INTEGRATION THERAPIST IN PASADENA & CALIFORNIA
PSYCHEDELIC INTEGRATION THERAPY
The most important part of your psychedelic journey.
Psychedelics and sacred plant medicines have been used for centuries to promote healing, expansion, and connection.
They invite us to connect with all parts of ourselves, illuminating the dark corners of our mind, body, and soul. By temporarily altering the way our brain and body function, these medicines help us confront, understand, and transform pain and trauma in a deeply holistic way.
However, communing with these medicines can be complex, challenging, and sometimes even dangerous. The insights from these journeys don’t automatically lead to lasting change—integration is essential for turning these powerful experiences into meaningful and life-changing healing.
And not every journey is beautiful, awe-inspiring, and expansive. Difficult experiences, commonly referred to as a 'bad trip,' can leave you feeling disoriented, dissociated, and overwhelmed, requiring specialized support to integrate (bring together as one) the scattered parts of yourself and the experience so that you can move forward whole and healed.
DISCLAIMER & DISTINCTION
A special note about psychedelic integration therapy:
This offering is a resource for new and existing therapy clients who have had psychedelic experiences and are seeking support in making sense of their experiences.
This is not psychedelic-assisted therapy—I do not provide psychedelic substances, facilitate journeys, or refer to or recommend centers or facilitators. I adhere to all federal and state regulations, and I am legally and ethically prohibited from endorsing and/or advising the use of illegal substances.
A HARM-REDUCTION APPROACH
Pre-Journey Preparation
Once you are in therapy with me, should you decide to seek an experience with psychedelics or plant medicines on your own, I offer harm reduction education to help you be as informed and safe as possible as you enter into a vulnerable and altered state. I also provide a holistic approach to preparing your mind, body, and soul in order to decrease the risk of adverse events and maximize the potential benefits, so you can have a positive experience. My training in this area is highly specialized, culturally respectful, trauma-informed, and deeply rooted in personal experience.
Again, I adhere to all federal and state regulations, and I am legally and ethically prohibited from endorsing and advising the use of illegal substances.
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Assessing Risk: Evaluating physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health factors to ensure safety.
Intention Setting: Clarifying personal goals and intentions for the journey, aligned with spiritual and emotional needs.
Grounding Practices: Developing techniques to stay centered and connected to your body before and during the experience.
Processing Fears or Doubts: Addressing anxieties, uncertainties, and emotional blocks before the journey.
Strategies for Managing Emotional Material: Creating a plan for coping with intense emotions and spiritual challenges during the ceremony.
Pre-Ceremony Regimen: Establishing a routine for cleansing and preparing your mind, body, and spirit (e.g., diet, meditation, rituals).
Educational Resources: Providing information on what to expect, how to navigate the experience, and the cultural context of the substances being used.
Safety Planning: Developing a plan for physical, emotional, and spiritual safety during the experience.
Mindset Preparation: Cultivating a receptive, open, and respectful mental state for the journey.
Support Network Identification: Identifying trusted individuals to provide support during and immediately after the experience.
Integration Planning: Outlining steps for integrating insights and experiences into daily life..
Breathing and Relaxation Techniques: Learning methods to stay calm, manage stress, and remain grounded during altered states.
Personal Rituals: Developing personalized rituals that honor your beliefs and enhance the ceremonial aspects of the experience.
Cultural Education: Understanding the cultural and traditional significance of medicine and the ethical considerations surrounding their use.
Connection with Nature: Incorporating practices that connect you with the natural world, reflecting the origins of many medicines.
Spiritual Preparation: Engaging in practices that align with your spiritual beliefs and prepare your soul for the journey.
A HOLISTIC & EMBODIED APPROACH
Post-Journey Integration
Integration is the single most important component in bringing about the lasting personal change and healing we seek from medicine journeys. If nothing changes, nothing changes.
The transformational power of medicine work can last a lifetime, yet there is a post-journey window of opportunity during which you are especially capable of making significant changes with ease, due to temporary, time-sensitive alterations in your neurological functioning. This critical period offers an incredible chance to turn insights into tangible outcomes, dive deep into unprocessed trauma, and capitalize on your newly expanded and open state to manifest true transformation, helping you carve out a new way forward.
I combine my holistic approach to healing, training in Somatic Experiencing®, specialized training and certification in Psychedelic Integration, and personal medicine experiences to support you in integrating the life-changing—and sometimes very challenging—experiences that arise from psychedelic journeys.
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Understanding the Ceremony Experience: Gaining clarity on the powerful experiences encountered during the ceremony, utilizing trauma-informed integration coaching to process and make sense of what occurred.
Applying Insights to Daily Life: Translating the knowledge and insights gained from the journey into actionable changes, with the help of somatic tools and other body-centered techniques to ground these changes.
Processing Difficult or Traumatic Material: Working through challenging emotions, memories, or traumas that surfaced during the journey, using trauma-informed and somatic approaches for safe and effective processing.
Establishing Daily Grounding Practices: Creating routines that promote balance, grounding, and emotional regulation, supported by techniques learned in somatic tools for integration.
Continuing Growth and Healing: Developing ongoing practices to sustain expansion, growth, and healing beyond the ceremony, including integrating experiences from master plant dietas and microdosing protocols.
Maintaining Spiritual Connection: Finding ways to nurture and maintain spiritual wisdom and connection, using subconscious illumination, dreamwork, and strategies to avoid reliance solely on psychedelics.
Sharing Your Experience: Navigating how to communicate your experience with loved ones in a safe and supportive way, using tools to articulate complex emotions and insights.
Navigating Ego Deaths and Psychotic Breaks: Providing tools and strategies to manage and integrate experiences of ego dissolution and extreme altered states, ensuring safety and understanding during these profound shifts.
Balancing Entity Encounters: Addressing any entity encounters during the journey with respect and understanding, ensuring they are integrated in a way that contributes to healing and growth.
Developing a Spiritual Practice: Establishing practices that maintain your spiritual connection, supporting ongoing personal transformation, and helping you stay aligned with your deeper intentions.
MOMENT OF CLARITY
The Unique Advantage of Using Somatic Experiencing® for Psychedelic Integration
Psychedelic experiences can heighten our senses, making us particularly sensitive to internal and external stimuli. This overstimulation can trigger a rapid body response known as 'nervous system flooding,' a fight-or-flight reaction so intense that it often leads to dissociation (which is why recalling psychedelic journeys can be difficult). Somatic Experiencing® offers a unique approach to ensure that the deep work done in altered states is fully processed, integrated, and embodied. By addressing this flooding response, SE® not only supports healing but also enhances the transformative potential of these journeys, helping individuals integrate newfound insights into a state of holistic well-being.
No matter the quality or content of your psychedelic journey, integration is undeniably THE MOST IMPORTANT part of any psychedelic experience.
It is an act of RESPECT—for yourself, the medicine, and the CULTURE from which it originates.
NOW THAT THE JOURNEY IS OVER, THE REAL WORK BEGINS.
IN-PERSON THERAPY IN PASADENA | ONLINE THERAPY IN CALIFORNIA
Somatic Therapy in California • Trauma Therapy in California
Holistic Therapy in California • Psychedelic Therapy in California
SERVICES
Somatic Experiencing®
Intuitive Healing Touch
Reiki Energy Healing
SPECIALTIES
Somatic Therapy
Holistic Trauma Therapy for Women
Therapy for Young Adult Women
Psychedelic Integration Therapy
CURRENT CLIENT PORTAL
Associate Marriage & Family Therapist, CA #149677
Supervised by Leah Smith, LMFT CA #123783
TERMS | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | Site credits | © 2024 Clara Mackinlay