Today, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies to accelerate research and expand patient access to psychedelic drugs as compounds for serious mental illness. We enthusiastically welcome this much awaited development. Journey Clinical has been building toward this very moment since our founding in 2021, and when FDA approval arrives, we will be the best positioned to deliver these treatments at scale across the United States.
Read the full report executive order and watch the video here:
What the Order Does
The order establishes federal policy to accelerate innovative research models and appropriate drug approvals to increase access to psychedelic drugs that could save lives and reverse the crisis of serious mental illness in America.
It directs the FDA and DEA to create a pathway for eligible patients to access investigational psychedelic compounds - including ibogaine - under the Right to Try Act. It allocates $50 million through ARPA-H to match state investments in psychedelic research, and directs the Attorney General to initiate scheduling reviews for substances that complete Phase 3 trials so rescheduling can proceed as quickly as possible upon FDA approval.
The urgency is undeniable. Over 14 million American adults currently live with a serious mental illness, and about 8 million are on prescription medication for their conditions; many without adequate relief. For over 20 years, there have been more than 6,000 veteran suicides per year, at a rate more than twice that of the non-veteran adult population. These are the patients this field exists to serve.
We Have Built the Infrastructure
In 2021, Journey Clinical was founded on a single conviction: that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy would become a cornerstone of mental healthcare in America, and that someone needed to build the infrastructure to deliver it responsibly and at scale before that day arrived. That's exactly what we've done.
As the largest psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy platform in the US, Journey Clinical has already built the necessary infrastructure to support broad access to new psychedelic treatments for mental health conditions, if and when approved; a collaborative care model that connects a dedicated medical team, licensed psychotherapists, and patients, supporting the delivery of psychedelic treatments responsibly and at scale. We have been doing this with ketamine. We are ready to do it with what comes next.
That readiness is not theoretical. In 2024, Journey Clinical entered a research collaboration with Compass Pathways - a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health - to inform the development of a scalable and practical delivery and healthcare provider training model for COMP360 psilocybin treatment, if approved for treatment-resistant depression. Together, we have been working to better understand the patient care experience, depression patient pathways, care reimbursement processes, and innovative care pathways for TRD patients; so that the moment approval arrives, we can move quickly and safely.
COMP360 has been designated a Breakthrough Therapy by the FDA and is currently in Phase 3 trials; precisely the stage this executive order is designed to accelerate through to approval and rescheduling.
Ready, Willing, and Able
The gap this field has always faced is not just regulatory - it's the infrastructure. Approving a drug is not enough if there aren't enough trained therapists to administer it, medical providers to prescribe and monitor it, platforms to coordinate care at scale, and insurance coverage to make it affordable. Journey Clinical exists to close all of those gaps; and we already have.
We have a nationwide network of licensed therapists across 26 states who are trained in psychedelic-assisted care, experienced with the preparation-dosing-integration model, and ready to expand into new modalities. Our collaborative care infrastructure - connecting therapists with our medical team - is already live and operational.
Critically, we have already done the hard work of building insurance coverage into our model. Journey Clinical is in network with major insurance plans, and many patients receive reimbursement for their medical and psychotherapy appointments. We are always growing our insurance coverage, because we believe access means nothing without affordability. When new PAP treatments receive FDA approval, insurance reimbursement pathways will be one of the most significant barriers to patient access; and we will be ahead of it.
Co-Founder & CEO Myriam Barthes said it plainly:
"This executive order is a signal that the country is catching up to what our therapist community has known for years: that psychedelic-assisted therapy works, and that the infrastructure to deliver it at scale needs to exist before approval arrives — not after. At Journey Clinical, we have spent years building exactly that — the therapist network, the medical infrastructure, the insurance coverage. We are ready, willing, and able to bring these treatments to patients the moment FDA approval is received. The window is opening, and we will be there."
— Myriam Barthes, Co-Founder & CEO, Journey Clinical
We are not waiting for approval to start preparing. We have been preparing since day one.
A Note of Gratitude
None of this is possible without the people who show up every day to do the work.
To our community of therapists — the licensed, trained mental health professionals who have built ketamine-assisted care into their practices, sat with patients through preparation and dosing and integration, and believed in this work before it had federal momentum behind it: thank you. You are the reason Journey Clinical exists, and you are the reason we can say with confidence that we are ready. You have been on the front lines of this movement, delivering KAP to patients in your communities day in and day out, often without the recognition this work deserves. If you are a patient curious ot learn more, explore our public directory that highlights our community of therapists: my.journeyclinical.com/directory.
To our medical team — the clinicians who screen, prescribe, monitor, and collaborate with therapists to ensure every patient receives safe, structured, and personalized care: thank you. Your rigor and compassion are what make this model work.
To the researchers - at Stanford, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Imperial College London, and institutions around the world - who spent decades doing painstaking, often underfunded work to build the scientific foundation this moment stands on: thank you. You pursued this science even when the cultural and regulatory climate made it difficult to do so, and your commitment to rigorous evidence is what gives this field its credibility.
To the healers and guides who have carried this knowledge with integrity and care, long before this moment arrived: thank you. You helped lay the foundation. The knowledge this field is now learning to formalize did not emerge from a laboratory, it has deep roots.
And to every patient who trusted a therapist, entered a dosing session with courage, and shared their experience so that others might benefit: thank you. You are why this work matters.
This movement was built by many hands over many years. Today's executive order is a recognition of that collective effort. We are honored to play our part in carrying it forward.
What This Means Today
For patients seeking psychedelic-assisted therapy right now, ketamine remains the only legally available option in the U.S. Our network of therapists and prescribing providers continues to offer KAP to patients across 26 states. If you're a therapist ready to bring psychedelic-assisted care to your practice, or a patient looking for a provider, explore our directory at my.journeyclinical.com/directory.
For the broader field: the regulatory window is opening. The clinical evidence is building. And Journey Clinical is here - infrastructure in place, partnerships active, providers trained - ready to deliver.
But this is only the beginning.
Federal action accelerates timelines, it does not do the hard work for us. The real work ahead is building the care pathways that will take these treatments from clinical trials into the everyday practice of licensed therapists across the country. That means continuing to develop and refine training models and protocols that prepare providers to deliver psychedelic-assisted therapy safely and effectively. It means deepening our research and generating real-world evidence from our platform that contributes to the broader scientific understanding of how these treatments work, for whom, and under what conditions. It means working through the reimbursement challenges that will determine whether these therapies are accessible only to those who can afford to pay out of pocket, or genuinely available to anyone who needs them. And it means continuing to build the clinical infrastructure - the collaborative care models, the outcome monitoring, the therapist support systems - that make responsible delivery at scale possible.
The promise of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAP) will only be realized if the ecosystem around it is built with the same rigor and care as the science itself. Journey Clinical is committed to doing that work - not just when approval arrives - but every day between now and then, and every day after. The patients waiting for these treatments deserve nothing less.