What is Psychedelic Integration Therapy? (and How to Choose a Therapist)
Curious about the healing potential of psychedelics, but unsure what happens after the journey? Whether you’re processing an experience with ketamine, psilocybin, or ayahuasca, here’s how psychedelic integration therapy might support you.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy is gaining traction in Colorado and across the U.S. If you’ve considered exploring psilocybin or ketamine therapy, but feel unsure where to start, this blog post is for you.
As a therapist specializing in psychedelic integration, I help people prepare for their psychedelic medicine experiences, process whatever comes up (emotions, memories, thoughts, physical sensations), and transform insights into lasting change.
Let’s unpack what that means.
To be clear… psychedelic medicines are not a magic pill, a quick fix, or a cure-all.
They will not make all your problems go away. They will not heal everything overnight.
That being said, a psychedelic journey – done safely, with integrity, respect, and intention – may bring you to far deeper places than you can access in ordinary waking consciousness. Experiences range from subtle to profound, whether you choose to journey with psilocybin, ketamine, cannabis, MDMA, DMT, or 5-MeO-DMT, or sacred plant medicines like ayahuasca, iboga, peyote, and San Pedro.
The journey may induce profound insights and emotional shifts. This can be true across a variety of healing contexts – from clinical and therapeutic to ceremonial, spiritual, and shamanic.
Here’s an important disclaimer, though.
While psychedelics can be a catalyst for deep healing, lasting change requires integration work – with a therapist, with a healer, or within a trusted community.
Integration involves:
processing the information (emotional, cognitive, somatic, and spiritual) that came up for you in the journey
applying insights to daily life
making more mindful and healthy decisions in various areas — relationships, health, work, community
After the journey is when the integration work begins.
What do psychedelic integration therapy sessions look like?
PROCESSING
Our sessions provide a soft space to land, in the days and weeks after your psychedelic experience. I’ll note here, too, that “psychedelic” can refer to altered states of consciousness that are not induced by a psychoactive substance – such as meditation, yoga, dance, breathwork, and awe in nature.
You can freely share your experience, no matter how strange, intense, or nonsensical. I hold a steady, clear, and nonjudgmental space for you to unpack the feelings, thoughts, and memories that arose during your journey.
Don’t worry if it’s hard to put words to the experience – that’s normal.
We might use non-verbal techniques like art, movement, and mindfulness exercises to gently explore each thread of the tapestry.
If something painful came up during the journey that’s still lingering in your nervous system – a memory, an image, a stuck emotion or physical tension – we might use EMDR therapy to help your brain and body process through it.
RESOURCING
Due to the increased neuroplasticity of your brain after a psychedelic journey, you might feel more creative, expansive, and psychologically flexible in the days and weeks following. The medicine may connect you with feelings of gratitude, compassion, and awe.
Working with a therapist can help ensure that these expansive states and insights don’t fade, but instead become the new ground you stand on.
Some of our sessions may focus on strengthening the resources you discovered during your psychedelic journey. We might co-create mind-body practices – such as Grounding Tree and Healing Light Stream – to help you reconnect with these experiences and make them more accessible in your daily life.
In this way, psychedelic integration therapy is a practice of gently rewiring the brain toward greater ease, joy, and wellbeing. Post-journey, there is an opportunity to transform altered states of consciousness into altered traits.
What should I look for in a psychedelic integration therapist?
If you choose to work with a therapist as part of your integration process, consider these 4 important criteria.
1. Therapist’s experience with psychedelic medicines.
Work with a therapist who has direct experience with the medicine you are integrating, be it psilocybin, ketamine, cannabis, MDMA, DMT, or 5-MeO-DMT, or sacred plant medicines like ayahuasca, iboga, peyote, and San Pedro. They should be familiar with the terrain you’re navigating, while also making space for you to have your own journey and relationship with the medicine.
2. Cultural sensitivity.
If you are engaging with plant medicines in a sacred ceremonial context, such as ayahuasca in the Shipibo tradition or iboga in the Bwiti tradition, it’s essential that your integration work unfold in a context that is culturally sensitive to these healing traditions, communities, and worldviews.
You may choose to work with a therapist or healer who has experience with these cultures and communities, and who weaves this awareness into the therapeutic process.
3. Trauma-informed therapy.
Your psychedelic journey may bring you to deep places within yourself, including places of pain and grief. It’s essential to get support from a skilled trauma therapist, preferably one trained in a brain-body modality such as EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, Brainspotting, or Internal Family Systems.
Whatever comes up during your experience may need additional processing in therapy, be it through weekly therapy sessions for a sustained period of time (weeks-months) or intensive therapy across a shorter period (hours-days).
4. Connection between therapist and client.
As with any therapeutic relationship, there needs to be trust, connection, and safety. Find a therapist whom you feel comfortable and open with. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about their areas of expertise and how they work with specific issues. You deserve to receive the best support possible.
If you’re interested in psychedelic integration therapy, let’s connect.
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About the Author
I’m Liz Zhou, a holistic trauma therapist (MA, LPCC, she/her). My work integrates teachings from psychology, neurobiology, multicultural awareness, and spirituality. I provide compassionate therapy for highly sensitive people across Colorado.
