More about Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy (PSIP)
PSIP is a modality that uses cannabis and sometimes low-dose ketamine lozenges. I’ve been doing this work with clients for 3 years (I’ve been in practice for more than 20 years). People sometimes feel a little let down to hear that the work uses cannabis, but I assure you, with this work, even people who are heavy cannabis users find their experience of using cannabis while doing PSIP is completely different from any other times they have used it, and certainly very different from recreational use.
PSIP is also very different from the common "sitter model" of high dose psychedelic assisted therapy, where the therapist is more of a "sitter" with you while you are in the psychedelic process, and the work happens mainly in integration sessions afterwards. This is lower-dose work that engages with psychedelic material arising from trauma as it is experienced in the body in real time. It involves inhibiting, softening and, if necessary, processing defenses that your nervous system uses to keep you away from difficult material, and is laser focused on the relational underpinnings of trauma.
Sessions are offered weekly or sometimes biweekly; treatment time is seldom shorter than 4 months and may last as long as 18 months-- depending on your nervous system, how deep and entrenched your defenses are, how deep your trauma is, and the amount of work you yourself want to do.
You will be expected to provide your own medicines, cannabis and or ketamine, and affirm that they are legally obtained. I usually refer clients to a clinic where they may schedule an assessment for a medication prescription.
If you are interested in PSIP, please read and attend to the following before contacting me. Once you have done so, we can explore whether this work is a good fit for you.
PSIP is deep work, and is an inherently destabilizing modality. It requires that you have a certain level of stability and are in general well-resourced, meaning you have practices and support systems that can help you get back to a calm state if you get knocked sideways or seriously triggered. It is also most effective if you have previously done and benefited from some type of somatic trauma work, such as Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Hakomi, or the like.
PSIP is a modality that uses cannabis and sometimes low-dose ketamine lozenges. I’ve been doing this work with clients for 3 years (I’ve been in practice for more than 20 years). People sometimes feel a little let down to hear that the work uses cannabis, but I assure you, with this work, even people who are heavy cannabis users find their experience of using cannabis while doing PSIP is completely different from any other times they have used it, and certainly very different from recreational use.
PSIP is also very different from the common "sitter model" of high dose psychedelic assisted therapy, where the therapist is more of a "sitter" with you while you are in the psychedelic process, and the work happens mainly in integration sessions afterwards. This is lower-dose work that engages with psychedelic material arising from trauma as it is experienced in the body in real time. It involves inhibiting, softening and, if necessary, processing defenses that your nervous system uses to keep you away from difficult material, and is laser focused on the relational underpinnings of trauma.
Sessions are offered weekly or sometimes biweekly; treatment time is seldom shorter than 4 months and may last as long as 18 months-- depending on your nervous system, how deep and entrenched your defenses are, how deep your trauma is, and the amount of work you yourself want to do.
You will be expected to provide your own medicines, cannabis and or ketamine, and affirm that they are legally obtained. I usually refer clients to a clinic where they may schedule an assessment for a medication prescription.
If you are interested in PSIP, please read and attend to the following before contacting me. Once you have done so, we can explore whether this work is a good fit for you.
PSIP is deep work, and is an inherently destabilizing modality. It requires that you have a certain level of stability and are in general well-resourced, meaning you have practices and support systems that can help you get back to a calm state if you get knocked sideways or seriously triggered. It is also most effective if you have previously done and benefited from some type of somatic trauma work, such as Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Hakomi, or the like.
- Prepare to discuss your resourcing practices, such as yoga, meditation, tai chi or other healing or mindfulness practices, and to share your previous experience with therapy, bodywork, psychedelic therapy, or other healing practices.
- Go to www.psychedelicsomatic.org/is-psi-training-right-for-me on the PSI website and explore the media resources there, especially the first video, "Mapping The Autonomic Nervous System.” It's also very helpful to have this nervous system map in your head as you start the work, so if you decide to go ahead with PSIP, I'd recommend you rewatch it later. The other resources here, including the white paper, are recommended. Most of the videos feature Saj Ravzi, the director and principal trainer of the Psychedelic Somatic Institute. He was responsible for taking the original non-medicine somatic trauma treatment modality he had been trained in and retooling it for psychedelic work, once it became clear that cannabis and other medicines were incredible facilitators of the original modality.
- If you have the time for it, I especially recommend the PSI presentation for the Danish Network for Psychedelic Therapy and Medicine.
- Read this article. Begin to work through the SELF care you can do on your own.