The CAnadian Network for Psychedelic-Assisted Cancer Therapy (CAN-PACT): A Multi-Phase Program Overview.
Simple Summary: People living with cancer often struggle with distressing feelings such as loss of hope, anxiety, and a sense of meaninglessness and demoralization that negatively impacts quality of life. While there are psychosocial interventions for these symptoms, challenges such as access, delay...
| Published in: | Current Oncology Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 7 - 26 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
MDPI
Jan2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=191175325&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 191175325 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 11980052 5EKK jtl: Current Oncology issn: 11980052 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2026 vid: 31 iid: 1 pid: 97109 pub: MDPI artinfo: ui: 191175325 10.3390/curroncol33010007 191175325 ppf: 7 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: The CAnadian Network for Psychedelic-Assisted Cancer Therapy (CAN-PACT): A Multi-Phase Program Overview. aug: au: Carlson, Linda E. Richardson, Harriet Shore, Ron Albertyn, Christopher P. Balneaves, Lynda G. Bates, Alan Burnell, Margot Chochinov, Harvey Max Clements, David Deleemans, Julie Horlock, Hilary Mathews, Jean McKenzie, Michael Savard, Chantal Soares, Claudio N. Tu, Wei Williams, Monnica affil: Division of Psychosocial Oncology, Department of Oncology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 2T8, Canada sug: ab: Simple Summary: People living with cancer often struggle with distressing feelings such as loss of hope, anxiety, and a sense of meaninglessness and demoralization that negatively impacts quality of life. While there are psychosocial interventions for these symptoms, challenges such as access, delayed onset of treatment effects, and incomplete responses highlight the need for new, fast-acting, potentially synergistic therapies to better manage these distressing symptoms. Research suggests that psychedelic-assisted therapies, often using psilocybin in combination with psychological support, may offer accelerated and lasting relief for many people. The CAN-PACT project brings together a Canadian network of researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and people affected by cancer to investigate the safety, effectiveness, and real-world integration of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) in cancer care. By emphasizing diversity, person-centered approaches, and training for healthcare providers, this innovative work aims to lay the foundation for future studies and inform policies that could expand supportive treatment options for people with cancer experiencing demoralization. The CAnadian Network for Psychedelic-Assisted Cancer Therapy (CAN-PACT) was launched in 2025 to address urgent gaps in supportive care for Canadians with cancer experiencing demoralization syndrome (loss of meaning, dysphoria, disheartenment, helplessness, a sense of failure) and related psychosocial distress. CAN-PACT has six major objectives: (1) to develop a national interdisciplinary research and practice network; (2) to set research priorities through structured stakeholder engagement; (3) to develop and provide PAT training and education for clinicians, researchers, and patients; (4) to pilot test the feasibility of intervention and assessment procedures; (5) to conduct a multi-center, randomized controlled trial of PAT for people with advanced cancer; and (6) to inform and influence healthcare policy on PAT in Canada. We discuss the background and need for PAT in cancer, describe challenges currently limiting its use, and outline CAN-PACT's strategy for building capacity, generating Canadian evidence, and preparing the oncology healthcare environment for potential implementation. This manuscript presents a summary overview of CAN-PACT as a multi-objective research program; detailed protocols for each discrete study component will be published separately as the research program progresses. Through environmental scans, national engagement, targeted training, rigorous research, and ongoing collaboration with policymakers, CAN-PACT aims to enable equitable access to safe, evidence-based PAT for people with advanced cancer in Canada's publicly funded cancer centers. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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