Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy as a Tool for Self-Empowerment
Jul 31, 2022 09:00AM ● By Kate Kincaid
Psychology shares the same root word of psychotherapy and psychedelic. “Psyche” means “soul”. This soul work utilizes healers that have spent their lives studying how to bring a sense of soul back to their clients. It is a gift to be in partnership with these compounds—these soul-giving compounds.
Tucson Counseling Associates offers a Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) clinic that features not just the use of the psychedelic medicine, but therapy in conjunction with it. They also offer group KAP and have a group integration session that meets weekly. Therapists hold a safe container for clients to process the material that comes forth, and offer somatic tools and research-based therapeutic interventions in order to integrate and resource new ways of approaching our realities.
Kate Kincaid is a licensed professional counselor and the Executive Director of Tucson Counseling Associates. She is a graduate of the CIIS Center for Psychedelic Studies and Research and her practice has applied to establish eligibility with MAPS PBC to offer MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy if it becomes an approved treatment. Connect at 520-214-0818,
Psychedelics elicit non-ordinary states of consciousness, which support the growth of neurogenesis (new neuronal connections) that cultivate our greater well-being while challenging old or outdated notions of self that come with the territory of this human experience, on varying levels. This is how we heal.
The truth is, we all get stuck. We get stuck without knowing it. Some of us get stuck without our consent. We get stuck believing certain truths about ourselves: such as “I am not deserving” or “I am not enough” or “I could never achieve that.” Once we discover that we are stuck, and look for ways out of this, then we have been reborn with a warrior’s heart with a new quest.
Many people report that having a psychedelic journey is one of the most memorable experiences they’ve ever had. It is not unusual for these experiences to be categorized as spiritual or holy.
Psychedelics are considered empathogenic, which means that they increase empathy. Empathy is what allows us social creatures to connect with others. Connecting with others gives us a sense of purpose. With saddening rates of isolation and alienation—from our capitalistic structure and exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19—the experiences from these compounds, and their life-enhancing properties, may just be one of the keys to our greater self-empowerment, and to the impact we may have on the world around us.
Each of us is born a whole, powerful being, and repeated messaging about our worth, whether from our families or our social structures, can become an internalized array of disempowerment. Finding wholeness in the presence that these psychedelic molecules elicit, support us in feeling creative again—or maybe for the first time in our lives. But with this power comes responsibility, especially if we are not used to the joy of being alive. It can diminish quickly or be written off by greater mental forces. Cue therapy.
To really begin to heal ourselves from these internalized beliefs that disempower us,we need to make some significant changes. This might be our lifestyles, who we spend time with, our jobs, our living arrangements, and especially and maybe most importantly, the ways we think about ourselves.
Many times, people arrive at therapy because they have hit an impasse and have nowhere else to go. This is the dark night of the soul, the time of great potential, but also great darkness. In a holistic worldview, which is one that honors the cycles of the seasons and of human beings, we acknowledge that growth begins in the darkness, such as the growth of a seed in fertile soil, and the growth of a human being in the womb. This is an opportunity to allow trained therapists to midwife you through your own darkness and through to your self-empowerment.
Are you ready? Are you ready to potentially change everything?
Tucson Counseling Associates offers a Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) clinic that features not just the use of the psychedelic medicine, but therapy in conjunction with it. They also offer group KAP and have a group integration session that meets weekly. Therapists hold a safe container for clients to process the material that comes forth, and offer somatic tools and research-based therapeutic interventions in order to integrate and resource new ways of approaching our realities.
Kate Kincaid is a licensed professional counselor and the Executive Director of Tucson Counseling Associates. She is a graduate of the CIIS Center for Psychedelic Studies and Research and her practice has applied to establish eligibility with MAPS PBC to offer MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy if it becomes an approved treatment. Connect at 520-214-0818,
Tucson Counseling Associates - 125 E Mabel St, Tucson, AZ
PSYCHEDELIC INTEGRATION: Despite large amounts of talk therapy or medications, do you still need help in healing treatment resistant trauma or depression? Tucson Counseling Associates’ we... Read More »
