Building a Psychedelic Community as a Colorado Therapist
The Importance of Shared Therapeutic Spaces for Practitioners Using Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy
By Kara Blakey
As a mental health practitioner, spearheading the psychedelic revolution can be hard work. On one hand, you are pioneering a new approach to mental health that continues to prove not only effective but life-changing. Your clients are showing a minimization or complete disappearance of symptoms making the progress they hadn’t even scraped the surface of with other therapeutic methods. On the other hand, you can’t help wondering if you are executing these new methods as effectively as you can to all of your patients. Perhaps a specific experience during integration keeps occupying your mind and you ask yourself, how could I have done that better?
Or, perhaps you have overcome the uncertainty of this new therapeutic process and feel more and more effective every time you provide psychedelic therapy. Maybe you are curious if others in the field are having the success you are and wonder how you can help them learn from your experiences.
Community and collaboration between therapists is an effective way to grow skills in any kind of therapy but is especially important as you embark on newer therapeutic journeys. While there is evidence of its benefits in both the literature and clinical trials, there is still a lot that is unknown about best practices for approaching psychedelic therapy and integration. This is where leaning on other therapists in your community can come in handy as a method to either expand your knowledge or impart your wisdom.
Why Do Therapists Need Community?
As the use of psychedelic medicine continues to gain traction, the number of mental health practitioners in Colorado, and other states that have legalized the use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, receiving certifications to provide psychedelic-assisted therapy is growing. The amount of reputable programs providing various psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is also increasing, however, as you may be aware, not all certification programs are created equal and some practitioners may feel that they need more in order to feel completely confident during the administration and integration processes of psychedelic therapy.
While most psychedelic certification programs attempt to equip practitioners with the tools necessary to safely provide psychedelic therapy, it can be difficult to prepare for the unexpected ways a client might handle or respond to their experience with psychedelics. Much like with any intense therapeutic conversation, it is vital that practitioners have a network of colleagues in the field to process with. Practitioners need community in order to process challenging and unexpected situations that are particular to psychedelic space and altered states.
It is easy for therapists, especially those who own and operate their own practices where they may be the only therapists, to sometimes feel like they are an island. Where practitioners who are part of larger practices can simply pop over to their colleague's office to go over a session that might not be sitting right, independent practitioners do not have this luxury and can sometimes carry the weight of a seemingly disappointing session around with them all day. It’s not as easy to get specific questions answered and you may forge ahead with uncertainty and self-doubt.
For these reasons, it is imperative that there be a space for all therapists who are actively practicing with psychedelics to gather to discuss how to support their clients, themselves, and one another.
What are the benefits of a solid therapeutic community?
It’s no secret that maintaining a professional network can be challenging. As you set out into the world of private practice and begin your own practice or become part of an existing practice, it is easy to get caught up in work and other elements of your professional and personal life. Making time for conferences, discussions, and other professional development opportunities can often fall by the wayside and be overshadowed by other important tasks.
It’s important, however, to try to prioritize creating and maintaining a professional community, particularly one that discusses the ethics and intricacies of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Leaders in the field often provided supervision or cohort opportunities from practitioners in their area that allow them to work together and learn from one another.
Dori Lewis LPC, owner and founder of Reflective Healing, a therapeutic practice out of Fort Collins, Colorado with a staff of knowledgeable therapists actively practicing ketamine therapy explains, “When we’re considering ethical psychedelic care (or really any type of mental health care) receiving supervision, consultation and/or peer support is paramount. This type of community helps to prevent providers from practicing in a silo which can stunt professional growth and skill development. By being held accountable by a community and having trusted colleagues to provide feedback, providers can continue to refine their practice, particularly in ways that are hard to see from their own perspective.”
Lewis provides virtual supervision cohorts and consultation groups for practitioners using ketamine as a therapeutic tool. In both groups, the aim is to pair leaders in the field with practitioners who have recently added Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy to their repertoire. In doing this, Lewis and her colleagues aim to create a psychedelic community that can continually use one another as a resource to discuss the evolutions of psychedelic medicine, integration practices, case studies and other professional development opportunities. How Do We Marry Traditional and Modern Psychedelic Work?
How do I find a community for psychedelic-assisted therapy in Colorado?
If you are a mental health practitioner in or near the northern Colorado area who is actively practicing with psychedelics, there are many options to expand your therapeutic community. It is likely that practices similar to Reflective Healing offer these opportunities. Examining groups and events pages from local practices for an up-to-date list of meetings in your area.
The Nowak Society, an “organization committed to stewarding new professionals and communities into the emerging possibilities associated with psychedelic education”, offers monthly gatherings in Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, and the Pikes Peak area focused on keeping Colorado at the forefront of psychedelic medicine by providing practitioners an opportunity to share their knowledge and findings with one another. Their upcoming Emergence Festival on October 1st is an excellent opportunity to connect with other members of the field through lectures, presentations, and consultation groups including a Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Consulting Group facilitated by Reflective Healing’s Dori Lewis.
Other organizations like An Enduring Love out of Loveland, CO also host a variety of psychedelic workshops and provide information about other professional education opportunities throughout Colorado.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are new to practicing with psychedelics as a therapeutic tool or you are an expert in the field, a strong therapeutic community is essential in your and the growth of your practice. It will ensure that you are staying current in your research and application, practicing safely and ethically and that you are holding yourself accountable as you help your clients on their therapeutic journey.
A key mission of many therapeutic practices is to teach clients how to grow as individuals and many therapists aim to mirror that growth within themselves. If as practitioners and as a people, you do not prioritize your own growth and learning, it is difficult to encourage others to do so. By ensuring you are part of a strong therapeutic community, you will feel supported, encouraged, and challenged to continue doing great work and open your heart and mind to alternative methods for approaching therapy.
*Kara Blakey is a Psychedelic Content Marketing Specialist providing expert UX copywriting and web design for alternative health and wellness professionals. If you are interested in learning more about why you could benefit from having a copywriter for your practice, you can contact her at kara.blakey@kblakeycc.com.
