When I met Vu Tran at the MAPS conference in Denver in 2023, neither of us could have predicted how quickly our vision would take root. What began as a conversation between two business owners, one in Edmonton, one in Calgary has grown into a network of 13 partner clinics across Canada, all working to bring psychedelic-assisted therapy into communities that desperately need it. The momentum is undeniable. And it’s only the beginning; the Collaborative Care model is beginning to take shape.
From Vision to Collaboration
I’m Reverdi Darda, CEO and co-founder of ATMA CENA, and I’ve spent over 30 years in healthcare. I’ve seen how hard it is for innovative treatments to break through traditional systems, especially when those treatments challenge conventional approaches to health care. But I’ve also seen what happens when the right people come together with a shared purpose.
After that initial meeting in Denver, Vu and I returned to Alberta with a question: How do we make psychedelic-assisted therapy accessible, safe, and sustainable across Canada? The answer wasn’t to build everything ourselves. It was to partner with business owners that were already serving their communities through medical and therapy practices, and integrated health centers that understood their clients’ needs and wanted to offer something more.
Why Partner Clinics Matter
ATMA CENA’s growth isn’t about expansion for expansion’s sake. It’s about creating a collaborative care model that brings innovative mental-health care within approved Health Canada frameworks to people who need it most.
Each partner clinic joins the network with its own strengths:
– Medical practices that already provide physician-supervised medical treatments for depression and anxiety
– Therapy practices with deep roots in their communities and long-standing client relationships
– Integrated health centers that understand the value of bridging traditional and emerging therapies responsibly
What ATMA CENA provides is the expertise, training, and clinical support to help these clinics offer psychedelic-assisted therapy safely and ethically. It’s not about replacing what they do it’s about expanding what’s possible.
Building the Right Processes
Introducing psychedelic-assisted therapy into a clinic is an exciting opportunity that calls for careful preparation and collaboration. There are regulatory requirements to meet, safety protocols to establish, and clinical teams to train. We have knowledge that we share based on Alberta’s psychedelic-assisted therapy guidelines. We recognize that prescribers must have a clear understanding of the medical scope of treatment and any potential contraindications. We support therapists with specialized training in preparation, safety, and integration. That’s where ATMA CENA’s interdisciplinary clinical team approach becomes essential.
Partner clinics receive:
– Clinical training and support through CE-approved programs that build clinical competency in psychedelic-assisted therapy
– Operational guidance on how to establish safe, compliant treatment environments
– Medical knowledge that draws on professional insights and experience to ensure treatments are delivered safely, within scope of practice, and aligned with regulatory standards.
– Ongoing consultation as clinics navigate real-world challenges and client needs
It’s true collaboration as clinics retain their identity, their relationships with clients, and their autonomy, while gaining access to the expertise and infrastructure they need to offer this care.
Blending Medical and Community-Based Therapy
One of the most innovative aspects of ATMA CENA’s model is how it bridges medical and community-based care. Psychedelic-assisted therapy requires both medical insight and collaboration to ensure safety, and therapy expertise to support healing.
Partner clinics don’t have to be one or the other. They can be both.
A family medicine practice might add psychedelic-assisted therapy as an option for patients who haven’t responded to traditional treatments. A therapy practice might partner with ATMA CENA’s hub clinics to offer their clients access to medically supervised interventions. An integrated health center might train their existing team to provide the full continuum of care from assessment through treatment to long-term integration support.
This flexibility is what makes the model sustainable. It meets clinics where they are, rather than asking them to become something they’re not.
What This Means for Clients
For people seeking care, ATMA CENA’s network means access. It means you don’t have to travel to a major city or join a waitlist that stretches for months. It means your own doctor, therapist, or clinic might already be able to refer to a hub clinic in the community or they may be considering joining the network.
It also means continuity. If you’re already working with a therapist you trust, you don’t have to start over. Through ATMA CENA’s CoCare™ program, your therapist can continue providing preparation and integration support while collaborating with the medical team for treatment sessions.
This continuity of care through multidisciplinary collaboration is what makes the model client-centered, not system-centered. It’s designed around what people need, not what’s easiest to administer.
Looking Ahead: Beyond Canada
Right now, 13 clinics are on the way to being operational across Canada. But the vision extends beyond provincial borders.
ATMA CENA is setting the stage for growth not just across Canada but throughout North America. Why? Because the need is everywhere. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, and treatment-resistant mental health conditions don’t respect geography. And the traditional approaches we’ve relied on aren’t enough for everyone.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy offers a different path, one that’s backed by research, supported by compassionate care, and increasingly accessible through partnerships like the ones ATMA CENA is building.
Why This Approach Works
The success of ATMA CENA’s network comes down to a few key principles:
1. Partnership over ownership – Clinics remain independent while gaining access to shared resources
2. Safety over speed – Growth happens at a pace that ensures quality and compliance
3. Collaboration over competition – The goal is to lift the entire field, not just one organization
4. Accessibility over exclusivity – The model is designed to reach diverse communities, not just urban centers
These principles reflect Reverdi’s decades of experience in healthcare and her understanding of what it takes to build something that lasts.
An Invitation to Grow Together
If you’re a healthcare provider, therapist, or clinic owner who’s been curious about psychedelic-assisted therapy and if you’ve wondered whether this approach could serve your clients but didn’t know where to start, ATMA CENA’s network might be the answer.
This isn’t about changing everything you do. It’s about adding a tool, joining a community, and being part of a movement that’s reshaping mental health care in Canada.
For clients, it’s a message of hope: this care is coming. It’s here in some places already, and it’s spreading. You don’t have to wait for the system to change. The system is changing now.
Interested in learning more about ATMA CENA’s partner clinic network?
Explore how you can join today.
