Now managed in partnership with Thank You Life, allowing tax-deductible contributions to support access to legal psilocybin therapy.
Making psilocybin therapy
more affordable through community support.
Apply for SupportContribute to the Forward Fund
Forward Fund for Psychedelic Healing
Like so many doing this work, we believe that cost should never be the prohibitive factor in accessing psychedelic therapy. Yet, done most effectively, a trained facilitator must devote a significant amount of time and emotional energy to each of their clients. They need and deserve to be compensated for their work.
We created and contribute to the Forward Fund to increase accessibility to this transformative healing modality, while also paying facilitators fairly. And for clients who have the means, we give them the chance to contribute what they can to pay it forward, replacing the concept of sliding scale pricing.
How it works
Apply for Sponsorship
We’ve designed an application process that removes human biases in awarding sponsorship. We trust applicants to self-identify need and their ability to pay. This contributes to a weighted lottery system that determines who will be granted sponsorship and how much will be awarded.
Get Matched
Sponsored participants will have the opportunity to choose a facilitator based on their preferences. Facilitators are not informed that participants have been supported by the Forward Fund, removing any financial considerations from the healing container.
Find Healing
Facilitators work with participants through preparation, administration, and integration in the regulated setting in Oregon or Colorado. Outcomes are measured and participants are also given the opportunity to pay it forward. Fund contributors are informed of their impact, while keeping participant identity confidential.
In partnership with Thank You Life
The Forward Fund is a collaboration between Althea and Thank You Life, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit expanding access to psychedelic healing. Through this partnership, all contributions to the Forward Fund are now tax-deductible charitable donations. Thank You Life manages fund distribution to ensure transparency, integrity, and impact.
Thank You Life is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating the financial barriers to psychedelic-assisted therapy. Its mission is to ensure that everyone can access safe, effective, and compassionate psychedelic care by providing supplemental funds for treatment and supporting a national network of leading ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) clinics, psilocybin healing centers, and international plant medicine retreat centers.
Althea builds the trusted infrastructure for regulated psychedelic therapy. Its platform connects participants, facilitators, and healing centers through purpose-built tools for compliance, outcomes tracking, demand generation, and payments. With the majority of licensed psilocybin facilitators and clinics using the platform across Oregon and Colorado, Althea is the operational backbone of the legal psilocybin ecosystem.
Corporate Giving Program
These companies have committed to underwrite psilocybin therapy journeys for recipients in need. If your company wants to contribute, learn more about the corporate giving program here.
Tricycle Day
Media
Get smarter about psychedelics. Our thrice-weekly newsletter serves you the top stories in psychedelic research 🔬, policy 🏛️, and business 📈, and it's actually fun to read. 🫠
Odyssey
Psilocybin Services
Odyssey is a leading provider of psilocybin therapy in the US, offering both group retreats and private sessions.
Fun Guy
Products
Mood-enhancing (not altering) formulas stacked with kanna + functional mushrooms in delicious formats like vegan fruit chews and dark chocolate.
Healing Hearts Changing Minds
Advocacy & Training
At Healing Hearts Changing Minds, we believe that our deepest wounds can become powerful sources of strength and inspiration. In the same way, those healing from trauma can find their own path forward, and bring that healing back to their communities. We help people do that.
Human Liberation
Coaching
Human Liberation is a 1:1 personal growth program that helps that helps people unleash their Whole Self to live their dream life with inner ease, freedom, peace, and aliveness.
Introducing the Forward Fund for Psychedelic Healing
Healing is a human right. That’s why it’s so difficult for me to see a price tag put on it–especially one that many cannot afford…
Frequently Asked Questions
What is psilocybin therapy and how does it work?
Psilocybin therapy is a healing modality that uses the psychedelic compound psilocybin to explore consciousness or treat mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and others. The therapy is guided by licensed facilitators in a controlled setting. Clients often experience altered states of consciousness, promoting deep emotional insights and neuroplasticity.
Where are these services legally available?
Currently, psilocybin therapy is legal, under a state-regulated programs in Oregon and Colorado.
How do you select and vet facilitators?
All state licensed facilitators are vetted through a structured process that includes education, supervised experience, consultation, and background checks. Licensed facilitators use Althea’s platform to operate within the states regulations, conduct proper medical screening, record adverse events, and measure outcomes. Some of these facilitators apply to be matched with clients through our platform. Althea is able to utilize quality data to ensure only the most effective facilitators are being matched with clients.
Ultimately, it is up to awardees to choose if they want to work with each facilitator. We’re committed to helping awardees find a facilitator to meet their needs and preferences.
For Applicants
Who is eligible to apply for Forward Fund sponsorship?
If financial burden is preventing you from seeking psilocybin therapy, we encourage you to apply for assistance. The fund will work with anyone 21 years and older and is eligible to participate in Oregon or Colorado state psilocybin programs.
How much financial support can I receive?
The Forward Fund will pay facilitator fees directly. This is the largest proportion, often around 75%, of direct expense in psilocybin therapy. Recipients will be awarded a full or partial waiver of facilitator fees, based on their stated financial need. Recipients will not receive funding directly or reimbursements.
Award recipients will still have out-of-pocket expenses that the Forward Fund is not able to cover at the moment. These include Service Center/Healing Center fees and paying for the medicine itself.
Will my facilitator know I'm receiving financial support?
No. Facilitators will not know that you have received financial support from the Forward Fund. This is a key feature of this model that removes any financial consideration from the client/facilitator relationship.
Facilitators who receive client referrals from Althea get paid a standard fee that they set. This fee will be paid to them consistently and in full, regardless of what proportion is paid by the client or the Forward Fund.
What information do I need to provide in my application?
Your application information will remain private. It will not be shared with your prospective facilitator(s) or Forward Fund contributors.
In the application process we will ask you to answer questions to assess your needs. This will help us determine how to best allocate funds to the many applicants. We use standardized questionnaires in assessing financial need (FSS) and well-being (WHO-5). Beyond these, we ask you about what you hope to achieve as well as your contact information.
How will you select who receives sponsorship?
Ultimately, this is a lottery. But it’s not entirely random. We wanted to design a system that wouldn’t require us to make the decision on how to allocate the limited funding to the many people who could benefit. It would be incredibly difficult for any person or group of people to make these types of decisions. So we designed a weighted lottery system.
Every applicant is entered into the lottery at least once. Applicants are asked to self-report financial need and personal well-being using standardized instruments. The scores of these assessments determine if applicants will have more entries into the lottery, thus improving their chances to be chosen. The financial assessment also determines what proportion of facilitator fees will be covered by the fund.
We plan to award applicants once per month. Applicants will remain in the lottery pool until they are awarded or inform us they would no longer like to be considered.
If I receive support, am I expected to "pay it forward" later?
Recipients are not obligated to pay it forward but always have the opportunity to contribute what they are able and willing to.
For Contributors
How are my contributions used?
We are committed to ensuring that your contributions are used to reduce the out-of-pocket expense of psilocybin therapy for people who express financial need. These contributions will pay facilitator fees, which are the largest proportion of costs and most directly tied to the quality of the service.
Can I specify how my contribution is used?
In order to simplify distributions, it is difficult for us to manage restricted contributions and ensure funds are allocated based on contributor preferences. While we commit to transparently allocating these contributions to reducing the costs of psilocybin therapy, we are not accepting contributions that further specify how this happens.
How will I know my contribution is making an impact?
Althea is committed to publishing an annual report with our nonprofit partner, Thank You Life, to all contributors that will specify the financials of the fund, including contributions accepted and allocated. Additionally, with permission from recipients, we will report on outcomes and share narratives.
Is my contribution tax-deductible?
Yes. All contributions to the Forward Fund are tax-deductible charitable donations. The fund is managed in partnership with Thank You Life, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that oversees the receipt, stewardship, and distribution of all funds. After contributing, you will receive a donation receipt from Thank You Life for your records.
Make donations through their Give Butter platform, here.
