About The Pearl
The Pearl Institute is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing cutting-edge, trauma-informed care into the heart of mainstream mental health through rigorous research, compassionate treatment, and practitioner training that lowers barriers and expands access for all.
Our Vision
We envision a world where healing is woven into the fabric of everyday life—where care is relational, rooted in dignity, and honors the sacredness of the human experience. A world where trauma is not hidden but held, where practitioners are supported in their own becoming, and where community is the medicine. We believe that healing work, especially with psychedelic medicines, must be approached with reverence, safety, and deep ethical responsibility. The Pearl exists to help shape this future: one where mental health care is accessible, attuned, and sacred.
Our Values
Ethical, Safe & Trauma-Informed Practice
We hold safety, ethics, and relational integrity as sacred. Every offering -from psychedelic therapy to integration support- is grounded in deep respect for the medicines we work with and the people we serve.
Equitable, Community-Centered Healing
Rooted in a trauma-informed and a culturally responsive approach, we prioritize care for historically underserved and marginalized communities. We believe true healing is collective and we’re building systems to reflect that truth.
Accessible Education & Patient Care
We are committed to reducing barriers to care. Through practitioner training, public education, and a tiered model of service delivery, we work to ensure healing and knowledge are within reach for all.
Relational Innovation & Collaboration
We are committed to forging new pathways in mental health merging ancient wisdom, modern science, and deep human connection. By weaving together clinical excellence, community wisdom, and emerging tools, we intend to shape models of care that are visionary in scope and anchored in connection.
Who We Serve
At The Pearl Institute, we walk alongside those who often find themselves left out of traditional systems, people navigating trauma, grief, identity shifts, or spiritual longing. Many of our clients come from rural areas where access to care is limited. Others are veterans, first responders, or survivors of systemic harm. Some are therapists and healers themselves, seeking integration, mentorship, or deeper alignment in their work.
We also serve practitioners, partners, and communities ready to explore ethical, heart-led psychedelic care. Whether you're here to heal, to learn, or to help co-create a better model, we welcome you.
You don’t have to know exactly what you’re looking for to begin. Healing takes many forms, and no two paths look the same. You just have to be ready to say yes to the next step. We’ll walk alongside you as you find the way that fits -with care that honors your pace, your story, and your wholeness.
Our Approach to Healing
The Pearl’s work is rooted in the relationships between client and practitioner, body and mind, science and spirit. We blend trauma-informed care with somatic practices, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and integration support that honors the complexity of healing. We meet people where they are, with care that is attuned, equity-focused, and deeply ethical.
Our model also includes practitioner training, community education, and collaborative partnerships that reflect our commitment to systems change. Healing is never just personal, it’s collective. Cultural. Generational. That’s why we approach every aspect of our work with integrity, spaciousness, and deep respect for the unfolding.
Our Roots
The Pearl Institute was created to bring forward-thinking, trauma-responsive care -including the ethical use of psychedelic-assisted therapies- into the mainstream of mental health. From the beginning, our vision has included research, treatment, practitioner training, and community education, all conducted with reverence for both the medicines and the humans in the process. Today, our clinic in Waynesville provides accessible, integrative care to clients across Western North Carolina. Looking ahead, our long-term goal is to establish a satellite clinic in Asheville, with a dedicated focus on substance use recovery and expanded access to psychedelic-assisted treatment, positioning The Pearl at the forefront of ethical innovation in this emerging field.
But the roots of this work reach back much further. The Pearl may have formally opened its doors in 2020, but it rises from over two decades of visionary leadership by founders Dr. Raymond and Kim Turpin. Long before psychedelic therapy entered the public lexicon, the Turpins were building trauma-informed, community-based mental health systems across some of the most underserved regions in Appalachia.
In 2004, they founded Jackson County Psychological Services to meet a critical care gap for children and families in rural schools. With a small team of clinicians, they built a regionally responsive behavioral health network that ultimately served 34 schools across Jackson, Haywood, and Macon counties -reaching nearly 3,000 low-income students and families each year. At its height, the agency employed over 100 staff and became a trusted partner to school systems, DSS, juvenile justice, and local law enforcement.
Their approach was ahead of its time: integrated care embedded in schools, wraparound support for high-need youth, early adoption of EMDR trauma treatment, and a deep investment in cross-sector partnerships. Through Dr. Turpin’s leadership, EMDR became a reimbursable treatment in Western North Carolina, expanding trauma access far beyond their own clients and helping to shape rural mental health policy across the state.
Moving forward after a transition away from child and family mental health services, rooted in Mountain Deep Lineage & Resilience (MDLR), they wanted to continue their community-based healing work and, in time, created The Pearl Institute as a nonprofit vessel for long-term transformation, one that could carry their vision forward with boldness, integrity, and imagination.
That vision continues today through a growing constellation of partners and programs. From the Evergreen Foundation, which has supported the Turpins’ work through multiple organizational evolutions, to the 30th Judicial District Alliance, who provided the first physical location under their umbrella to The Pearl. These relationships reflect decades of trust, shared learning, and community-rooted care.
The Pearl is more than a clinic. It is a living legacy -one shaped by place, purpose, and people- and a bold step toward a future where healing is sacred, science is in service to humanity, and care is within reach for all.
"I would love it if somebody would put the energy into studying the mind and psychedelics to the extent that we could start to talk about these things and somebody could even throw forth a few suggestions as to what might be happening. There's no body of information---we need more research. These are questions that we should be asking. This is the important stuff."
Jerry Garcia, American musician