Psychedelic Integration
Is NOT about encouraging or facilitating altered states of any kind. It is a therapeutic space to explore, understand, and integrate experiences that have already happened.
What is psychedelic integration?
Fryman et al. (2022) discuss psychedelic integration by breaking down its constituent parts - psychedelic and integration.
Psychedelic stems from two Greek words which are known to mean mind-manifesting. Integration is defined by Daniel Siegel (2016, p.125) as "unifying or connecting previously disconnected parts".
For Fryman et al. (2022), psychedelic integration can be defined as "the process by which a psychedelic experience translates into positive changes in daily life".
Here at RM Integrative, we are aiming to create a safe, therapeutic group space to facilitate the movement of disconnected parts that may have arisen from an experience in an altered state of consciousness into real change in day to day life.
This is important as experiences with psychedelics and altered states can be an array of things - positive, terrifying, grounding, destabilising, enlightening, or frightening. All of these things are welcomed in an effort to gradually move towards positive change without changing the experience.
Who group work might help?
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People struggling to make sense of a psychedelic experience
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People who have had a powerful emotional or spiritual experience
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People who want to understand how an experience relates to their life
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People wanting to translate insights into meaningful change
What this group is not
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Psychedelic assisted therapy or psychedelic administration session
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A space for using, obtaining, sourcing, or dosing psychedelic substances
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Emergency or crisis support
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A substitute for medical, psychiatric, addiction, or specialist trauma treatment where those services are needed
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A space in which the facilitator will determine whether spiritual, mystical, paranormal, or other unusual experiences were real
What to expect
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Maximum of 5 participants
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Approximately 105 minutes
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A grounding practice at the beginning and end
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Time for each participant to share what feels important
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Gentle therapeutic questions and reflections rather than pressure to disclose
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Opportunities to hear from and learn alongside others with different experiences
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Time to consider how your experience is affecting you now and whether there are small, realistic steps you would like to take
What happens in a session?
Before joining, you will have a comprehensive 50 minute assessment to ensure suitability. We do not want to set you up to fail. Some people need a little more support before joining a group setting and we don't want to create discomfort or unease when it can be prevented. The assessment checks a variety of things before inviting you to join.
The group is a 12 month commitment. We meet monthly. Sessions are around 105 minutes. In this time, we arrive, settle, and begin. There is no hard and fast structure or exercises. It is a space to facilitate listening and individual process, witness by the collective group.