*CHRIS HANCOCK, LCSW, ACMHP D/B/A THERAPY OUTSIDE THE BOX DOES NOT RECOMMEND OR ENDORSE THE AQUISITION, USE, ABUSE OR DISTRIBUTION OF ANY ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES*
Sensational title, eh? I was recently contacted by a freelance journalist for The Daily Beast (article below) about being a therapist embracing the new psychedelic paradigm. Because I’m listed as a provider for the Psychedelic Support Network. I thought, what the hell. It was a weird conversation to enter into given that I had no idea of the angle. But I went with it. Now I’ve outed as someone who consumed a fair share of psychedelic substances in his youth. Guilty as charged! And while didn’t approach it with much mindfulness back then, inspired by Huxley’s ‘Doors of Perception,’ I was clearly searching. Now I understand far better for what. The irony is, while I do embrace the potential of psychedelics, and they’re clearly here to stay, my more recent spiritual unfoldment odyssey has allowed me more than a glimpse of what I was after all along. And my post DNOTS-awakening journey and initiatory relationships with the higher realms appears to not call for plant intermediaries at this time. I did have a profoundly harrowing ayahuasca journey some years back; one that foreshadowed the dark night to come. I’m grateful for that now. And who know what the future has in store. I have an open mind. Not so open that anything falls in, but open. Anyway, while the bulk of what was discussed is not included in this piece, I now know two things. One, Daily Beast is not above publishing stories with numerous typos :> Two, I apparently have green eyes. One of these is verifiably true. I’ll leave it to you to determine which. To be absolutely clear, I do not practice psychedelic-assisted therapy in the conventional sense. Meaning, no one’s coming to my home office or meeting with me via telehealth tripping their balls off and having me guide them or talk them down off a ledge. For now at least, I leave that to professional trip sitters and research study personnel. What I provide in this area is assistance in pre-psychedelic discernment, preparation, post journey processing, recovery and integration, as well as support for people considering or already microdosing for medicinal, supplemental mental health and consciousness expansion purposes. In any case, enjoy…
These Therapists Want to Help You Trip on Shrooms and Ecstasy
MAGICAL MYSTERY MIND
With the growing popularity of psychedelics, therapists are popping up to guide patients on their inner trips—they just can’t help score the drugs. (Yet.)
Nick Keppler
Updated Aug. 13, 2022 10:48PM ET / Published Aug. 13, 2022 8:37PM ET
Laying in a bed in Bellevue Hospital with a blindfold over her eyes, Bronya saw the dragon. As her body metabolized the psilocybin, a hallucinogenic mushroom extract, the 55-year-old home health aide then somehow was inside the beast, resting in its belly like a baby in the womb as it flew over mountains.
They arrived at what Bronya can only remember as a vast “fleshy thing, it was like flabs of pinkish tissue.” She pushed herself through. It enveloped her and she found herself in a dark cavern. There she saw a batch of glistening eggs. She was encased in a womb for the second time during the trip. It was a reverse birth. One of the eggs transmitted a message to her: The egg was her, from another time and dimension, and she wanted to be born.
The vision contrasted with a notion she carried for decades. “I often thought it would be better if I had been never born,” said Bronya (a pseudonym). She grew up in Eastern Europe with cold and distant parents. She emigrated to New York City for a job as a translator. The job ended. The city was a lonely place. Her depression caused brain fog, sapped her of desire or ambition and stoked self-loathing. She used alcohol to get by, sipping down half a bottle worth of…
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