Psilocybin Therapy

Psilocybin Therapy with Angela

I've been touched by many journeys over the last couple of years, as I have been blessed to be among the first therapists in Canada offering government-approved Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for those with Sec 56 exemptions.

In December 2021, the government announced applications should go in to the Special Access Program (SAP) instead, which allows your MD to request access to Psilocybin Therapy for you if you have a serious illness and you've already tried other forms of treatment. Some have been approved for Major Depression. Still, it requires an arduous application process and the legal approvals have been slowing down.

Psilocybin Therapy is not typical therapy. It is about entering the space beneath the words and gaining access from the deeper wisdom of your emotions, your sensations, even your pain and tensions!

Having a therapy background, I believe that true integration of expanded states requires preparation because while activating these states through a plant medicine can be very powerful, Western therapists are only just learning how to work ethically and professionally and in a heart-centered way, especially when there can be so much hype and inflation around the benefits, which can actually get in the way of the true magic of a journey that makes way for your deepest feelings and knowings.

As the journeyer, we also need to be steady enough in our lives to be able to gain the benefits because it can stir stuff up from the past and leave us feeling very raw.

Original traditions have always worked with expanded states through dance, song and sometimes with psychotropic plant medicines, in order to help ultimately remember the sacred essence of life itself. These cultures are steeped in deeper philosophies and understandings of the sacred that make it more natural for members of the community to follow the procedures that the particular traditions deem important prep and integration.

Journeys should not be taken lightly.

Most of us in the West live disconnected from our ancestral roots so many of us  now turn to therapists who we can trust to guide us in this process. That said, the community traditionally chooses the community healers, the ones with the wisdom, and not the other way around. Age and experience can both be factors, but most important is the personal work that space holder has done and does themselves. The therapists that we should trust should hold the power of the wisdom that they have integrated through their lives and the humility of knowing what they do not know.

Some people skip steps and call themselves "healers" before they are ready because of the incredible pressure to make money and pay bills in the modern world. They have heard the call, but have not been able to receive the required guidance yet to be able to hold space with their full presence.

Be thoughtful in your choice of guide.

In addition to legal journeys, I am more than happy to continue to provide integration sessions for people who are returning home from plant medicine journeys that have been difficult, confusing or not held in a proper setting with reverence and respect. I get it and have been blessed with strong and grounded mentors in those times.

I feel honoured to assist people as they re-establish trust with their bodies and their healing intelligence in a safe and brave space with gentleness and curiousity.

This will give you an idea of a high-dose journey: Bill Richards (2020): What is a Psilocybin Session like?

I am now happy to be teaching, supervising and training new graduates of the Therapsil program.

"“The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that God is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary. Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, God is under the porch as well as on top of the mountain, and joy is in both the front row and the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.”
― Mark Nepo.”