Episode 36 - Building Healing Communities with Mike Margolies

Discover why individual ketamine therapy isn't enough and shares practical strategies for building healing communities that address systemic mental health challenges with Mike Margolies and host, Sam Ko.

While your ketamine therapy practice may be transformative for individual patients, it represents only one piece of a larger healing puzzle. When mental health conditions appear ubiquitously across a culture, it signals systemic-level problems that require community-based solutions alongside your individual treatment approach.

In this conversation, Sam Ko interviews Mike Margolies, co-founder of the Global Psychedelic Society and a decade-long veteran of psychedelic community building. Mike shares insights about moving beyond the medical model's individual focus to create healing communities that address root causes of widespread trauma, depression, and addiction.

This discussion challenges you as a ketamine provider to think beyond individual patient care toward fostering therapeutic communities that support long-term healing and societal transformation.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why widespread mental health conditions require community-level healing approaches, not just individual treatment

• The ethical responsibility that comes with facilitating consciousness-altering experiences and why personal experience matters

• Practical frameworks for building healing communities around your ketamine practice using existing psychedelic societies

👉 Disclosure: Some of the links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase through them, we may earn a small commission—at no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting the podcast!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the discussion on YouTube here.

Episode 36 show notes:

• 00:00 Teaser - The Experience as The Medicine

• 00:44 Welcome to the Ketamine Startup Podcast

• 01:51 Interview with Mike Margolies: Community Healing

• 03:05 The Importance of Community in Psychedelic Therapy

• 04:58 The Bio-Psychosocial Model of Medicine

• 07:44 Integral Theory and Holistic Healing

• 09:37 The Global Psychedelic Society: Origins and Evolution

• 16:01 The Psychedelic Renaissance: Conferences and Trends

• 19:56 Challenges and Ethical Considerations in Psychedelic Therapy

• 28:32 The Rise of Ketamine Clinics

• 31:27 Ethical Considerations in Ketamine Clinics

• 32:19 Philosophy and Responsible Use of Ketamine

• 34:52 Integration and Therapy Approaches

• 37:33 Building a Psychedelic Community

• 39:53 Vision for a Post-Prohibition World

• 47:35 Advice for Aspiring Ketamine Clinic Owners

• 50:40 Fun and Personal Insights

• 56:06 Conclusion and Contact Information

Thanks for listening

Connect with Mike:

• Mike’s website 

• Mike’s Instagram

• Global Psychedelic Society

  • 📣 Support The Global Psychedelic Society

• Psychedelic Seminars

• LajoSupport The Global Psychedelic SocietyllSupport The Global Psychedelic Societya The Band Youtube

• Lajolla The Band Instagram

Selected Links From the Episode:

• Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

• The Psychonaut’s Dilemma By Albert Garcia-Romeu 

• PEACH—Psychedelic Education and Community Healing (Double Blind) by Mike Margolies 

• 📕The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible (Sacred Activism) by Charles Eisenstein 

• 📗Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein

• 📘Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness by Frédéric Laloux

• 📙A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber