Psychedelics and Art Therapy: Preparation & Integration
Tue 23 Apr 2024 5:00 PM - Tue 28 May 2024 7:00 PM PDT
Online, Zoom
Description
Dates
Every Tuesday from April 23 - May 28 | 5pm-7pm PST
Fee
$450 CAD for all six sessions
15% discount for students and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) registrants.
All registration fees are listed in Canadian Dollars (CAD).
Description
With a focus on preparation and integration, this introductory workshop offers a comprehensive outline of therapeutic art, somatic interventions, and applications to be used within stages of psychedelic therapy. Following a trauma-informed and harm reduction approach, participants will learn valuable tools in supporting the full integration of psychedelic and entheogen therapy
WHO IS THE WORKSHOP FOR?
Designed for both individuals who have experienced psychedelics and are needing support through integration and preparation as well as students, mental health professionals and guides working in the field of psychedelic therapy.
WHAT TO BRING?
A journal, paper for art making and art supplies of your choosing are encouraged. Other materials needed will be discussed the week prior to each class.
WHY IS THIS WORKSHOP IMPORTANT?
The field of psychedelic medicines are expanding at a phenomenal pace with more people reaching for this avenue as a means to heal trauma, depression, anxiety and other mental health symptoms. Art has been a major factor in the expression and integration of altered states for millennia, however, within the field of psychedelic research and therapy, art therapy has been missed. As experts in the field like Ann Shulgin, Gabor Mate, Stan Grof, and Bessel van der Kolk have attested to: Integration is the most important component of this therapy. Yet many therapists and psychedelic group facilitators have little training in this area. This workshop will offer the tools needed to support a full integration of psychedelic and entheogen therapy.
ARE CE CREDITS AVAILABLE FOR THIS TRAINING?
Upon request, we will provide a certificate of completion for 12 hours of study. Employers and associations may acknowledge this workshop as self-directed learning, or may grant approval for continuing education accordingly.
WILL THIS WORKSHOP BE RECORDED?
All six sessions of this workshop will be recorded and made available to anyone who has registered. This way you can benefit from the workshop even if your availability or time zone don’t allow you to attend during the time period offered.
Outline
WEEK ONE: Theory, history & preparing for a psychedelic journey using therapeutic art
- What is a non-ordinary state? What is an entheogen? Various substances and exercises used to achieve non-ordinary states.
- Theory & history of art and non-ordinary states?
- Ethics: What is the difference between art therapy and art as therapy?
- Art materials: Tips and precautions to support psychedelic therapy
- What is trauma-informed therapy using a harm reduction lens?
- Preparing for a psychedelic journey using art therapy
- Set and setting
- Clearing the body, mind, and psyche
- Legal issues regarding psychedelics
- Precautions & contraindications with other medicines
- Creating intention before your journey
- Preparing the mind through meditation practice
- What to expect during a psychedelic journey?
- Using the art within ceremony
WEEK TWO: Integration begins with grounding
- Rebuilding the aura
- Reflecting on the psychedelic journey with creative expression
- Art directive: Grounding
- Connecting to the earth
- The importance of meditation
- Rewiring neuropathways
- Dreamwork
WEEK THREE: Identifying & strengthening resources as you continue a relationship to the medicine
- Why safety and stabilization are at the core of any therapy, especially psychedelic
- Meditation to balance the brains hemispheres
- Connecting to your inner strength- art directive and meditation
- Creating a 3-D representation of support
- Understanding the nervous system and ways to regulate using breath
- How automatic writing connects us to and supports channeling the spirit of the medicine and experience
- Indigenous perspectives on healing and medicinal plant spirits
- Spiritual components of healing- connecting to the world around us and beyond
- Reflecting on our past, present, and future
- Working transpersonally with the medicine and spirit though meditation and art
WEEK FOUR: Healing the inner child
- Mandalas
- Art directive - creating self-acceptance by rerouting neural pathways
- Mapping relationships to understand attachment
- Healing inner child wounds
- Somatic meditation
WEEK FIVE: Shadow work
- Accepting all parts of self
- Internal family systems introduction- no bad parts
- Understanding and interpreting patterns in dreams
- Art directive- welcoming all parts
WEEK SIX: Choosing a new life
- Integration completes
- Moving out into the world
- Art directive - my life as a fairy tale
- Expanding capacity using meditation
- Making choices for a new life
- Closing
Facilitator Bios
Charmaine Husum, RCAT, RTC, CT, DKATI is a Registered Art Therapist and Somatic Counsellor with over 10 years of experience working in the field of psychedelics. She supports her clients through the preparation and integration process using art therapy, somatic approaches, Kundalini Yoga, meditation, sacred geometry and dream work. Her private practice, Centre of the HeArt, is located on the traditional lands of Treaty 7 where she meets with clients in person and online, and has facilitated groups after ceremony in Canada, the US and Peru. The focus of her work is in supporting healing of trauma, depression and anxiety. She is author and illustrator of Sacred Geometry Visionary Art and is currently working on her second book, Psychedelic Integration & Somatic Art Therapy. Her online workshops and more information about her work can be found at www.centreoftheheart.com.
Rebecca Wilkinson, LPC, LCPAT, ATR-BC is trained as a Psychedelic Assisted Therapist through MAPS and Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She is co-founder of Creative Wellbeing Workshops which provides therapy, training, and continuing education in managing stress, increasing wellbeing, ethics, psychedelic-assisted therapy, supervision, preventing burnout and compassion fatigue, and positive art therapy. She is the illustrator of Coloring Creates Wellbeing: The Desert Mandalas Coloring Book and co-author with Gioia Chilton, PhD, ATR-BC of Positive Art Therapy: Linking positive psychology to art therapy theory, practice and research. She teaches on the latter at the GWU Graduate Art Therapy Program.