A new wave of philanthropic investment is poised to transform how society supports individuals facing the end of life, moving beyond the traditional focus on managing physical pain to directly address the profound emotional and existential suffering that often accompanies a terminal diagnosis. This significant push, spearheaded by the Healing Hearts, Changing Minds (HHCM) organization, aims to harness the therapeutic potential of psychedelics to help patients find peace, meaning, and dignity in their final months. Through its “Walking Each Other Home” initiative, HHCM is funding a diverse set of pioneering projects designed to integrate these promising therapies into mainstream palliative and hospice care, signaling a critical shift toward a more holistic and compassionate approach to dying.
Beyond Managing Pain to Address Existential Anguish
For many individuals with a life-limiting illness, the greatest burden is not physical discomfort but a crushing wave of anxiety, depression, and existential dread. This deep-seated anguish stems from the immense psychological weight of confronting mortality, leading to a loss of meaning and connection that can prevent patients from living their remaining days fully. Traditional palliative care, while essential for managing symptoms, often lacks effective tools to treat this specific form of suffering, leaving a significant gap in compassionate support.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy has emerged as a uniquely promising intervention to fill this void. Groundbreaking, though still limited, research indicates that compounds like psilocybin and ketamine can catalyze profound psychological experiences that help individuals reframe their perspective on life, death, and consciousness. By facilitating a deeper sense of interconnectedness and acceptance, these therapies offer a potential pathway to alleviate the fear and isolation that so often define the end-of-life experience, yet rigorous investigation is needed to establish the safest and most effective models of delivery.
A Philanthropic Response to a Critical Gap
Recognizing this urgent need, the philanthropic organization Healing Hearts, Changing Minds launched the “Walking Each Other Home” initiative to fund innovative approaches to psychedelic end-of-life care. The program was designed to directly address the gap between the known potential of these therapies and their limited availability within established care settings. It represents a targeted effort to build the evidence base required for wider integration.
The response from the medical and therapeutic communities was overwhelming, underscoring the widespread interest in this field. The initiative received 59 distinct proposals collectively requesting $4.8 million in funding, far exceeding the available resources and demonstrating a clear readiness across the healthcare spectrum to explore these new frontiers. This powerful demand highlights a pivotal moment where clinical curiosity and compassionate ambition are converging.
The initiative’s framework was not developed in a vacuum. Before launching the call for proposals in July 2025, HHCM conducted an extensive “listening tour,” engaging with more than two dozen leaders in palliative medicine, hospice, spiritual care, and psychedelic research. This foundational process ensured the funding priorities were grounded in the real-world challenges and opportunities identified by experts on the front lines of end-of-life care.
A Diverse Portfolio Pushing the Boundaries of Care
From this highly competitive pool of applicants, seven grantees were selected to share a total of $566,260 in funding. These projects represent a diverse and forward-thinking portfolio, each designed to test different models of care, serve unique populations, and push the boundaries of compassionate support. The selected initiatives range from developing accessible in-home treatment protocols to conducting formal clinical trials and building local expertise in underserved regions.
Among the awardees, End of Life Psychedelic Care is pioneering a multi-state pilot to deliver ketamine therapy directly to patients’ homes in Oregon, California, and Georgia, integrating spiritual support into its protocol. In a more traditional clinical setting, the Mayo Clinic is launching a landmark study of psilocybin specifically for the unique existential distress faced by brain cancer patients. Meanwhile, Red Willow Hospice in New Mexico will use its grant to train staff and provide ketamine-assisted psychotherapy to its rural patient base, embedding this novel treatment within its established holistic care model. Other projects focus on scalability through group retreats at the University of Washington, healing war trauma with veterans in Ukraine, building professional capacity in Puerto Rico, and combining therapy with narrative medicine to create a lasting legacy for patients.
Grounded in Expertise and Driven by Compassion
The initiative’s credibility is reinforced by its rigorous and thoughtful selection process. Each of the 59 proposals was meticulously evaluated by an independent panel of six subject matter experts who used a detailed scoring rubric to identify the most promising and well-designed projects. The final seven grantees represent a highly selective 12% acceptance rate, reflecting both the exceptional quality of the awardees and the high bar for innovation in this sensitive field.
Robert Ansin, founder of Healing Hearts, Changing Minds, articulated the philosophy driving the initiative, stating that the ultimate goal is to support therapies that help people live as fully as possible, even while facing death. This vision is embodied in HHCM’s trust-based “Ripple Model of Good Effects,” which focuses on empowering community-rooted organizations. By investing in local experts and institutions, the initiative aims to create cascading positive impacts that benefit individuals, strengthen local care ecosystems, and ultimately contribute to systemic change in how end-of-life care is perceived and delivered.
Charting the Future with New Models for Psychedelic Therapy
The seven funded projects are not merely academic exercises; they are actively charting the future of psychedelic-assisted therapy by testing practical frameworks and innovative strategies. The portfolio intentionally explores a wide spectrum of delivery methods, from individualized in-home ketamine administration to group-based psilocybin retreats and psilocybin therapy within formal clinical trials. This diversity is crucial for understanding how these powerful interventions can be adapted to different needs, settings, and patient populations.
Furthermore, these initiatives are pioneering the integration of psychedelic therapy with complementary modalities that enhance its impact. Projects are combining psychedelic sessions with spiritual care, traditional hospice services, and even narrative medicine, where patients are guided to find meaning by documenting their life stories. This holistic approach recognizes that profound healing requires attending to the mind, body, and spirit in concert.
These varied approaches represented the next crucial step toward identifying the most effective, accessible, and compassionate ways to deliver psychedelic support at the end of life. The insights gained from these studies were expected to build a strong evidence base, inform clinical best practices, and pave the way for the broader adoption of these therapies, ultimately offering a new dimension of hope and peace to those navigating one of life’s most challenging journeys.
