A Relational Approach to Psychedelic Healing

I have been working with psychedelics for over a decade; and I’ve been helping people heal with them for the last 7 years. Over this time, I’ve developed several beliefs about psychedelic-assisted healing which have shaped how I choose to practice it.

The first is that no psychedelic experience will “fix” you all on its own. Psychedelics can be invaluable in accelerating your personal healing, but your life will only change long-term with a substantial amount of work and commitment from you. Very very rarely (if ever) is someone fully and miraculously healed simply by consuming a large dose of psychedelics. There is no quick way out of your suffering, only through it.

The second is that psychedelics are most effective inside of a much larger therapeutic process. Psychedelics can dramatically assist in the process of therapy, but they are not a replacement for therapy. Most often, psychedelics help us heal by allowing us to make greater contact with pieces of ourselves which we have suppressed (e.g. emotions, unconscious beliefs, difficult memories). We then have to work with that content to actually change long-term. The work surrounding that psychedelic experience is the therapy, and it’s where the change really happens for most people.

If you are seeking psychedelic healing in hopes of a dramatic miraculous change, or in hopes of bypassing daily and difficult inner work, you are likely to be disappointed. And this disappointment can easily prevent you from taking real advantage of the benefits you do receive from psychedelics. Psychedelics are absolutely incredible catalysts for healing, but nothing can do the work for you.

The third is that the most effective psychedelic-assisted therapy protocol is one that is highly customized to the individual client. There is no set number of psychedelic sessions that will be most effective for everyone. There is no set frequency of psychedelic sessions that will work best for everyone. There aren’t even specific dosages or psychedelics that will be best for everyone.

The fourth lesson I’ve learned is that psychedelic healing is most effective when there is a deep, connected, and trusting relationship between the journeyer and facilitator. Healing invariably happens inside relationship and psychedelic healing is no exception. Psychedelics express themselves in their most therapeutic way when the journeyer is able to fully surrender to the experience. You cannot surrender unless you feel safe - and you feel that safety all the way down to your nervous system. This requires a deep level of trust between the journeyer and facilitator.

Effective psychedelic-assisted therapy requires the practitioner to carefully lay out a medicine plan and then collaborate with the client to alter it as the therapeutic process unfolds. It takes a substantial amount of experience and quality mentorship for practitioners to make these decisions well. At this point, psychedelic-assisted therapy is far more art than science.

I utilize psychedelics with clients only in the course of a longer-term therapeutic relationship and only when we both feel that you are ready. We could be meeting for 6 weeks, 6 months, or even years before we bring in psychedelics. We might do only a few psychedelic sessions in that time, we might do many, we might do none. It all depends on what is right for you specifically.

Moreover, taking psychedelics isn’t the goal. Long-term, stable, positive change is the goal. I work with psychedelics as one of many approaches to help foster that change. I also use many other approaches, from mindfulness meditation to DBT, to help foster that change. All of my clients will end up using some but not all of these techniques, and psychedelics are included in that.

I am currently able to work with cannabis, ketamine, and provide psilocybin mushroom personal use support services at a clinic in Boulder, CO. When, and if, you’re ready, we can discuss how we might utilize these medicines for your benefit.