About Rafaelle

I've spent my career asking one question. What helps people heal? I've come at it from the therapy room and from research on social support and therapeutic alliance, and the answer keeps coming back to relationship.

I started in psychedelic research in 2016, working on some of the first studies of 5-MeO-DMT, and I've been part of research teams ever since. In 2026 I completed my PhD in Social Work at The Ohio State University, focused on social support in psychedelic therapy research. I've worked as a study therapist on two psilocybin-assisted therapy clinical trials, and I've been a therapist since 2018, in somatic-focused clinics and my own practice, after earlier work in wilderness therapy and hospital behavioral health.

Moving between those roles shapes how I work. I care about rigorous methods, and I care about what a protocol feels like from the participant's chair. I'm Cuban, a heritage Spanish speaker, non-binary transfemme, polyamorous, and neurodivergent, and I bring that to questions about who psychedelic science serves and who it leaves out.

Short bio

For event programs and introductions. Feel free to copy it.

Rafaelle Lancelotta, PhD, LPCC (she/they) is a psychedelic researcher, licensed therapist, and educator based in Columbus, Ohio. Rafaelle earned a PhD in Social Work from The Ohio State University, with research focused on social support in psychedelic-assisted therapy, and has co-authored more than two dozen peer-reviewed articles on psilocybin-assisted therapy, therapeutic alliance, 5-MeO-DMT, and the experiences of LGBTQIA+ and Spanish-speaking people who use psychedelics. Rafaelle has served as a study therapist on two psilocybin-assisted therapy clinical trials, co-facilitates psilocybin therapy trainings, and lectures in the MIND Foundation's Augmented Psychotherapy Training program.

I care about rigorous methods, and I care about what a protocol feels like from the participant's chair.

Education and licensure

• PhD, Social Work, The Ohio State University (2026). Emphasis: social support in psychedelic therapy research.
• MS, Counseling (Clinical Mental Health), University of Wyoming (2018). CACREP accredited.
• BA, English (Honors, Creative Writing), minor in Sociology, University of Central Florida (2013).
• Ohio LPCC (E.2404410), Colorado LPC (LPC.0016464), National Certified Counselor (1099497).

Selected training

• Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy: Background, current research, and basic skills. Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education (completed 2022; co-facilitator 2020, 2024, 2025).
• Psychedelic crisis assessment and intervention for behavioral health professionals (2026).
• Integrative Harm Reduction Psychotherapy, Center for Optimal Living (2022).
• Innate Path ketamine-assisted somatic psychotherapy (2020).
• Sovereign Medicine: liberatory facilitation centering queer and trans communities, Sovereign Ways (2026).
• Research compliance: CITI Good Clinical Practice (FDA and social-behavioral), Human Subjects Protection, Responsible Conduct of Research.

Service

• Board member and secretary, Source Research Foundation (2018 to 2026). Student, community, and travel grant review.
• Organizing and planning committee, Psychedemia conference (2022 to 2024).
• Founder and administrator, 5meodmt.org, an online harm reduction and peer support community (2017 to present).