Psychedelic Therapy & Clinical Cannabis Specialty

This specialty focuses on mindfulness-based, somatic trauma resolution therapies useful in clinical settings working with any of the psychedelic medicines. Students are taught somatic and mindfulness-based clinical therapeutic protocols, how to work with extreme healing experiences, and how to facilitate Cannabis-Assisted Breathwork Sessions and psycholytic cannabis sessions. The intensive includes practice sessions in cannabis-assisted somatic psychotherapy, cannabis breathwork, and group psychedelic cannabis experiences. 

This program is comprised of webinars, 6 weekly classes and a 5 day intensive training retreat. Students gain ongoing supervision through an advanced credentialing program.

Intensive Duration: 5 full days, Monday-Friday, Boulder Studio, Online

Lead Trainers: Daniel McQueen, Alison McQueen and Katie Asmus

Psychedelic Therapy and Clinical Cannabis Speciality Class Code: PSS3-C

Tuition: 

  • $4,000 (+$300 Boulder Studio) or (+$0 Online) 
  • Scholarship Tuition ($2,400-$3,600)
  • No medical safety review is required for this specialty

Payment plan – Payment for the standalone class can be split into two or three payments. Extended payment plans with credentialing and electives are also available.

Course Description

Psychedelic Therapy & Clinical Cannabis is for those who wish to further advance their psychedelic education, practice in clinical settings to treat trauma, and who wish to engage in advanced transformational practices, such as cannabis-assisted breathwork. Completing this level allows for a speciality in Cannabis-Assisted Psychedelic Therapy.

The term “Psychedelic” doesn’t just mean “mind-manifesting,” it also means “soul-manifesting.” There is something intrinsically “more than human” that often feels “more real than real” in psychedelic experiences. These experiences don’t quite fit into the category of a solely internal, imaginal process. Real healing sometimes requires entering into cellular, somatic, and perinatal states, as well as ancestral and seemingly past life experiences. At the very least engaging the imagination of the psyche at these levels is deeply healing and transformational for our clients, as well as deeply meaningful for the psychedelic therapist.

Calling all psychotherapists, healers, ministers or clergy, medical professionals, trained psychedelic guides, and established helping professionals:

  • Are you curious about the intersection between somatic therapy, trauma, and psychedelics?
  • Do you find yourself lacking the skill sets to engage in deep trauma work with your clients without getting burnt out?
  • Are you ready to explore the world of legal above board psychedelic therapy with licensed experts in the field?
  • Are you feeling called to plant medicine work and aren’t sure where to begin?
  • Do you have a deep sense that the body is the way… that within our bodies we all already possess the capacities to awaken and thrive?
  • Do you want to feel more confident in your understanding of how the miracles of healing occur in a holistic model?

Where there are humans, there’s trauma. We all have something left unresolved, something we wish hadn’t happened in that way, something that impacted us and the way we show up in the world. We each hold ancient patterns within us that we’re ready to uncover, discover, heal and transform.

Over the years we have found that somatic and trauma training is absolutely essential in psychedelic therapy. Given the profoundly psychedelic nature of cannabis, we believe it is important for psychedelic guides or therapists to have a foundation in somatic trauma work.

In addition to Cannabis-Assisted Psychedelic Therapy, students will learn how to also facilitate Cannabis-Assisted Breathwork Experiences. These experiences can elicit the most extreme states possible on psychedelic medicines. Students will learn how to guide and practice cannabis-assisted breathwork techniques that elicit N,N-DMT and 5-MeO-DMT level psychedelic experiences using special blends of psychedelic cannabis.

Students will learn how to identify, assess, and work with specific mental and spiritual health concerns within a psychedelic container, and develop mindfulness protocols to assist in the healing of severe trauma and PTSD and related mental health concerns.

On the other end of the psychedelic spectrum, students will also learn how to engage extreme growth edges and guide experiences for advanced creative problem-solving, and advanced spiritual states.

Special topics include parts work and trauma resolution strategies, energetic support strategies, transformational alchemy techniques, and how to provide the necessary preparation and integration support structure to safely assist clients going through major healing and transformational experiences.

What You Will Learn:

  • How to accurately identify significant psychological concerns that may affect the successful outcome of a psychedelic therapy session and assess level of concerns for possible contraindications
  • Assess and work with trauma and PTSD, and related psychological concerns in a mindfulness, non-clinical, practice
  • How to provide the necessary preparation and integration support for psychological concerns
  • Therapeutic and energetic/transpersonal techniques for situations that are common in sessions when significant concerns or extreme growth edges are present
  • Therapeutic and mindfulness techniques include: parts work, shadow-work, art therapy techniques, handling extreme emotional states, and somatic/mindfulness-informed trauma resolution strategies
  • Energetic techniques include active imagination processes associated with transformational alchemy practices, energy healing practices, and contact with entities and archetypes
  • How to amplify any psychedelic experience using cannabis-assisted breathwork experiences
  • How to legally and safely provide Cannabis-Assisted Psychedelic Therapy in compliance with your professional licensing and other legal requirements

Psychedelic Therapy Techniques Include:

  • Expand your capacity to guide and deepen your client’s connection to resource as the foundation of all therapeutic work
  • Build skills to assess and grow clients’ somatic awareness capacities
  • Discover the somatic pathways toward healing and how to support the pacing and practice of opening these pathways
  • Incorporate pendulation and titration into somatic psychedelic trauma work
  • Practice grounding and present moment awareness in trauma work before, during and after psychedelic therapy sessions
  • Grow assessment and intervention skills for working within a client’s window of tolerance as well as supporting them to grow their window over time
  • Learn somatic trauma interventions and practice guiding with classmates
  • Add to your energetic self-care practice toolkit that are essential for successful psychedelic guiding

Webinars & Preparatory Classes

PSS3A-Psychedelic Therapy Practices 

  • CASP Welcome 
  • The Potential of Psychedelic Cannabis to Treat PTSD 
  • What is Trauma?
  • What are the Different Kinds of Trauma?
  • Trauma Spectrum
  • Resiliency Factors
  • Body Scan Mediation
  • Why Somatic Training is so Essential
  • Triune Brain
  • Contact Statements
  • Contact Statements in Practice
  • Somatic Languaging Tools
  • Pedulation
  • Circuitboarding
  • Ancestral Healing
  • Completing the Incomplete Defensive Responses
  • Common Trauma Symptoms, Contraindications & the Psychedelic Safety Questionnaire

PSS3B-Additional Lecture Topics Include:

  • Trauma Resolution Practices & Support
  • Advanced Parts Work
  • 7 Stages of Alchemy as a Map for Transpersonal Development
  • Heartships for Clinical Concerns
  • Grieving
  • Energy Work 
  • Art Experientials
  • Addressing Common Clinical Concerns
  • Using Intakes & Assessments
  • Suicide Prevention
  • Addictions & Psychedelics
  • Advanced Cannabis Blends
  • Cannabis Breathwork as a treatment modality

Psychedelic Therapy Intensives

The Intensive provides ongoing small group process for integration support and skill development, and a series of lectures on mindfulness, psychedelic therapy practices, and the necessary safety container for extreme transformation and healing.  Small Integration Process Groups & Lectures are in the Morning. 

Group Psychedelic Experiences

This intensive has the following psychedelic cannabis experiences:

  • Two Cannabis-Assisted Breathwork Experiences where students can guide once and journey once
  • Four Cannabis-Assisted Psychedelic Therapy experiences where students can guide twice and journey twice.

Integrating Cannabis-Assisted modalities into already established professional practices should increase your rate by about 20% as a specialized service.