Howdy friends,

Today we’ve got an inside peek into the regulated psilocybin therapy landscape in Colorado with Dori Lewis. At the bottom of the newsletter you’ll find the invitation for today’s Mycopreneur Incubator, which is being co-hosted by mushroom cultivator and Colorado political activist Jacob Marlega.

Dori is the Founder of Reflective Healing, a regulated psilocybin therapy clinic based in Colorado, USA. She's also Co-Founder and Clinical Director at Elemental Psychedelics, a DORA-approved, women-led training program for psychedelic therapy facilitation licensure. Dori joined me on the Mycopreneur Podcast recently to discuss the realities of operating within the state-licensed Colorado psychedelic therapy model.

As regulated psilocybin therapy continues to emerge across the United States, Colorado has become one of the country's most closely watched proving grounds. While headlines often focus on legalization, investment, or political milestones, the real questions are far more practical: What does ethical psychedelic care actually look like? How should facilitators be trained? And can a sustainable, patient-centered model exist outside of the underground?

Those are the questions therapist and psychedelic educator Dori Lewis spends most of her time thinking about.

Lewis is the founder of Reflective Healing, one of Colorado's licensed psilocybin healing centers, and co-founder of Elemental Psychedelics, a Colorado-approved facilitator training program. Rather than viewing legalization as the finish line, she sees it as the beginning of a much longer process of building thoughtful systems around psychedelic care.

"The industry is just beginning," Lewis says. "Everybody is figuring out how they're going to invite psilocybin into a regulated space."

(What better time to kickstart your mushroom growing journey — or to level up in the industry if you’re already a part of it — than by tapping in with the professionals at Booming Acres mycology supplies?)

Before entering Colorado's regulated landscape, Lewis spent more than a decade working as a licensed psychotherapist specializing in trauma. Alongside her clinical career, she also cultivated decades of personal experience exploring altered states of consciousness.

She believes those two worlds complement one another.

While formal research and clinical education remain essential, Lewis argues that facilitators benefit tremendously from having firsthand familiarity with psychedelic states. She compares it to navigating unfamiliar waters.

"I'd rather go on a boat with someone who's actually sailed that river before," she explains.

For Lewis, experiential knowledge doesn't replace professional training—it strengthens it. A facilitator who understands the unpredictable terrain of a psychedelic experience is often better equipped to remain calm when difficult emotions or unexpected experiences arise.

That calm, she says, becomes part of the therapeutic container itself.

One of the most striking themes throughout Lewis' work is the distinction between traditional psychotherapy and psychedelic facilitation.

Rather than directing the process or trying to lead clients toward predetermined outcomes, she believes facilitators should learn how to step back.

"My job is to be a steward to the medicine," she explains.

Instead of acting as the healer, Lewis views herself as someone who supports the relationship between the individual, the psilocybin experience, and what she calls the client's own "inner healing intelligence."

That philosophy requires facilitators to tolerate uncertainty—a skill that can be surprisingly difficult, particularly for clinicians accustomed to guiding conversations and interventions.

"The medicine already knows how to do its work," Lewis says. "Our role is often to get out of the way."

As psychedelic therapy expands, ethical practice has become one of the industry's most pressing concerns.

Lewis believes technical competency alone isn't enough.

Because psychedelic experiences often leave participants feeling profoundly vulnerable—or deeply grateful toward the person facilitating the session—therapists must remain aware of subtle psychological dynamics like transference and power imbalance.

"It's very easy to slip into a guru role," she says.

Rather than denying that temptation exists, Lewis encourages facilitators to openly examine their own motivations through consultation, supervision, and ongoing peer support.

In her view, ethical practice isn't about pretending those dynamics don't exist—it's about recognizing them before they quietly shape client relationships.

That emphasis on humility forms one of the core principles behind Elemental Psychedelics, where students train not only in regulations and facilitation techniques, but also in community accountability and reflective practice.

Unlike many educational programs that rely heavily on online instruction, Elemental Psychedelics emphasizes significant in-person training.

Lewis believes psychedelic facilitation cannot be learned entirely through lectures or Zoom calls.

Equally important is creating lasting relationships between practitioners.

Graduates are encouraged to continue consulting with one another, discussing challenging cases, and supporting each other long after completing the program.

Facilitating psychedelic experiences can be emotionally demanding work, Lewis says, and isolation increases the risk of burnout and poor decision-making.

"Community is part of ethical practice," she explains.

(Tap in with Full Canopy Genetics for the complete turnkey mycology research experience — bonus points if you pair Full Canopy and Booming Acres research materials together)

Colorado's regulated system has also sparked conversations about the economics of psychedelic care.

While some early investors envisioned psychedelics becoming a trillion-dollar industry, Lewis believes reality has proven more nuanced.

Running a licensed healing center involves significant regulatory costs, licensing expenses, insurance considerations, and staffing requirements. At the same time, many prospective clients struggle to afford treatment that often requires preparation sessions, administration, and integration support.

Rather than viewing psilocybin as a standalone business, Lewis encourages practitioners to build diversified practices.

Reflective Healing, for example, continues to offer traditional psychotherapy and ketamine-assisted therapy alongside regulated psilocybin services.

"I don't think this is a sustainable business model by itself," Lewis says. "It's one tool in a much larger toolbox."

That philosophy also extends to facilitators entering the profession.

Instead of expecting to immediately build full-time careers around psychedelic sessions alone, Lewis encourages newcomers to develop broader skill sets and multiple sources of income while the field continues to mature.

Perhaps Lewis' most consistent message is one of patience.

Whether speaking to prospective facilitators or individuals seeking healing, she cautions against viewing psychedelics as quick fixes.

Healing rarely happens in a single session, she says, and becoming an effective facilitator takes years of personal growth, supervision, and experience.

In a culture often driven by instant results, Lewis believes psychedelic work asks participants to embrace a slower timeline.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint," she says.

As more states consider regulated psychedelic programs, Colorado's experiment will likely continue serving as a model—and a learning laboratory—for policymakers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs alike.

If Lewis is right, the future of psychedelic care won't simply depend on expanded access.

It will depend on whether the field can build the kind of ethical, community-oriented foundation capable of supporting that access for decades to come.

Today, July 2. 3 pm et U.S. / 12 pm pt

Today’s Incubator is being co-hosted by mushroom cultivator extraordinaire and Colorado political activist Jacob Marlega.

Jacob is spearheading a petition to challenge the recent changes to Colorado's psychedelic decriminalization policy that were signed into law by Governor Jared Polis on June 4th of 2026. He’ll discuss the ins and outs of the situation from his perspective on the ground as a cultivator and mushroom entrepreneur in Colorado today —

To add the Mycopreneur Incubator to your calendar as a weekly event click here

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87575277676?pwd=w5k1GGlfZ22I3SOtolZbZokYnxpUi8.1

Meeting chat link
https://us06web.zoom.us/launch/jc/87575277676

Meeting ID: 875 7527 7676
Passcode: 038704

Thanks for reading the Mycopreneur Newsletter, see you at the Incubator today

DW