"Unlike psychotherapists... underground [LSD] guides have no accredited educational institutions, no licensing and no way to publicly market their services."

"How, then, does one make a career as a guide? Steve was one of many guides I spoke to who described feeling spiritually 'called' to do this work. Like doctors who provided abortions pre-Roe v Wade, he breaks laws that he believes are unjust; he considers legal violations a risky but necessary part of his quest to alleviate people’s pain. He charges on a sliding scale that ranges from around $15 to $50 an hour. As is the case with most guides, his own psychedelic experiences convinced him the job was worth the risk. 'During an early guided psilocybin session, I realized I’d never adequately dealt with the pain caused by my parents’ divorce,' Steve says. 'There was clearly still this 11-year-old part of myself that was like, I want to be part of a coherent family unit. During the experience, I was given this vision – there’s no way to say this that doesn’t sounds silly – but there was this mother figure who was like, half-Vedic goddess, with a million arms and a million eyes, and half-space alien, with gray skin. She was this space mother, surrounded by this space family, and she just beamed to me this incredible welcoming feeling of, this is the divine family that you stem from.'"

From "Welcome to the trip of your life: the rise of underground LSD guides/Some Americans searching for alternative paths to healing have turned to psychedelics. But how does one forge a career as a guide when the substances are illegal?" (The Guardian).