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Getting into the field: apprenticeship, careers, pay

This card takes up whether there is money in guiding, how people enter without a clinical degree, and what an apprenticeship is. It sets out what official sources and surveys report about licence costs, prices and routes, and what was not located.

Published Information current to 7 November 2026Review due by 5 February 2027

Read this first. This page is education, not instructions to use. Metanoia does not supply any substance. In the United States, most of the substances discussed here are Schedule I under federal law (21 CFR 1308.11). State programs such as Oregon's and Colorado's operate under state law only, and federal law still applies. Legal status differs between countries, and none of this is legal advice. Nothing here is medical advice, and nothing here gives or recommends a dose. People who host, supply or take part in sessions involving controlled substances can face criminal liability under federal and state law. This page does not advise on that. "Healthy adults" means people with no diagnosed psychiatric or major medical condition, the population Metanoia studies. This page reports what published sources say about work done outside supervised programs, and it takes no position on the legality of any setting, practice or person.
Not an emergency resource. Metanoia is not an emergency service. In a medical emergency in the United States the number is 911, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text. Elsewhere, local emergency numbers apply. Nothing on this card is a reason to delay or avoid medical care. This card describes what sources report. It is not a protocol, and it is not career, legal or financial advice.

The short answer

Is there money in guiding, how do people enter without a clinical degree, and what is an apprenticeship?

Sources describe what a licence costs in Oregon, what Oregon centers quoted clients for a session, and the routes Colorado sets out. These are costs and prices, not pay. As far as a documented search found, no study or occupation listing reports what guides are paid. Hours and program fees are on the training card.

What do official sources and surveys report?
  • What a licence costs in Oregon. The facilitator licence costs 150 dollars to apply and 2,000 a year, or 1,000 for veterans and people on certain public benefits. This is the December 2024 fact sheet. On 22 September 2026 the state said it would not adopt proposed fee increases. Sources 1 and 3, level 1
  • How many are licensed. An Oregon Health Authority budget document written in August 2026 gives counts as of 23 July 2026: 379 approved facilitators (641 all-time) and 20 approved service centers (39 all-time). It also says over 33% of service centers had surrendered or not renewed their licences. The counts were not checked against the live dashboard. Source 2, level 1
  • What centers quoted clients. These figures are prices, not pay. In calls between July and September 2025, callers portraying adults with depression reached 15 Oregon centers. The centers gave a median estimated total of 1,900 dollars for a session (range 850 to 3,000), and all 15 offered a sliding scale. In debriefing interviews, staff at five centers described financial strain. Source 4, level 1
  • What trainees planned to charge. In 2023, 22 trainees named a planned charge per client, with a mean of 1,388 dollars and a median of 900, after one outlier was removed. A price paid by a client is not what a facilitator receives, and no source read reports a facilitator's pay. Source 5, level 1
  • Colorado's “Legacy Healer” route. It is an accelerated path to the regular facilitator licence, not a separate licence. The state guide (December 2024) asks for 200 hours of experience in administration sessions, gained over at least two years with 40 participants, and a 25-hour ethics and rules module from an approved program. Rule 2.4, read on 8 November 2026, states the same figures. It lists three ways the experience may have been gained: an educational program similar to an approved one, a licence or certification the state treats as similar, or the practice of natural medicine outside educational or regulated facilitation. It estimates 180 days or more to process an application. A state notice scheduled a stakeholder meeting for 2 October 2026 on possible changes to this rule, so the rule may change. Sources 6, 7 and 12, level 1
  • People who provide support outside regulated programs. In a 2023 convenience survey, 107 people who said they provide support for naturalistic psychedelic use named personal experience (88.8%) and mentoring (60.7%) among their sources of training. 44.9% held no degree related to therapy or counseling, 40.2% held a full or in-progress licence, and 56.1% said they charge a fee. Answers could not be verified. Source 8, level 1
  • In 13 interviews with people who had provided sessions outside regulated programs, all practicing in Washington state, all said their own experience led them to guide, and many had other jobs. Source 9, level 1

What does a tradition describe?

Reported practice, not a recommendation. This marking applies to everything in this section.

  • In interviews with eight healers in Peru, the authors describe plant diets as a technique with several uses, including learning medicine itself, and all eight had trained under traditional healers. One region, one study, recruited through one center. Source 10, level 4

What is not known?

“Not located” means that the searches Metanoia ran on 7 November 2026 did not return it. The searches covered PubMed and Europe PMC, the Bureau of Labor Statistics A to Z index of occupations and O*NET keyword searches, which list no occupation under these names (source 11). BLS wage tables and Google Scholar were not searched. An Oregon Employment Department article on the industry could not be opened and was not read. More searching could change the picture.

  • What guides earn. Not located: any study or listing of guides' income.
  • How many live on guiding. Not located.
  • What graduates of training programs do afterwards. Not located.

What this card does not say

  • It does not say anyone should enter the field, train, or pay for a program, or what anyone earns.
  • Metanoia does not train or certify guides.
  • It is not career, legal or financial advice. Federal law still applies in Oregon and Colorado.
  • It does not rate how risky, safe or worthwhile any practice is.

Send a correction

If this card reports something wrongly, tell us. Write to main@metanoia-ca.org and keep the card name in the subject line. Accounts of what happened in a session belong in the field reports channel, not in email. Please leave out names and anything that identifies a person or a place. We read every message.

Where does this come from?

Grade key: 1 = peer-reviewed publication, official document or primary record. 4 = traditional or ethnographic source. A grade names the type of source, and the design and limits are given in the text. “Full text” means Metanoia read the body of the paper in full on the date given, and any part not read is named. A source read only in part carries no claim beyond the passages named.

Review due by 5 February 2027.

  1. Oregon Psilocybin Services. How to become a licensed psilocybin facilitator in Oregon, updated December 2024. Fact sheet (PDF). Grade 1. Official agency document. Full text (4 pages) read 7 November 2026.
  2. Oregon Health Authority. Oregon Psilocybin Services budget information document, developed August 2026. Document (PDF). Grade 1. Official budget document. Full text (9 pages) read 7 November 2026. Counts are as of 23 July 2026.
  3. Oregon Health Authority. Agency not moving forward with proposed fee increases for psilocybin licensees, 22 September 2026. Grade 1. Official statement. Full text read 7 November 2026.
  4. Adams DR et al. “Am I a candidate for magic mushrooms?” A mystery shopper study of Oregon psilocybin service centers. Health Aff Sch 2026. DOI 10.1093/haschl/qxag231 PMID 42871231. Grade 1. Mixed methods, 22 centers. Full text read 7 November 2026 (supplement not read).
  5. Luoma JB et al. Oregon's Emerging Psilocybin Services Workforce. J Psychoactive Drugs 2026. DOI 10.1080/02791072.2025.2454474 PMID 39881568. Grade 1. Trainee survey, 106 respondents, 2023. Full text read 7 November 2026 (OSF appendix not read).
  6. Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations. Legacy Healer Accelerated Path, December 2024. Grade 1. Official guide (5 pages). Full text read 7 November 2026. Rules may have changed since. Linked from the Applications and Forms page.
  7. Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations. Natural Medicine page, public notices as read on 7 November 2026. Grade 1. Official page. The page and the stakeholder meeting notice of 2 October 2026 were read in full 7 November 2026.
  8. Glynos NG et al. Going Underground: Demographics, Services, and Best Practices Endorsed by Practitioners Providing Support for Naturalistic Psychedelic Use. J Psychoactive Drugs 2025 (online 2024). DOI 10.1080/02791072.2024.2405685 PMID 39297183. Grade 1. Anonymous survey, 107 respondents, convenience sample. Full text read 7 November 2026.
  9. Lederhos Smith C et al. Understanding Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy Providers' Perspective and Insights: A Qualitative Analysis. Psychedelic Med 2024. DOI 10.1089/psymed.2023.0074 PMID 40051684. Grade 1. 13 interviews, all practicing in Washington state, some also elsewhere. Full text read 7 November 2026 (reference list not read).
  10. O'Shaughnessy DM, Berlowitz I et al. Amazonian Medicine and the Psychedelic Revival: Considering the “Dieta”. Front Pharmacol 2021. DOI 10.3389/fphar.2021.639124 PMID 34149407. Grade 4. Interviews with eight healers in one province, recruited through one center. Full text read 7 November 2026 (reference list not read).
  11. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook A to Z index, and O*NET OnLine. Grade 1. Official listings, searched 7 November 2026. The full BLS index page was loaded in a browser and searched for psychedelic, psilocybin, facilitator, shaman, healer, natural medicine and guide, and O*NET was searched for psilocybin and psychedelic. No matching occupation. Guide entries were tour and travel guides.
  12. Colorado Code of Regulations, 4 CCR 755-1, Natural Medicine Licensure Rules, rule 2.4, official PDF of the version effective 5 December 2025. Grade 1. Official rule text. Rules 2.1 to 2.8 read on 8 November 2026. Other sections were not used.