Preparing for a Psychedelic Journey: Embracing the Night Before
In this post I share with you some thoughtful practices for the night before a psychedelic ceremony.
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Psychedelic Integration Ireland
Psychedelic Integration Ireland is a professional therapy service provided by Michael Ledden (MIACP, MIAHIP) that offers compassionate psychotherapy to clients in Ireland (and beyond), to assist them pre and post psychedelic experiences. The therapy caters for those who have had positive or difficult psychedelic journeys and for those who are weighing up if working with psychedelics is right for them.
Inspired by my own not so straightforward integration journey after psychedelic retreats in Peru, my mission here is to help individuals integrate their psychedelic experiences into their lives in a meaningful way. I believe that psychedelics and entheogens can be powerful tools for personal transformation, and I am committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for clients to explore these transformative experiences.
As a therapist to assist you on your psychedelic path I provide: Humanistic and Integrative Psychedelic Integration Therapy Harm Reduction Advice, and for those looking to reengage with their journeys or to deepen their work I provide two Shamanic modalities: Shamanic Counselling for Psychedelic Integration and Shamanic Energy Therapy Technique.
This website and service was also launched in response to the growing interest in psychedelics and entheogens as tools for personal growth and healing in Ireland. In the interest of public safety I am also dedicated to providing high-quality information and insight about the psychedelic process to help people make informed and safe decisions when it comes to the use of psychedelics for healing.
Do you feel you need to talk to someone about a recent psychedelic experience? Are you curious about psychedelics? Have you had a recent or previous experience with a psychedelic substance that has not been resolved? Have you felt yourself shift in a more spiritual direction in your life and want to continue with your growth? Have you had a difficult spiritual emergence brought on by psychedelic use or by another means? Are you a parent, a teacher, a Garda, a concerned person with a desire to know more about psychedelics? Are you a therapist, doctor, social worker or other professional who wants to understand and support a client/patient using psychedelics?
If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, then I hope this website will provide an option of support to you or at least have some valuable information for you.
I set up Psychedelic Integration Ireland in 2021 to provide information, safety advice and integration support to the many people using Psychedelics and Entheogens for personal and Spiritual development. Furthermore, the service is also here for you if you have had a difficult psychedelic journey by accident or are stuggling with a spiritual emergence/emergency. This page and service is here for you. Psychedelic Integration Ireland also aims provide up to date information and help to people who are interested, curious or unsure about psychedelics.
Based in Dublin Ireland, Michael is a practising, fully accredited Integrative Psychotherapist (IACP, IAHIP, ICP Accredited, Msc. in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy). Michael is an experienced psychedelic space holder and integration therapist who works as a facilitator and psychotherapist with InwardBound Psilocybin retreats in the Netherlands. Michael is also a co-founder and the chairperson of PsyCare Ireland: Welfare and Harm Reduction CLG, a non-profit social enterprise that supports members of the public at music events having difficult substance induced experiences or mental health crises. As an integration therapist in Ireland Michael provides: Psychedelic Integration Therapy, Shamanic Counselling for Psychedelic Integration and Shamanic Energy Therapy Technique.
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Disclaimer
Most Psychedelics are currently illegal in Ireland and in no way do we sell or supply these substances or encourage anyone to take them. However, we recognise that these substances are being legalised in many parts of the world (e.g. Australia) and are being used as “breakthrough” drugs in FDA and EMA trials all over Europe and North America. Therefore, despite the laws, many people will be tempted to try these substances or will travel to places they are available as therapy. Our therapy services are based on the principle of harm reduction and are there to support people to be safe and well if they choose of their own accord to pursue psychedelic therapy for personal or spiritual growth. This website also contains information on harm reduction, self-care and best practice for keeping safe before, during and after these experiences. In Ireland we do not provide psychedelic experiences, supply substances or encourage their consumption.
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While we recognise that many of these substances are still illegal in the Republic of Ireland much like any kind of harm reduction service, we recognise the realities on the ground and that many groups and individuals are turning more to Psychedelics and plant medicines through solo-exploration and/or retreats in regions where the substances are legal.
The paradigms in mental health research are shifting as more and more studies come out and more regions legalise and offer psychedelic therapies. The days of psychedelics being seen merely as party drugs or counter cultural artefacts are coming to an end and much of the world is waking up to what humans have done for tens of thousands of years: expanding their consciousness beyond ordinary consensus reality.
Psychedelics are perhaps not for everyone and are not a panacea. They do however offer incredible insight and promise if done safely, but as with anything, people must be aware why they are taking these substances and know the risks involved.
"Through psychedelics we are learning that God is not an idea, God is a lost continent in the human mind. That continent has been rediscovered in a time of great peril for ourselves and our world."
- Terence McKenna
What are Psychedelics?
In common language the classic term ‘Psychedelic’ carries many connotations and could refer to any number of mind-altering drugs. But if we go deeper into the meaning of the word psychedelic, we see that it means “mind manifesting” – the psychedelic drug manifests the mind. Influential Czech Psychiatrist Stan Groff would call them “non-specific amplifiers” of what already exists in the unconscious.
While most of us would think of psychedelic drugs when we use the term psychedelic, I would also contend that many things could be “mind manifesting”. We can have a mind manifesting experience doing breathwork, in extreme temperatures, fasting, sweating, running, in yoga, being engrossed in a task, witnessing childbirth, witnessing death, while in nature and in uncountable other forms.
The most steady and reliable route currently available would seem to be using a psychedelic compound, however our understanding of psychedelic doesn’t just limit itself to drugs. The types of Psychedelic experiences we help clients integrate include LSD, Psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms), DMT (including Ayahuasca), 5MEO-DMT, Iboga and Salvia Divinorum.
Research is beginning to show that, when taken in the right “set and setting” and when guided with intention by safe carers and when taken at safe doses Psychedelics overall can be safe. However, once the experience subsides then we say the real hard work begins, the work of Integrating the experience.
"It's a very salutary thing to realize that the rather dull universe in which most of us spend most of our time is not the only universe there is. I think it's healthy that people should have this experience."
- Aldous Huxley
What is Psychedelic Integration?
Many Psychedelic experiences on their own can be revealing, pleasant and delightful, but rarely will they do all the work to change our lives on their own. If we wish to achieve lasting change from their use we need to consciously consider this thing called Integration. Integration, which literally means to bring things together and make them whole, is the work that goes around the Psychedelic experience itself.
It's impossible to say for sure what a psychedelic experience will hold, but with careful preparation and planning we can try to get the long lasting benefits from the journey. Psychedelics are not just another “drug” because the altered state they induce can reveal super important information to us.
The influential Czech Psychiatrist Dr. Stanislav Groff named them "non-specific amplifiers" of what already exists in our consciousness. So using psychedelics at high doses is unquestionably going to bring up stuff in us and may precipitate unexpected internal and/or external changes. This can be disorientating for a time.
So to get the most therapeutic benefit out of a psychedelic experience and use them safely we need to consider and prepare for several stages: before, during and after the experience. Integration isn't just something we do after an experience. All good integration starts with making sure you are as prepared as possible for the experience and by being smart in what we are doing, when and where.
This website's blog posts will explore topics like: safety, dosages, set and setting, intention setting, handling a difficult psychedelic journey, grounding back into reality, processing the experience, various methods to integrate lessons and ways to put things into action!
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“Psychedelics, used responsibly and with proper caution, would be for psychiatry what the microscope is for biology and medicine or the telescope is for astronomy.”
- Stanislav Grof
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