Certificate of Psychedelic and Contemplative Therapies (CPACT)
From foundations to specialisation
The Certificate in Psychedelic and Contemplative Therapies (CPACT) is a 200-hour, 12-month* hybrid certification program designed for professionals, students, and therapists seeking a deeply integrative, evidence-based, and experiential approach to psychedelic-assisted therapy.
CPACT blends online and in-person experiential learning, offering a total of 200 hours of training, including:
100 hours of core psychedelic-assisted therapy training
Gain fundamental skills and confidence in psychedelic science, clinical frameworks, legal and ethical considerations, and integration practices
100 hours of contemplative or experiential training
Tailor your path with yoga training, breathwork, meditation, Indigenous philosophies, nature-based therapy, or somatic integration
*CPACT is designed to be completed over 12 months, subject to elective dates and individual needs. All contemplative electives can be completed standalone and then recognised as Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) when applying for CPACT.
Building Solid Foundations: Core Modules
100 hours of foundational training to set you up for success
The core curriculum combines contemporary psychedelic science, evidence-based clinical practice, contemplative practices, and Indigenous wisdom traditions to provide a comprehensive, skill-based foundation for working with altered states of consciousness.
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Monthly Study Group
Monthly 90-minute curated live Q&A sessions with core and guest faculty.Monthly Guest Webinar
Monthly 90-minute curated live lecture sessions with core and guest faculty.Two 3-Day InPperson Experiential Intensives
The first focuses on deep learning and role plays. The second is a Holotropic Breathwork intensive; an immersive weekend to practice altered-state facilitation.Online Manual and Learning Materials
A comprehensive learning manual for ongoing reference throughout the course and beyond, nested in a learning portal providing ongoing community connection.Personal Reflection Framework
Continuous self-inquiry for professional and personal growth.
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This course allows the following Pathways to Accreditation to become a legally practising accredited Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy practitioner:
• Psychedelic Prescriber (PP)
• Psychedelic-Assisted Therapist (PAT)
• Psychedelic Facilitator (PF)
It is currently a suitable pathway for registered Psychiatrists, General Practitioners, Pharmacists, Psychotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Counsellors, Social Workers, Naturopaths, Paramedics, Indigenous practitioners, Nurses, Physiotherapists, Mental Health Workers, and Allied Health Professionals.
Mental health professionals or those who have demonstrated skills in the field of mental health, having completed this course, may be eligible to be psychedelic facilitators as part of a multidisciplinary team.
A successful applicant will need to have extensive therapeutic experience with clients. Professional and life experience is valuable, considered upon entry and must be listed on the resume. Anam Cara Centre will accept applicants who are qualified academic researchers and AHPRA medical professionals who are not seeking to become psychedelic therapists but are interested in learning more about PAT and contemplative practices. If you are a researcher in the field of psychedelic therapies and want an integrated and holistic insight into psychedelic therapy, this course is for you.
Assessments may be adjusted to meet your specific context.
For full accreditation as a Psychedelic Therapist, you must have eligibility for registration with a governing body such as:
• Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA)
• Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
• Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA)
• Australian Counselling Association (ACA)
• Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA)
Nurturing Your Unique Path: Contemplative Electives
Choose 100 hours of electives that align with your path — follow your curiosity, specialise from the heart
Yin Yoga Teacher Training
Learn to teach Yin Yoga confidently, incorporating anatomical variation, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), non-duality, and trauma-informed practice.
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Description: Discover the art of Yin Yoga in this 50-hour Teacher Training, designed for yoga teachers, aspiring instructors, and dedicated students seeking a deeper understanding of this powerful practice. This elective equips you with the knowledge and skills to confidently teach Yin Yoga, incorporating anatomical variation, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), non-duality, and trauma-informed approaches into your practice and teaching. Through 35 immersive contact hours over four days and an additional 15 hours of practical assignments and SEVA teaching, you’ll gain both theoretical insight and real-world experience. In a world dominated by yang energy, Yin Yoga provides the essential balance, stillness, and deep introspection needed to restore harmony and cultivate a calm, centered state of being.
Purpose: This training is designed to deepen your understanding of Yin Yoga, exploring its philosophical roots, energetic principles, and the role of anatomical variation in asana practice. By integrating practical teaching experience, this course empowers you to confidently guide others in a way that is safe, effective, and deeply nourishing.
Hours: 50 hours
Format: In-person with some elements online, including homework
Teacher: Mickey Space
Dates and cost included in course syllabus.
Pranayama - Yogic Breathwork Teacher Training
Dive deep into the ancient yogic science of pranayama, exploring traditional techniques, yogic philosophy, and the energetic system, including the koshas, chakras, and kundalini.
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Description: Discover the profound power of breath in this 50-hour Pranayama & Breathwork Teacher Training. This course dives deep into the ancient yogic science of pranayama, exploring traditional techniques, yogic philosophy, and the energetic system, including the koshas, chakras, and kundalini. It also integrates modern breathwork methods and the latest scientific research on breath’s impact on the nervous system, mental clarity, and overall well-being. Through theory, practice, and teaching methodology, you’ll gain the knowledge and confidence to incorporate breathwork into your personal practice and guide others effectively.
Purpose: This training is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of pranayama and breathwork, blending ancient wisdom with modern science. It equips students with practical tools to deepen their personal practice and confidently teach breath-based techniques to others, enhancing physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
Hours: 50 hours
Format: In-person with some elements online, including homework
Teacher: Mickey Space
Dates and cost included in course syllabus.
Herbalism for Psychedelic Preparation, Integration, & Self-Care
Bridging the wisdom of herbalism and contemplative therapies, this elective offers an integrated approach to supporting psychedelic experiences.
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Description: This unique elective bridges the wisdom of herbalism and contemplative therapies, offering an integrated approach to supporting psychedelic experiences. Participants will explore evidence-based plants, Australian native plants, and specific herbal remedies, focusing on nervous system regulation, plant meditations, and subtle realms. Designed for those interested in holistic health, the course weaves plant medicine research with practical, hands-on skills to enhance personal and professional practices in preparation, integration, and self-care within psychedelic frameworks.
Purpose: Integrating herbalism into your psychedelic-assisted therapy training offers a holistic approach to supporting clients on their healing journey. Herbs have long been used to prepare the mind and body for transformative experiences, enhance integration, and nurture emotional resilience. This elective focuses on understanding the interplay between plants, the nervous system, and emotional healing. You'll explore how adaptogens, nervines, and other therapeutic herbs can ground and support clients before, during, and after psychedelic sessions.
What’s included: Weekly workshops, manual, gift pack of herbs, nervous system tincture.
Hours: 50 hours, including 12 hours of live sessions
Format: Online
Teachers: Lily of the Herbs and Dr Alana (Lani) Roy
Optional add-on: In-person weekend intensive for deeper embodiment and practice. Additional cost of $800 (not included in elective). Payment plans available.
Dates and cost included in course syllabus.
Integration training with Dr Rosalind Watts ACER Integration
ACER Integration is a year-long cycle designed to provide a framework for more thorough, thoughtful psychedelic integration. This program is first and foremost designed to create a path of personal cyclical change to increase connection to self, others and the natural world.
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Description: ACER Integration is a year-long cycle designed to provide a framework for more thorough, thoughtful psychedelic integration. It is based around the ACE (Accept, Connect, Embody) therapeutic framework written by Dr Rosalind Watts with the addition of a fourth step - Restore. The cycle is completed in real-time within a closed community. It is this collective aspect that, although proven to be of great benefit to overall wellbeing, is often missing from the Western model of healing.
Purpose: This program is first and foremost designed to create a path of personal cyclical change to increase connection to self, others and the natural world. It also increases resilience, facilitates a more sustainable rhythm of life, helps to move away from old patterns and resentments and to appreciate the gifts that we have. From the perspective of a therapist/practitioner it is also a place to learn about new practices and methodologies through the monthly Q&A with industry experts, a community of psychedelic practitioners to engage and explore ideas with, and a set of concepts that can be integrated into their own practices.
What’s included: 12-month journey including tree videos and tree journey guided imagery meditations, suggested monthly rituals/practice, sharing circles, Q&A with inspiring guests, breathwork (monthly drop-in as well as 90-minute journeys to coincide with festivals of the druidic Eightfold Wheel), dance, music meditations, ‘orchard’ gatherings, access to online community forum, Eightfold Wheel videos from Philip Carr-Gomm, recorded talks, and the Treecast (a monthly podcast features insights from community members).
Hours: 100 hours
Format: Online and in-person
Teachers: ACER Integration Team
Dates and cost included in course syllabus.
Peru Cultural Immersion Dieta Retreat & Dieta Preparation & Integration Certificate
Held deep in the Amazon with Asháninka curanderos and guided by Anam Cara Centre’s ethical and evidence-based approach, this elective offers a dieta experience alongside structured training in preparation and integration.
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Description: Blending research-backed methods with ancient Indigenous wisdom, this program offers participants a deeply personal Ayahuasca dieta experience alongside structured training in preparation and integration. Rooted in Dr. Alana (Lani) Roy’s research on Australian Vegetalista Ayahuasca dieteros, this program draws from her Swinburne study—65 hours of interviews with 35 participants—exploring the dieta experience. Emphasising preparation, cultural context, and integration, this research led to a harm reduction toolkit co-designed with the dietero community to support journeys with Ayahuasca and master plants. The program’s therapeutic framework is the 'SWIM' model, developed by Dr. Lani Roy and Melissa Warner through their Certificate in Psychedelic and Contemplative Therapies (CPACT). SWIM focuses on Somatic, Wisdom, Interconnectedness, and Metacognition, equipping therapists and clients with the tools to navigate psychedelic preparation, integration, and deep psychological exploration. Guiding the ethical and clinical principles are the EMPATHS values—Embodied Ethics, Metacognition and Multiplicity, Potentiality, Agency, Transpersonal, Holistic, Science, and Somatics. This trans-diagnostic, multi-medicine value system fosters a contemplative and embodied approach, inviting meaningful growth and healing.
Purpose: The retreat provides participants with the chance to deepen their spiritual connection, engage in traditional ceremonies, and explore the rich cultural heritage of plant medicine. The certification offers training in dieta preparation and integration, designed for those who want to deepen their understanding of altered states of consciousness and support others in their journeys.
What’s included:
Peru Cultural Immersion Dieta Retreat -
Day 1: Arrive Pucallpa, Peru
Day 1-3: Accommodation in Pucallpa
Day 3: Dieta Opening Ceremony
Day 4: Ceremony
Day 5: Medicine-Assisted Ceremony
Day 6: Integration Day
Day 7: Medicine-Assisted Ceremony
Day 8: Integration Day
Day 9: Medicine-Assisted Ceremony
Day 10: Integration Day
Day 11: Break Dieta with salt and sugar
Day 12: Closing of Dieta, return to hotel in Pucallpa for 1-night post-dieta accommodation
Dieta Preparation & Integration Certificate -
3 preparation sessions in Pucallpa
3 integration sessions in Pucallpa
Remaining 6 sessions are online and self-paced
Hours: 100-hours
Format: In-person with online elements
Facilitators: Dr Alana (Lani) Roy, Brunswik and Romina (First Nations Curanderos), Maria Alejandra Gonzalez Bueno (Native Spanish Speaker)
Dates and cost included in course syllabus. Note: This elective has eligibility criteria.
Medicine-Assisted Retreat with Beckley Retreats in Jamaica or The Netherlands
Informed by research from the Beckley Foundation, this advanced medicine-assisted retreat emphasises safety, ethics, community-building, skill-building, and holistic well-being to support personal and professional development.
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Description: Informed by research from the Beckley Foundation, this advanced medicine-training retreat emphasises safety, ethics, community-building, skill-building, and holistic well-being to support personal and professional development. The practicum component is designed to provide an impactful learning experience through a safe and legal, guided ceremonial psilocybin experience rooted in practices from global wisdom traditions. Held in thenature-rich, restorative locations of Jamaica and The Netherlands, participants engage in the retreat either through directly participating or observing and assisting the facilitators as a team assistant (if the prerequisite criteria are met to assist).
Purpose: This training retreat supports participants in deepening self-awareness, transcending limitations, exploring spirituality, and fostering emotional growth within a holistic framework. Through guided personal inquiry, skill-building, and reflective practices, participants are invited to connect with their inner world and expand their capacity for meaningful change.
Format: On-site in Jamaica or The Netherlands with online elements
Facilitators: Beckley Retreats Team
Participation options:
A) Direct Experiential - full participation in retreat. 70 hours (12+ hours of preparation, 5-night retreat, 18+hours of integration).
B) Team Assistant - observer & assistant at retreat. 85 hours (15 hours of preparation, 6-night retreat, 10+ hours of integration).
Dates and cost included in course syllabus. Note: This elective has eligibility criteria.
Creating Community: Immersive Retreats
Connect with your cohort at two immersive 4-day retreats held at a waterfront, forested sanctuary
Held at Raven’s Nest, Venus Bay (VIC), these retreats offer immersive personal and professional development in a breathtaking natural setting. Experience holotropic breathwork with Anthony Olsen, dancing in the yurt, fire ceremonies, cold plunges, kayaking, ritual cooking, and more. Unwind in the jacuzzi, walk private forest trails, and gather around the fire pit under the stars. More than a retreat, this is an invitation to build lasting friendships and a peer-supported community grounded in ethical, embodied practice.
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Scholarships Available
Scholarships Available
Ready to apply?
Contact us to receive the CPACT course syllabus and application form.