Reed Finlay: Designing Spaces for Healing and Transformation in Psychedelic Therapy

Set and setting design for psychedelic healing is the focus of this conversation with Reed Finlay, founder of Set and Setting Design, in a podcast episode of The Trip Report. Finlay describes how a long career in architecture shifted after a transformative plant medicine experience, leading him to build environments intended to support healing, growth, and transformation. He connects his approach to psychedelic ceremony spaces, retreat centers, and themed sacred or immersive settings like a Burning Man temple. The episode argues that sacred space design can shape psychedelic experiences through the “set and setting” framework and by applying psychological ideas such as Donald Winnicott’s “holding environment.” It also positions this work as part of an emerging field where spirituality, community, and modern psychedelic therapy can be reinforced through built environments.