Annie Mithoefer
Psychiatric Nurse; MDMA-Assisted Therapy Co-Therapist; MAPS Trainer
Psychiatric nurse and co-therapist in the landmark MAPS MDMA-PTSD trials who, together with her husband Michael Mithoefer, developed the therapeutic approach and training infrastructure for MDMA-assisted therapy.
Biography
Annie Mithoefer is a psychiatric nurse whose role as co-therapist alongside her husband Michael Mithoefer in the MAPS MDMA-assisted therapy trials has made her one of the most clinically experienced practitioners of MDMA-assisted therapy in the world. The Mithoefer dyadic therapy model — with a physician/therapist and a nurse/co-therapist working together during sessions — became the standard protocol for MAPS's Phase 2 and Phase 3 MDMA trials.
Annie's contributions to the therapeutic approach extend beyond simply assisting Michael's sessions. Her background in nursing, somatic work, and experiential therapies shaped the embodied, non-directive quality of the MAPS protocol — particularly the approach of trusting the healing process that emerges for each participant rather than directing the session toward predetermined therapeutic goals. Her voice and presence during difficult session moments have been cited by trial participants as critical components of their experiences.
The Mithoefers have conducted MAPS therapist training workshops together, transmitting the therapeutic approach they developed to the hundreds of therapists who have been certified to deliver MDMA-assisted therapy in clinical trials. Annie's role in this training has been central — modeling the quality of presence and attunement that the protocol requires in ways that no written manual can fully capture.
She has also spoken publicly about the personal dimensions of this work — including the challenge of holding space for participants' trauma while maintaining one's own wellbeing, the importance of therapist preparation and ongoing support, and the ethical commitments that distinguish genuine therapeutic care from exploitation in a context involving such profound vulnerability.
Organizations
Why They Matter to the LearnShrooms Community
Annie Mithoefer represents the nursing and somatic dimension of psychedelic-assisted therapy that is too often underweighted in a field that has historically centered physician authority. Her co-therapist role in the most significant MDMA trials in history, and her contribution to the training of hundreds of therapists, make her one of the most influential practitioners in the psychedelic medicine field.
Legal Context
For the legal landscape where Annie Mithoefer operates, see psilocybin laws in South Carolina.