are seeking mental-health support, please speak with your GP or psychiatrist. If you are in distress or need to talk to someone now, help is available.
- In an emergency, call 000.
- Lifeline: 13 11 14, available twenty-four hours.
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636.
Questions about our approach?
We welcome conversation about ethics, scope, and safety. If anything here raises a question for you, please reach out.