Day: April 25, 2025

MDMA Policy Change

Case Study: Building Trust at the Edge of Regulation — Shaping the Psychedelic Care Ecosystem in the Netherlands

by Natalie_Maximets

When a country stands at the threshold of legalizing psychedelic therapy, the challenge isn’t just policy — it’s trust.

SYSTEMIC CHALLENGE

After breakthrough research on MDMA-assisted therapy, the Netherlands faced a pivotal question: how do you act on promising science when public understanding lags behind?

This wasn’t just a regulatory challenge — it was a test of trust, trauma literacy, and ethical pacing.

European Parliament Brussels 25

To navigate it, the Dutch government convened a multidisciplinary State Commission to explore the clinical, legal, and cultural feasibility of regulated psychedelic care.

MY ROLE

I joined the Commission as a clinical psychologist and communications lead, supporting both the design of the research and the tone of its public-facing engagement.

My contributions included:

  • Designing participant surveys with psychological safety built into their structure and sequencing
  • Developing trauma-informed email outreach, which significantly improved response rates and data quality — a change we made after noticing early drop-off due to overly formal language
  • Co-authoring the landmark paper:
     “Guiding Policy and Practice: Expert Recommendations for MDMA Therapy in Europe”
  • Helping align cross-sector contributors — from scientists and legal advisors to frontline clinicians — around shared language and messaging integrity

As a psychologist, I approached every communications decision not only through a strategic lens, but through clinical insight — attuned to tone, emotional readiness, and the risks of re-traumatization in policy discourse.

BEYOND THE COMMISSION

This work didn’t end at publication — it opened doors and deepened trust:

  • Policy Shift: The Dutch State Commission formally recommended the legalization of MDMA therapy for PTSD — a position directly shaped by the work I supported.
  • Platform Participation: I was invited to join the new European Platform for Regulation of MDMA in Clinical Care as a strategic communications expert — focused on building bridges across clinical, cultural, and ethical lines
  • European Parliament Roundtable: I traveled to Brussels to speak on novel mental health strategies for Ukraine, helping contextualize psychedelic care through the lens of displacement and systemic trauma
ICPR 2024

RESULTS

  • Policy influence: My co-authored paper contributed to a national recommendation to legalize MDMA therapy
  • Cross-national leadership: Invited to guide strategic communications across the European regulatory platform
  • EU-level advocacy: Participated in a high-level roundtable on psychedelic trauma care for displaced populations
  • Community building: Supporting narrative and trust infrastructure across Ukrainian research and mental health communities
  • Storytelling strategy in motion: Designing communications architecture for psychedelic care that is safe, honest, and resonant

 

EXPERTISE IN ACTION

  • Clinical Psychology (Trauma & Psychedelic Readiness)
  • Ethical Communications Strategy
  • Cross-Cultural Research Facilitation
  • Policy-Influence Writing
  • Narrative Design in Emerging Health Systems
  • Ukrainian Mental Health Advocacy in Psychedelic Contexts
Brussels Novel mental Health Treatments Roundtable

REFLECTION

This case isn’t “finished” — and that’s what makes it matter.
 I’m not just supporting systems that work. I’m helping build the ones we’ll need next.

Because progress rarely begins with a policy.
 Often, it begins with a reworded sentence. A shift in tone.
 A single moment when someone feels seen — and responds.

WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW

Later this year, I’ll participate in a MAPS educational program — holding two roles:

  1. Ukrainian clinical psychologist — to deepen my expertise in trauma-sensitive psychedelic care
  2. Communications strategist — to build narrative alignment between Ukrainian psychologists, European policymakers, and the MAPS community

I’ve already designed a storytelling strategy around the program— including long-form articles and social content — and am currently in conversation with MAPS to ensure ethical alignment in how the work is communicated.

STILL IN MOTION

So this isn’t a case study with a clean ending.

It’s a snapshot of real-time systems work — where the metrics aren’t just outcomes, but alignment, traction, and trust.

In fields like psychedelic regulation, trauma care, and cross-cultural mental health, the most meaningful impact rarely arrives as a single win.

It unfolds through tone. Through consensus. Through frameworks that outlast the room.

That’s the kind of work this case study holds: Still in motion. Still earning trust. Still building the future it names.

Case Study: Delivering Digital Mental Health to 150,000+ Displaced People

by Natalie_Maximets

What it takes to localize digital mental health support at scale — without losing clinical depth or cultural sensitivity.

The U-RISE Project was a multi-country EU initiative that delivered trauma-informed, digital mental health support to over 150,000 displaced Ukrainians — blending clinical integrity with cultural resonance across borders.

U-Rise Project Results

THE CHALLENGE:
As millions fled Ukraine, the crisis wasn’t just logistical — it was deeply psychological. EU countries needed fast, scalable mental health support that could hold trauma, not just track it.

This work required precision, empathy, and emotional credibility — across seven international partners, multiple platforms, and three countries.

MY ROLE:
I was brought into U-RISE as a clinical psychologist and communications strategist — but the role quickly evolved into one of strategic integration and emotional translation.
I helped turn a complex mix of clinical frameworks, European Commission deliverables, and on-the-ground emotional realities into a coordinated response that felt not just accessible, but deeply human.

WHAT I DID:

  • Adapted WHO’s “Doing What Matters in Times of Stress” for Ukrainian audiences across the EU, ensuring it was emotionally and culturally resonant
  • Designed content and flow for facilitator training, grounded in Self-Help+ and Problem Management+ methods
  • Trained 22 facilitators across Poland, Slovakia, and Romania to lead trauma-informed group interventions
  • Acted as communications bridge across six consortium partners, aligning messaging with deliverables for the European Commission
  • Co-authored research papers on MHPSS implementation, later published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology and Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health
  • Presented project outcomes at a European Parliament roundtable in Brussels — sharing insights on trauma-informed scale with policymakers

WHAT I DELIVERED:

  • Culturally adapted stress-management protocols, grounded in clinical psychology and translated with narrative care
  • Trauma-informed training systems that equipped frontline facilitators to hold space with confidence and compassion
  • Consortium communications alignment, enabling 6 international partners to present unified, emotionally coherent deliverables
  • EU-level advocacy, bringing practitioner insight into strategic dialogue on refugee mental health response

RESULTS

  • 150,000+ engagements across digital platforms — meeting EC impact benchmarks
  • Implemented in 3 countries, reaching both refugees and support providers
  • 22 facilitators trained, creating replicable psychosocial intervention capacity
  • Deliverables approved by the European Commission across all 6 partner organizations
  • Presented at the European Parliament, influencing trauma-informed EU health policy

Research published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology and Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health, shaping future MHPSS systems.

EXPERTISE IN ACTION

  • Clinical Psychology (Trauma & Group Interventions)
  • Cross-Cultural Content Design
  • Strategic Communications & Partner Alignment
  • EU Project Coordination & Policy Engagement
  • Digital Mental Health Content Strategy
U-RISE MHPSS Training in Romania

A MOMENT THAT LANDED

During one of the facilitator training sessions, a participant pulled me aside and said: “This is the first time I’ve felt confident explaining trauma in my own words.”

That sentence stays with me. Because it reminded me what this project was really about: Helping people find clarity, language, and voice — even in the aftermath of upheaval.

REFLECTION

This was more than a project. It was a lesson in how care scales — when systems are led by people who listen.

Whether I was adapting WHO content, facilitating training, or translating tension between stakeholders, I held one principle:

“Psychological safety isn’t just ethical — it’s operational. In crisis settings, it becomes a strategic priority.”

That’s what allowed this initiative to land — across countries, contexts, and communities in motion.

Curious how it all came together? Watch the video to see the U-RISE Project in action.

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