Sunstone Therapies

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Rockville, MD
Sunstone Therapies

Leading the research and delivery of psychedelic therapies for those affected by complex mental health challenges.

Sunstone Therapies is a first mover in the research and commercial delivery of psychedelic therapies for those touched by cancer and beyond.

09/17/2026

Most of Sunstone’s psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions occur one-on-one. One therapist stays with one participant through preparation, the dosing session, and integration afterward.

Some Sunstone studies bring participants together at points along the way.

In our first psilocybin trial, participants prepared as a group, received psilocybin at the same time in their own rooms with their own therapist beside them, and came back together to integrate.

Some arrived wary of groups and described a close bond by the end. They had two things in common: an experience that's hard to describe to anyone who hasn't had one, and a diagnosis most had been carrying privately.

One of those groups is still meeting years after the study closed.

We're studying how best to incorporate group therapy into psychedelic-assisted therapy, where it belongs in a study, and for whom it matters most.

09/14/2026

Psychedelic compounds like M**A and psilocybin are powerful tools. They can help us access deeply stored beliefs and surface past traumas.

A skilled therapist helps you make sense of what comes up and work through it.

That's why the relationship is built early on. A therapist meets you in preparation, stays in the room throughout the dosing session, and remains there through the weeks of integration afterward.

When we feel safe with the person beside us, we can go further into the experience.

That’s why we study the therapeutic relationship in our clinical trials.

09/10/2026

No one can predict what will come up in a psychedelic dosing session.

These compounds can loosen the defenses a person has built around difficult experiences. Sometimes trauma surfaces.

It is crucial that therapists–present during the preparation, dosing, and integration sessions–are trained to appropriately address trauma.

It’s also important for them to stay steady when a session gets intense, so that their approach holds under pressure.

At Sunstone, both of these qualities are reinforced through training and ongoing supervision, which our therapists and trainers participate in regularly.

Rachel Winzer, director of Sunstone’s therapist training program, shares what prepares a therapist for this work.

09/06/2026

Change can be hard to spot as it’s happening.

In psychedelic-assisted therapy, it can show up in small ways:
- meeting a hard conversation with less bracing,
- noticing what we want before anyone asks,
- saying no without rehearsing it first,
- or feeling a little more at home in ourselves.

Sometimes it becomes visible within the therapeutic relationship in how a participant connects, how present they are in the room, and how fully they seem able to engage with themselves and their therapist.

That kind of noticing takes attention and continuity, which is part of what the therapeutic relationship offers across the whole arc of this treatment, from preparation through the dosing session and integration afterward.

Here's how Sunstone therapist Sara So, LCPC, describes what therapists look for.

09/03/2026

What will it take to make psychedelic-assisted therapy more accessible, without thinning the support around each person?

A study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry examined how different care models could affect clinician time, cost, and ultimately patient access. Sunstone contributed data from our psilocybin-assisted therapy study for people with cancer and major depression.

In the model they studied, each person is treated in their own room with their own therapist for the whole session. A supervising clinician oversees three to four rooms by video and steps in wherever support is needed.

That structure—compared to a 1:1 supervising clinician ration—was estimated to lower costs by about a third per person. The one-to-one therapist relationship in the room stays exactly the same. What changes is how many treatment rooms one supervising clinician can address.

As these therapies continue to be studied, access depends on care models that use a limited clinical workforce responsibly while keeping the structure and support people need.

08/16/2026

Technical knowledge matters, and it always will. The therapists and physicians at Sunstone train for years, and that training is what makes psychedelic-assisted therapy possible to deliver safely.

There is also a part of medicine that is harder to teach and impossible to chart. It shows up in how a participant is met in a difficult moment, in the ability and willingness of a therapist to sit with what surfaces.

In our experience, it's often this relational aspect of the therapeutic process that stays with people long after the experience ends.

08/08/2026

We use the term "participant" intentionally.

Psychedelic-assisted therapy is not a passive experience. It can surface memories, emotions, and sensations long buried. While what surfaces varies from person to person, the therapy around it asks for active engagement in working with what comes up.

Eloise Cherian is one of the first people you'll speak with at Sunstone. Here's how she describes what participation involves and why our screening process is as thorough and intentional as it is.

08/06/2026

Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic, known for producing shifts in perception, mood, and thinking.

It binds to serotonin receptors in the part of the brain tied to rigid self-narrative and rumination. Researchers believe temporarily loosening this default mode network may open a window where old patterns feel less fixed.

Researchers have been studying whether that shift may help support therapeutic work in structured clinical settings.

At Sunstone Therapies, psilocybin is just one of the classic compounds being studied as part of psychedelic-assisted therapy research. While the medicine plays an important role, the broader therapeutic process matters just as much: preparation beforehand, support during treatment, and integration afterward.

The compound creates the conditions. What happens within this window is guided and supported by the therapy.

Learn more: https://www.sunstonetherapies.com/psychedelic-therapy/

07/24/2026

Some experiences arrive with words. Others begin as a feeling, a memory, or a physical sensation that doesn't yet fit into a story.

Often, it's only after returning home - when life resumes, and the dust begins to settle - that those experiences start to make sense.

Trauma-informed care honors that process. Therapists stay attentive to what is emerging, responding with curiosity rather than assumption and continuing the collaborative approach established during preparation. Consent remains ongoing. Preferences can change. Care adapts alongside the individual as their experience evolves.

At Sunstone, trauma-informed care isn't confined to the dosing day. It's reflected in every stage of the therapeutic process, helping build the trust, collaboration, and therapeutic relationship that support meaningful care.

Address

9905 Medical Center Drive Suite 350
Rockville, MD
20850

Telephone

+13013377570

Website

https://www.sunstonetherapies.com/

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