Zendo Lab
Our Research
For more than a decade, Zendo Project has witnessed the impact of compassionate psychedelic care firsthand. But as psychedelics become more integrated into healthcare systems, public policy, and mainstream culture, stories alone are no longer enough. If psychedelic harm reduction is to inform emerging systems of care, it must be supported by rigorous research and real-world evidence.
Most psychedelic research takes place in highly controlled clinical settings. Yet the majority of psychedelic experiences occur elsewhere: at festivals, retreats, gatherings, and within homes. These environments remain among the least studied parts of the psychedelic ecosystem, despite being where many people encounter altered states and seek support. Zendo Lab aims to bridge that gap.
Mission
Zendo Lab advances psychedelic harm reduction through research, partnerships, and compassionate peer support, bridging academic science with community-based care.
Vision
We envision a future where evidence-based psychedelic harm reduction is integrated into public health and healthcare systems, ensuring safe and informed access for all.
What is Zendo Lab?
Zendo Lab is our dedicated research initiative, where our commitment to data integrity, learning, and service is shaping the field of psychedelic science. As of April 2026, Zendo Project is officially IRB-approved and operates as an independent research institution.
Through both independent initiatives and partnerships with global universities and research teams, we’re transforming field data into actionable insights to advance the science of compassionate care.
2
Publications
Peer-reviewed submissions underway
15
Events
Research deployment sites in 2026
4+
Research Partners
Academic & public health collaborators
—Nima Veiseh, Research Fellow
Research Initiatives
Learning from the field, not from theory alone
Since Zendo Project’s inception in 2012, our experience providing psychedelic care at events has given us valuable insight into who receives peer support services, how their experiences unfold, and what ultimately helps them. We use these insights to continuously improve both our support services and our education programs.
Data collected in the field helps us identify emerging trends, refine our harm reduction practices, and better understand what approaches are most effective in real-world settings. Those learnings are then incorporated into our services and our SIT course, ensuring that participants learn from real-world experiences rather than theory alone.
Our approach to psychedelic training is informed by two primary research initiatives:
Event-Based Peer Support & Medical Systems
We examine how on-site peer support influences guest outcomes, utilization of medical services, and event operations. We honor the privacy of our guests by ensuring data is anonymized before it is reviewed.
Behavior Change Following SIT Training
We evaluate how education on psychedelic support influences confidence, supportive actions, and community capacity.
Our partnership with the Center for Psychedelic Public Health focuses on evaluating the efficacy of Zendo Project’s SIT Course and exploring how peer support can strengthen community-based approaches to psychedelic wellness and support.
Zendo Lab Updates
Zendo Lab Update: March 2026
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on what it means to spend almost twenty years standing at the intersection of psychedelics and public health, and how it feels to arrive at this moment in partnership with Zendo Project. What began as a college student’s conviction that “good people use drugs” and deserve
Zendo Lab Update: APHA 2025
At the American Public Health Association’s annual conference on November 4, Zendo Project Research Fellow Nima Veiseh presented new research alongside Missi Wooldridge from the Center for Psychedelic Public Health. Nima introduced his Theory of Altered State Compassionate Integration (ASCI), which states that empathic and emotionally attuned support during transitions
Introducing Zendo Lab
Over the coming months, we’ll begin inviting our broader community to help us shape the next generation of psychedelic care. Whether through survey studies, shared experiences, or volunteer opportunities, your input will contribute to building one of the world’s first large-scale datasets on psychedelic harm reduction and peer support.
Our Partners
