How to tell if the PSI training is right for me?
PSIP is not appropriate for every client, nor is it the psychotherapy model for every therapist. Our goal is that all students admitted in to the PSI training program are as well informed as possible about the model and the training. This is why we favor long form videos and articles on this site. We are attempting to provide understanding to the cognitive, top down, ordinary consciousness mind of a very non-ordinary consciousness, bottom-up, visceral process. The PSI Apprentice training is a serious educational undertaking, it is an advanced training in a psychedelic, somatic, highly relational trauma model. It will benefit you to put in the few hours to review the following materials (some of which are required materials for the training anyway). These are designed specifically to communicate the theoretical and experiential feel of the work. Spending time with these videos and podcasts will answer many questions that you may have and at the end of your review, we believe you will have a clear sense if PSI Apprentice is the right training for you.
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There is a great deal more to the model than what we can convey in this format but the resources listed below will give you an excellent primer and sense of how we have structured the model as well as the training.
1) Watch this video:
This hour and ten minute video is a PSI training excerpt describing one of the key maps we use in the model. It is an autonomic nervous system based understanding of how threat generates many of the symptoms that cause people to seek therapy. We also discuss how this involuntary, biological layer is a key player in the psychedelic session. Watching this single video will help you understand some key aspects of the PSIP model. It also contains some actual psychedelic session clips that show what PSIP looks like in practice.
2) Read the PSIP White Paper:
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This theory article published in the peer reviewed Journal of Psychedelic Psychiatry is the best big picture overview of the model we have. It ties together multiple aspects of theory to give the reader a greater sense of the whole.
3) Watch any of the following session videos:
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4) Listen to this podcast episode:
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This is a podcast interview conducted by psychiatrist Dr. Craig Heacock with PSI’s own Director of Education, Saj Razvi. The audio is from an actual ketamine assisted PSIP session taken from one of our Apprentice trainings. What you will hear is the combination of fully legal psychedelic medicine (ketamine and oxytocin) combined with the intervention of sustained eye contact. This combination reveals a level of relational wounding the student has that gets expressed as an embodied (physicalized) negative transference. Craig and Saj pause the session at times to discuss so you’ll get the theory behind what is going on. ​
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Sessions like these are a common enough occurrence at PSI apprentice trainings. It points to how much relational wounding and compartmentalization all of us (client and therapist alike) are typically walking around with.
We have a wealth of free resources like more educational videos, psychedelic assisted-therapy session videos, student and client testimonial, conference presentations, and podcast episode that we have made available for you to better help you in your decision making process:
5) Explore more useful resources:
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