Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy
Have a nice trip…
You’re committed to your healing journey and recently you’ve noticed that there are some places you’re feeling stuck. You’ve been curious about the buzz around psychedelic healing, but aren’t sure where to start and have lots of questions. You’re excited about the prospects of being able to quickly heal from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and chronic pain. Psychedelics are known to be life-changing, euphoric, and spiritually uplifting, and can deeply affect your thoughts, emotions, sensations, and relationships. To make ensure your experience is positive, it is important that you are committed to your own growth and transformation.
Through your research you have been wondering:
What is micro-dosing and does it work?
How can psychedelics help me in my healing journey?
Is this evidence-based?
Are psychedelics a miracle drug for healing?
What is the best way to incorporate psychedelics into my healing journey with depression, anxiety, or trauma?
What if I have a “bad trip?”
Asking questions and educating yourself is essential to ensuring a positive experience. As we enter the psychedelic renaissance, it is important to work with a team of licensed professionals trained in psychedelics who can provide the best education and support based on your unique needs. Licensed psychotherapists have ethics and laws that they abide by to ensure your safety and the best outcomes in your healing. With that being said, we provide psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in the following stages: consultation, preparation, journey, and integration.
Consultation
During your consultation, we will assess if you are currently appropriate for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. We will work with you and your medical providers to explore the benefits that psychedelic-assisted therapy can provide in your healing. This is to ensure there are no contradictions and to ensure safety. If psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy isn’t appropriate at the time of consultation, we will work with you to prepare for readiness or provide other alternative treatments.
Preparation
During the preparation phase of your journey, you will work with a psychotherapist (and possibly other medical professionals) to make sure you are fully aware of the benefits and risks of using psychedelic medicines and also work on intention setting. There is no specific plan for preparation because it is person-centered, meaning it will be based on your preferences, beliefs, and intentions for your journey. Your therapist will be here to guide you and help develop a plan that will prepare and support you and your intentions for this experience. It is important to have practices that will support you before, during, and after your journey including meditation, journaling, time in nature, dance, music, art, and any other resources that you find supportive.
Journey
While not all plant medicines are legal in the state of Michigan and this time, we work with ketamine providers in the area to provide ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). Those who participate in KAP do their psychedelic journey at a ketamine clinic with medical providers or they can receive a prescription to do their journey with their psychotherapists at their office. The set and setting of KAP are decided based on your preferences and recommendations from the medical team. Some people report feeling “raw” after an experience, which is why it is important to have supportive practices and people available. It is important to have space after your journey so you can allow your body to process at its own pace.
Integration
Depending on the type of medicine, certain psychedelics reduce activity in the “default mode network” of the brain causing increased neuroplasticity–meaning you can more easily create new neuropathways for habits and behaviors you’re hoping to change. For example, this can help you get out of negative thought loops or rigid patterns. Integration helps you create the change you are wanting to achieve in your lives.
Integration is considered the most essential ingredient for change in psychedelic journeys. Integration after your journey increases the potential for personal growth and transformation. During and after your journey, you may have uncovered thoughts, ideas, parts, feelings, or body sensations that are important to explore so you can integrate them into your life. Integration takes place inside and outside of the therapy room through talking therapy, somatic movement, creative arts, journaling, and other forms of expression. Integration time varies, and can take days, weeks, and sometimes years! There is no “right” amount of time for integration as healing takes place over our lifetimes.
Are you ready to learn if psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is right for you? Schedule your free consultation with us.
Here at Boketto Center, we do not provide, condone, or support the use of illegal substances. There are significant legal and medical risks associated with the casual use of psychedelics. These risks are amplified for people who are already experiencing mental health difficulties.
However, we acknowledge that people do sometimes choose to take risks of all sorts that are not medically advised or condoned. Our integration services offer a safe, non-judgmental, and confidential space to process non-ordinary states and their potential for personal transformation.
Our professionals have specialized training and years of experience with the non-ordinary states of consciousness that these experiences bring about, so whether you feel you’ve had a bad trip and aren’t sure how to cope with it or are otherwise seeking resources to unpack a psychedelic experience, we can help.