What Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy is (and isn't)

There’s a lot of talk about Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy these days. But what exactly does “Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy” even mean? What does it look like and how does it work? 

Before I became a Psychedelic Therapist, I was a fascinated student deeply curious about the potential of these medicines. I began studying the emerging field of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in 2015. Since then my journey has taken me across three countries to work with different medicines and traditions. I have sat with a variety of medicines myself, apprenticed to an ayahuasca facilitator, and even spent time in the jungle to deepen my understanding. 

My formal education includes graduate school and participation in five specialized psychedelic trainings. I’ve also supported clinical research through work with an MDMA study and provided psychedelic support in the medical tent at many festivals. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of leading retreats and working directly with more than 150 people. Through all of these experiences, I have practiced, learned, and grown immensely. 

I’ve been on this psychedelic path for a while now... It’s essentially the only thing I’ve ever really wanted to do with my adult life. (For lots of years my parents questioned my life path. It wasn’t until my Mother watched Fantastic Fungi that she really got it!) 

Here are some things I’ve learned along the way about what Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy is and is not:

Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy is structured and intentional.

There are at least four stages to Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: Screening, Preparation, Administration, and Integration. The process starts with a consultation call where the practitioner and the client get to know each other and feel into whether they would like to work together. If both parties are a “Yes” then the client completes a comprehensive screening form which assesses medical and psychological history. The therapist reviews this prior to accepting this person as a psychedelic client.

After the screening begins preparation. In this stage, safety, intention, and connection are built. The therapist will thoroughly explain what the session will look like, help the client practice some of the tools that they might use in session, and build a foundation of connection that can be leaned into if things get challenging. It's not until the administration session that a person actually takes the psychedelic. Depending on the medicine, these sessions are 2-7 hours long, within which the therapist is fully present and supportive of the client for the entire time. 

Integration is the final phase of psychedelic-assisted therapy, but often the beginning of the real work for clients. It's during this time that meaning is made from the experience, moments of insight and clarity are drawn out into everyday life, and intentionally acted upon. In integration, we seek to make altered states altered traits through practice and dedication. 

These four stages provide a foundation upon which deep, lasting work can take place. This structure is crucial for successful and safe psychedelic-assisted therapy. 

Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy is very different from recreational use of psychedelics.

Psychedelics open us up to a fast moving flow of energy, like opening a dam holding back the waters of perception. In casual or recreational settings, this water sort of sprays and splashes everywhere. It’s like being at a sprinkler party. People are having fun, and that’s great. But there’s another way to work with water.

In an intentional setting like Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy or Ceremony, the preparation work acts as an irrigation channel. When that dam opens and the water starts to flow, there is a specific place where it can go that we have identified. We can use that same water to nourish the seeds planted in our hearts and minds.

Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy is not escapism.

One of the core benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy is to make the unconscious conscious, to shake loose things that have been stuck. The word "psychedelic" literally translates to "soul revealer”. In the appropriate setting, psychedelics will not support your avoidance of your emotions. A good therapist will also not conspire with you to avoid. One important question that I ask all of my clients is this: "Is there anything that you've experienced, or suspect that you've experienced that if it were to come up in memory, you would be unable or unwilling to face it?" 

If a client tells me that they are very afraid of facing what's in their own mind and there's a lot of resistance, then it might not be the time for a psychedelic experience. It might be better to do some more traditional therapy work and lots of preparation in order to build a solid internal foundation. It's important that people engaging in psychedelic-assisted work be prepared to welcome, allow, and surrender to any internal experience that arises. 

You are the one who knows.

Many systems of therapy, and even some religious traditions, have a word that describes a similar concept. In the West, we often use the word "Soul." In yoga, they call it “Atman”. Transpersonal psychology calls it the “Holotropic Principle”, Internal Family Systems Therapy calls it “Self”, EMDR Therapy calls it the “Adaptive Information Processing System”. In Psychedelic Therapy, we call it the Inner Healing Intelligence. 

Whatever word you use, this is a force of nature that I have seen at play again and again. It’s the intelligence that moves a sunflower towards the light and heals broken bones. This incredible intelligence is inside of each person and my job as a psychedelic therapist is simply to help it out. I can bring attention to it and create the conditions under which it can do its healing work, but I am not the one who heals you. You are the one who heals you. If you ever encounter a Psychedelic Practitioner who claims to be the one who is healing you, run. That person is taking the power away from you and probably has not really done the work to see what’s actually happening. Even a Doctor does not heal a broken bone, they help the body’s intelligence heal itself. 

The desire to alter consciousness can be healthy and adaptive 

The War on Drugs has left us with a mountain of false information to sort through. One of the most culturally pervasive ideas is that all desire to alter consciousness is always negative. Don't get me wrong, problematic drug use is absolutely a thing. But certain ways of altering consciousness can also be healthy and adaptive. 

Psychology research into “the fourth drive” describes the desire to alter consciousness with substances and behavior as natural. Equally natural as hunger, thirst, and sex. For at least 70,000 years humans have been seeking out altered states of consciousness through sensory deprivation, fasting, substances, trance rituals, dance, meditation, etc… Altered states of consciousness serve us as ways to increase creativity, problem-solving, adhere social bonds, and cope with stress. The psychedelic therapy renaissance in our Western culture is not an introduction, it’s a reunion. It's a collective return to a technology that has been on the Earth for a very long time.