Community Town Hall: A discussion about psychedelic-assisted therapy
The Wiggins Center, 400 Mt Vernon St, Camden, NJ 08103 5:30-7pm
Psychedelic-assisted therapy community engagement
Gathering community input about psychedelic-assisted therapy in New Jersey
Community & consumer engagement Strengthening ecosystems of care Behavioral health & addiction
The Camden Coalition, with funding from the Scattergood Foundation and private donations made available through the Psychedelic Mental Health Access Alliance, is launching a new project engaging community members to inform policies regarding psychedelic-assisted therapy. Psychedelic-assisted therapy, also known as PAT, combines psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and traditional mental health supports like psychotherapy. This emerging treatment is being researched across the country as a potential therapy for multiple complex conditions, and New Jersey recently enacted the Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Therapy Pilot program to fund research right here in the Garden State.
Psilocybin, a mushroom compound with psychedelic properties, has been used by cultures around the world for medicinal and cultural purposes for thousands of years. More recently, it has been studied and found to have immediate and long-lasting benefits to treat a variety of mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and treatment-resistant depression. This promising research has led to the development of numerous new drugs that are being evaluated by the FDA, research into applications for additional conditions like substance use disorder, and to states such as New Mexico pursuing medical models of psychedelic-assisted treatment using psilocybin in safe, controlled settings under medical supervision.
In response to the development and exploration of these therapies, Camden Coalition is gathering input from the community. The Camden Coalition will use this input to craft recommendations on future research, including developing resources to ensure safe, respectful, and community-centered models of care. This opportunity is not a clinical trial, treatment program, or request for anyone to agree with or participate in psilocybin treatment.
Camden Coalition and PMHA worked jointly to adapt the Coalition’s Community Alignment Engagement Tool (CEAT) to the PAT context; the adapted tool is called EASE and the Coalition will publish more on this adaptation in the coming months. The Coalition published is early findings on CEAT in Health Affairs in June 2026.
Our plan
New mental health care approaches are too often created without meaningful input from the people most affected by barriers to care. We believe that involving community from the beginning will lead to a more equitable and accessible research and implementation process. We are committed to ensuring that any plan for psychedelic-assisted treatment in New Jersey is equitable, culturally responsive, and accessible to diverse communities.
Camden Coalition’s community engagement plan for psychedelic-assisted treatment will center questions of trust, safety, cultural and spiritual beliefs, fair access through systems like Medicaid, and what real support should look like before, during, and after any future treatment or research opportunity. There is no treatment program or service being offered by the Camden Coalition; the purpose is to share information about psychedelic-assisted treatment, answer community questions, and invite voluntary community input so any future model reflects community needs, concerns, values, and priorities.
How to get involved
Camden Coalition is collecting community input from July 2026 through March 2027 though listening sessions, small group conversations, advisory discussions, community interviews, lived experience circles, town halls, and provider focus groups.
PAT may be a good treatment option for a wide range of people and anyone is welcomed to participate in this process. We will also focus outreach on specific priority populations who we identified in partnership with the Camden Coalition’s Community Advisory Committee, who have historically been left out of research and new treatment methods, including veterans, individuals with substance use disorder, and others.
Community members may choose to take part in these sessions however they feel most comfortable – people are welcome to listen without speaking, ask questions, and share concerns. Each person’s healing journey is unique, and we strive to create an environment where every individual feels valued, respected, and empowered.