Healing Work

 

I have apprenticed to a traditional medicine lineage of the Western Amazon, and absorbed an initiate-level understanding of land-based spiritual medicine in its original, Indigenous context. I have witnessed the effectiveness of this medical paradigm, and wondered for years at its drastic contrast with the Western medical paradigm in which I was raised.

​

My particular intrigue has been with the challenge of integrating these distinct cosmological perspectives in myself, particularly with regards to healing and growth. When I began to study somatic and relational approaches to processing trauma, I found perspectives and modalities that supported what I had witnessed in the Indigenous context.

​

Relational somatic therapy became, for me, an approach that spans some of these cultural gaps, as it subscribes to some foundational premises of traditional medicine as I have experienced it, namely:

​

1. That the body is the locus of healing, including for our mental health.

2. That there is a spiritual or energetic component to healing that includes all of our relationships (interpersonal, ancestral, ecological, spiritual) and our stories about our relationships.

3. That belonging and feeling loved (secure attachment) underlie many of our relational struggles.

4. If a caring and trusting relationship exists between a client and healer, if welcoming space is held towards spirituality, ancestry and all the stories that course within us, if there is sufficient safety, openness, and support, then the mysteries of the body and the spiritual energies of our belonging will guide the healing process, unfolding naturally towards wholeness.

​

An Alfazema Psychedelics session operates around these core principles.

​

Co-Therapy and Safety

 

A Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) co-facilitates these sessions as co-therapy protocols (two facilitators) are recommended for work with these medicines.

​

Psychedelic-assisted therapy is an emerging field in Western cultures. Malpractice and abuse, of medicines and clients, are unfortunately widespread. This speaks to the cultural poverty of the West where the sacred container of healing experiences and relationships has been lost.

​

Trust between client and healer is essential, and safety is our utmost priority, which is why we follow a co-therapy model for our protocols.

​

Attachment and Trauma

 

Psychedelic-assisted therapy can be an effective tool for accessing and processing the underlying causes of disharmony in our lives and relationships. We all have attachment woundings from childhood (harmful dynamics or events in our core relationships), and some of us have traumas. These experiences become stored in the body and shape the way we relate to the world, often to protect ourselves from further harm, or to avoid fully feeling the pain of what happened. This prevents us from living fully, and from feeling fully alive, fully ourselves.

​

Psychedelic medicines, in the right setting and with the right support, can allow us to get beneath our self-protection mechanisms to fully feel what is held in the body and gradually allow it to process itself. The body knows how to heal itself from psychological and emotional wounds, just as it does from physical wounds, so we seek to relax the mental and cognitive processes, and let the body guide.

​

The processing of trauma by the body looks different for everyone, but the essential components are to fully experience the sensations and emotions, knowing that you have resources and support to survive through it i.e. that you are not alone.

​

Client Criteria

 

This work is both delicate and taxing; we are full of resistances to feeling our pain. It requires practice and experience, as well as good support to stay with your process, which is why we require clients of psychedelic sessions to have some prior experience of therapy, and some practice with body-based awareness.

​

If you have a foundation of therapy work, have some familiarity with body-based inquiry (for example mindfulness, meditation, somatic therapy, yoga, bodywork) then a psychedelic protocol could be a powerful step in your healing journey, especially if you are finding yourself at a plateau, or a block.

​

Protocols

 

Our protocols involve at least one preparation session, and at least one integration session in addition to the medicine session. Some sessions may be billable to your benefits provider.

​

The psychedelic medicine we use is an "empathogen" called 3-MMC, which was designed specifically for therapy. 

 

3mmc-assisted therapy (relational and attachment woundings, childhood trauma, ancestral trauma)

2 facilitators (1 RCC)

​

1-hour pre-session (1-2 weeks before the medicine protocol)

1-hour pre-session (the night before the protocol)

6-hour medicine protocol

1.5-hour integration session (the day after the medicine protocol)

1-hour integration session (if requested, 1-2 weeks after the medicine protocol)

​

Price: we use a sliding scale price of $1800-2600 to allow clients to pay what they can afford.  This fee covers the entire protocol including all sessions and our rental space for 2 nights. Please consider your financial means when selecting your fee.  We will ask for a $250 non-refundable deposit to secure your booking. 

​

If you are interested in an Alfazema Psychedelics protocol, we can schedule a 20-minute call to decide together if this is right for you right now. We may recommend a few extra preparation sessions, or for you to pursue some committed therapy first.

 

Psychedelics are not a panacea or miracle cure. They require you to show up fully for your healing process. Some experience of therapy or personal work is necessary for you to benefit fully from this experience. If you are committed to your healing we recommend solid and gradual preparation before committing to the effort and expense of a psychedelic-assisted therapy session.