Psychedelic Preparation & Integration
The journey doesn’t begin when you take the medicine. And it doesn’t end when it wears off.
There is a growing movement of people turning to psychedelic experiences in search of something they haven’t been able to find elsewhere — a breakthrough, a release, a return to themselves. Maybe that’s you. Maybe you’ve tried therapy, done the work, and still feel like something fundamental hasn’t shifted. Maybe you’ve already had an experience that cracked something open and you’re not sure what to do with what came through.
Wherever you are in that journey, you don’t have to navigate it alone.
What Preparation & Integration Actually Are
Think of a psychedelic experience as a journey into the underworld — into the deeper layers of your psyche, your history, your soul. You can make that journey without preparation. But you’ll go further, and come back with more, if you arrive ready.
Preparation isn’t about planning every outcome. It’s about arriving with clarity of intention, an honest understanding of what you’re walking into, and the inner resources to meet whatever surfaces. We explore the why behind your choice — what you’re hoping for, what you’re afraid of, what healing actually means to you. We talk about set and setting, about trust and surrender, about what support you’ll need on the other side.
Integration is where the real work begins. A profound experience without integration is like receiving a map and never looking at it again. As Dr. Joe Tafur, MD and plant medicine practitioner, writes: “Without some form of integration, emotional support, and/or new behavior, even the most enlightening psychedelic experiences will wane into a mere temporary shift in thinking.” Integration is the process of translating what you experienced — the insights, the emotions, the dissolution and return — into lasting change in your actual life.
Together, preparation and integration form a container. The experience itself lives inside that container. Without it, even the most powerful journey fades.
A Note on Legal Context & Harm Reduction
Psychedelic substances remain illegal in California outside of approved research settings. I do not facilitate, provide, or recommend illegal activity of any kind.
What I offer is legal psychedelic preparation and integration therapy — support before and after experiences that people are choosing to pursue on their own, in whatever context they’ve determined is right for them. My approach is rooted in harm reduction: I believe people deserve access to accurate information, honest assessment, and skilled support regardless of the legal landscape. Informed consent matters. Safety matters. Your wellbeing matters.
If you are considering a psychedelic experience, working with a trained therapist before and after is one of the most meaningful things you can do to support a safe and beneficial outcome.
Who This Work Is For
You’ve been on a healing journey — maybe a long one. You’ve tried therapy, done the work, had insights. And something still feels missing. You’re not looking for a quick fix or something to make the pain go away. You’re looking for a turning point. A real one.
You’re willing to go into the difficult places — not because you’re reckless, but because you understand that the only way to the light is through the dark. You have hope that things can be genuinely different, and you’re willing to do what it takes to get there.
I work with people who are ready for that. Including veterans who have not found the healing they sought through conventional channels — who have faced genuine darkness and deserve support that can meet them there, in a language that actually speaks to what they’ve been through.
Psychedelics are not for everyone or every circumstance. Part of our work together is honest assessment — determining whether this path makes sense for you right now, and what preparation would look like if it does. Sometimes that assessment reveals that another avenue is more appropriate first. That honesty is part of the care.
What Makes This Different
I am not a therapist who completed a training and added integration to a list of services.
I am a licensed trauma therapist with over a decade of specialized experience — including a ten-month psychedelic-assisted therapy training — and a Wise Woman and Underworld Guide who has done her own healing work in expanded states. I know this terrain from both sides.
I bring the full container: clinical rigor and mythic framework together. I understand trauma, nervous system physiology, and evidence-based treatment. I also understand the soul — what it means to descend, what it means to integrate shadow, what it means to come back changed and need to find your footing in ordinary life again.
I do not coddle. I do not chase the light while ignoring the dark. I walk alongside you in the uncertain places, because I’ve been there, and I know the way through is not around.
What Working Together Looks Like
Preparation Sessions
Typically 1–3 sessions before the experience, depending on your history and needs.
Exploring your intention and the why behind this choice
Honest assessment of readiness, history, and any contraindications
Building inner resources and mindset for the experience
Discussing set and setting, trust, and surrender
Planning for the integration period — what support, what practices, what to have in place afterward
Integration Sessions
Typically begin within a few days to a week after the experience, and continue as needed.
Processing how the experience unfolded and how you are feeling in its aftermath
Exploring what shifted, what surfaced, and what is asking to be metabolized
Identifying what you are being called to change, release, or deepen in your life
Grounding the insights of the experience into embodied, lasting change
The number of sessions varies depending on where you are and what you’re working with. We determine that together.
The Thing Most People Get Wrong
People come to psychedelic work expecting one of two things: that they’ll lose control, or that the medicine will do the work for them.
Neither is quite right.
A well-prepared, well-supported psychedelic experience is not a loss of control — it’s a chosen descent. You are going somewhere specific, for a reason, with intention. And when you return, the work of integration begins. The medicine opens the door. You still have to walk through it.
Psychedelics can compress months of therapeutic work into a few hours. That is extraordinary. It is also not easy. They deserve to be approached with respect and reverence — not as a shortcut, but as a threshold.
Psychedelics are for those who know things can be better—and are willing to journey through the underworld to get there.
Ready to Explore?
If you’re considering psychedelic preparation or integration support, the first step is a free 20-minute Pathfinding Call. We’ll talk about where you are, what you’re looking for, and whether this work is a good fit.
This offering is available to California residents via telehealth.