A space where Ancient Wisdom & Somatic Therapy meet to help unlock old patterns, behaviors and trauma that have kept us feeling stuck.
Psychedelic therapy is very different from traditional therapy. Instead of working to analyze and think our way to the source of our suffering, and then use the insight we gain to ‘change’ our behavior or perspective, we can now get direct access to the subconscious, the place where traumatic memory, suppressed emotion and relational patterns, formed in childhood, reside. Because we can access the source, we have a much more powerful and effective tool for real, lasting relief from suffering. -Innate Path.org
I provide psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy as well as somatic integration for psychedelic experiences you have outside my practice.
Psychedelics are proving to be powerful therapeutic tools. A rich body of research suggests psychedelics combined with psychotherapy can offer breakthroughs for people with treatment resistant depression, anxiety, substance use addictions, PTSD, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Through my professional work with clients and my own personal therapy work as a client, I have found that an integrated mind/body therapeutic approach, enhanced by the thoughtful use of psychedelics, can bring powerful healing to the deepest of wounds.
Currently, I offer psychotherapy with Ketamine and Cannabis, both of which are legally available for medicinal use. When used with the intention and setting for therapeutic processing, these medicines can support deep transformation and discovery. I integrate the psychedelic effect of the medicines with a somatic (body-based) processing modality. (Once MDMA and psilocybin are legalized for therapeutic use I will be offering therapy with these medicines as well.)
Ketamine and Cannabis create altered states of consciousness that facilitate the processing of depression, trauma, unhelpful behavioral patterns and more. The process of working with the somatic model of therapy I use allows awareness of unconscious patterns that keep you stuck to emerge. These medicines help loosen psychological defenses while calming fears, offering new choices and ways of relating to yourself, others and the world.
Basics of the model I use:
Innate Healers – True healing lies within. In contrast to the traditional view that to find healing we must look outside ourselves; psychedelics teach us that we have an inherent longing and ability to heal. Instead of seeing our symptoms as problems, we learn to see them as guides. Turning inward toward our suffering not only shows us the cause, but also brings to light the solution, which when found heals us naturally the way we heal from a cared for wound.
Embodied Mindfulness – As we cultivate a new relationship to our experience, through an embodied awareness, we access these innate healers. The use of a somatic processing modality encourages embodied awareness.
Addressing Dissociation – Dissociation is a powerful defense employed during traumatic events. It allows us to survive overwhelming circumstances by temporarily hiding from us parts of that experience that we could not manage at the time. If these experiences are not re-integrated afterward, they stay in our system, cycling, causing symptoms. They often become literal blind spots. This is where the support of an experienced therapist becomes essential. To help us turn toward our ‘blind spots’ so they can be re-integrated and therefore healed. Dissociation can take place on the mental, emotional, physical, relational and spiritual levels.
Childhood Programming – Humans are children for a very long time in contrast to other animals. That is because it takes many years to learn all that is necessary to become a human adult. If those years are spent in fear, isolation or in ways that do not promote sovereignty or self-trust, we experience difficulties in adulthood. Psychedelics give us access to this programming offering us the opportunity for updating on that subconscious level. (The basics of the model above are from InnagePath.org.)
What does work with these medicines look like?
We start with about two to four 50-minute therapy sessions. Here we get to know each other, establish trust, and become familiar with what is present that wants to be processed in you. You get to know what working somatically feels like and we start working with the core material that you will likely go deeper into with the assistance of medicine. If after these sessions we both agree you are ready to move into using medicines to deepen the work, then we schedule a 2-hour medicine session and an integration session (50 minutes) which will take place about 3-8 days after the medicine session.
(Please note that I am not a medical prescriber. If you decide to work with Ketamine, I will refer you to a professional prescribing partner for your prescription. The fee for the appointment with the prescribing partner is typically around $275 and it can typically take 1-3 weeks to secure an appointment with them.)
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)
Ketamine is safe, legal, and has been shown as an effective treatment for depression, anxiety and PTSD. I work with a prescriber to provide you with sublingual medicine to use in session. Where a Ketamine infusion center provides a higher dose without therapy, KAP typically uses a lower dose, allowing you to relate to your experience to facilitate processing of the material laying beneath depression, anxiety, and other distressing symptoms. Since Ketamine is a dissociative, it may provide a safety that allows you to process material that otherwise would feel too overwhelming.
Cannabis Assisted Psychotherapy
“Cannabis is a legal and accessible psychedelic medicine. “Cannabis is well known to help ease mental health symptoms such as anxiety, depression, insomnia and PTSD, but what isn’t well known is that cannabis, in conjunction with psychotherapy, can be used to actually resolve these symptoms at their source instead of just managing them. In the right therapeutic set & setting, cannabis becomes one of the most useful tools to access what is actually going on under the surface.” -InnatePath.org
Psychedelic Integration Support
You may have had an experience that you’re unsure how to make sense of or integrate. I offer support to integrate your experience so that what was learned can transfer into your everyday life in a way that allows you to live more fully and peacefully in the present. I offer a safe space to process the unconscious material may have surfaced in your psyechedelic journey, whether or not I facilitated the medicinal journey with you. Psychedelic medicine can bring insights, peak experiences, as well as emotional, mental and spiritual breakthroughs. I will support you in bringing these revelations into your everyday life and relationships.
My own healing experience with psycehedelic
Psychedelics have been powerful catalysts for healing on my own journey. During psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions, my system organically moved into processing deep-seated subconscious and traumatic material that was keeping me stuck in anxious and avoidant patterns. Psychedelics provided safety to my brain (particularly the fight/flight part of the brain) during the sessions, allowing previously “protected” material to surface and be safely processed.
During integration sessions after the work with psychedelics, much of the safety felt inside me during the psychedelic sessions transferred over, helping to facilitate integration of the experiences and insights into my life. This deep dive work has resulted in an expansion in the way I am able to show up in my everyday life. More of me gets to show up authentically without fear of rejection. The work has also provided an experience of life that is more peaceful, with less unnecessary activation of the fight/flight response, allowing me to connect more deeply with others and to create more healthy and loving relationships.
The work I have done therapeutically with psychedelics has been hugely transforming and healing. I have experienced overflowing joy, gentle and safe connection which was life changing, as well as ecstatic expansion of my being. The work was also very difficult at times as it brought me into spaces that were painful and frightening. That pain and fear were already there inside me, experienced daily, although at a lower, more muted level. Psychedelics allowed me to meet these spaces directly, which was necessary for their transmutation and release.
What are the costs associated with this therapy?
All 50-minute sessions are $165. Two-hour psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy sessions are $350. I also have a certain number of reduced fee slots in my practice based on financial need.
Do you accept insurance? I do not take insurance for any of the services I provide. I do accept most HSA and FSA cards for non-psychedelic sessions.
A great resource to understand and learn more about psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and the model I am trained in and use is here. https://www.psychedelicsomatic.org/resources
More specific details about what ketamine and cannabis-assisted psychotherapy look like to come soon…
