Ethical Considerations for Trip Sitters and Facilitators
Psychedelic experiences can be profound, healing, disorienting, expansive, or all of the above. Whether you’re sitting with a close friend or facilitating in a professional setting, your role is far more than “being there.” You are a guardian of safety, a witness to transformation, and a steward of someone’s most vulnerable moments.
But with this role comes responsibility. Ethics aren’t an optional extra; they are the foundation. Without them, even the most well-intentioned support can cause harm.
1. Informed Consent Is Non-Negotiable
Before anything happens, the person journeying should understand:
The scope of your role: Are you offering peer support or professional facilitation?
What you will and won’t do: Medical interventions, physical touch, or guiding the experience.
Boundaries and agreements: Confidentiality, communication, and post-journey follow-up.
Consent isn’t a one-time checkbox, it’s ongoing. Check in before, during, and after.
2. Prioritize Safety Over Story
It’s tempting to want someone’s trip to “go well” in a certain way, but imposing your expectations can derail their process. Your first priority is physical and psychological safety, not steering the narrative.
That means:
Maintaining awareness of surroundings
Monitoring for signs of distress or medical emergency
Knowing when to step back and when to intervene
3. Avoid Projection
Your personal beliefs, spiritual framework, or past experiences may not be relevant, or helpful, to the person journeying. Let them make meaning from their own experience. You can hold space without shaping their interpretation.
4. Keep Your Ego Out of It
Facilitation is not a performance. Your role isn’t to be the “healer” or “guru” in the room, it’s to be the clear, grounded presence that allows their process to unfold.
Signs ego might be creeping in:
Taking credit for someone’s breakthroughs
Over-identifying with their outcome
Sharing their story without permission
5. Know Your Limits
If you don’t have the training to navigate certain scenarios, such as intense trauma release, medical complications, or mental health crises, be honest about that upfront. Have a referral or backup plan. Ethics means knowing when to say this is beyond my capacity.
6. Integration Is Key
The journey isn’t over when the effects wear off. Ethical sitters and facilitators check in after the experience, offering space for reflection and helping the person ground insights into daily life.
7. Confidentiality Builds Trust
Nothing undermines a relationship faster than sharing someone’s vulnerable moments without permission. This includes casual retelling, "funny" stories from their trip are still their stories, not yours.
Final Thought:
Psychedelic spaces can be sacred, strange, and deeply human. If you are called to hold them, let ethics be your compass. Integrity doesn’t just protect others,it protects you, too.