Psychedelics and Mental Health

It feels like we have crossed a cultural threshold. Bolstered by the hard work of academics and progressive medical researchers, the idea of integrating psychedelics into the treatment of chronic psychological disorders continues to gain momentum and become more mainstream. Some describe it as the psychedelic renaissance. There is indeed a growing body of compelling scientific evidence to support what many psychonauts, spiritual seekers, and shamanic practitioners know in their bones to be true.

I’ve listened to countless stories of clients seeking sacred plant medicines in order to relieve suffering, break unhealthy patterns, catalyze healing, elevate consciousness, and awaken spirituality. I hear from so many clients that they are experimenting with psychedelics on their own or have experimented in the past, whether that be as part of an ayahuasca ceremony in another country, signing up for ketamine infusion treatments at a local clinic, or beginning a micro-dose protocol. As a therapist devoted to improving people’s mental and emotional wellbeing, my heart aches knowing that so many people feel let down by traditional talk therapy or current psycho-pharmaceutical interventions. I acknowledge that many people seek alternative healing modalities when our conventional treatments have failed them.

Keep scrolling or click here now to read about my personal journey with spirit medicine.

Ketamine Treatment

In 2018, I began offering ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) through Roots Behavioral Health in Austin, TX. While I no longer provide KAP, I am happy to meet with you and help you select a local clinic to begin your ketamine journey. Ketamine has several advantages over the classic psychedelics. For instance, it is appropriate for individuals who take antidepressant medications (e.g., Lexapro, Zoloft, Celexa) as it does not target the serotonergic pathway. It is also safe, legal, and available right here in Texas. In addition, many clients appreciate that a ketamine session is relatively short in duration, especially compared to long-acting tryptamines (e.g., LSD, psilocybin).

However, there may be equally compelling reasons why ketamine is not the optimal choice for your psychedelic journey. It could be that a psychiatric or medical model of care is not the appropriate setting for your transformational experience. Once we meet, we can take a deep dive into all the nuances surrounding the trendy and often for-profit world of ketamine treatment.

Preparation

I offer confidential one-on-one therapy sessions to help you mentally prepare for an upcoming spirit medicine retreat or psychedelic ceremony. Together we will explore your intentions for raising your consciousness and examine what you hope to gain from working with these sacred tools. I will teach you mindfulness strategies to help you welcome and embrace whatever arises on your journey, including self-soothing techniques to help you effectively manage fear and anxiety.

Integration

I provide confidential, customized therapy sessions to help you process and unpack your spirit medicine journey once you return. It is crucial to make the most of any psychedelic experience by seeking the support of an open-minded, reliable mental health professional. Together we will integrate any spontaneous insights that may have unfolded during your experience with entheogens. I will help you sort through any confusing or anxiety-provoking material and offer a safe, nonjudgmental space for you to share any disappointments or challenges you faced. I will help you make sense of the experience and provide accountability should you decide to make positive changes in your life based on the messages you received.

I believe it is well worth the investment to meet with a practitioner who embodies a deeply respectful relationship with these medicines, rather than someone who has a purely academic understanding of psychedelic healing. I frequently hear from my clients that they appreciate my frankness during integration sessions and my willingness to discuss my own personal experiences with these sacraments. I know how jarring and dysregulating it can be to find peace and equanimity on the higher psychedelic plane, only to return to consensus reality and feel the enormous weight of humankind’s collective pain and suffering. It can be intense to say the least! This is the time to reach out to a grounded, trauma-informed therapist who can guide you through the shifting, nonlinear path of psychedelic integration.

resources:

MAPS – The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and advocating for the safe, responsible, and non-recreational use of psychedelic medicine.

Clinical Trials — Want to volunteer? Here is an up-to-date and searchable database of psychedelic clinical trials.

Dr. Carver’s Spotify Account – From my heart to yours! Here you’ll find over a dozen lovingly curated playlists to accompany your journey.

Research at Johns Hopkins University – Stay current on all of the exciting, ongoing scientific studies happening at one of the nation’s most respected universities.

The Fellowship of the River - Dr. Joe Tafur, a Colombian-American MD, recounts his serendipitous path into shamanic healing practices and indigenous medicine. He shares numerous detailed case studies of patients seeking profound healing in the Amazon rainforest.

Third Wave - Thoroughly researched and trustworthy guides to nearly every psychedelic out there. Everything from 5-MEO-DMT to Ibogaine to San Pedro. Educate yourself!

Primary Care Pod - Dr. Carver joins Dr. Tyler Hendricks in studio to dissect everything from Dr. Tyler's cosmetic procedures, Ayahuasca retreats in the jungles of Peru, cats as spiritual guides, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, pole dancing, and revelatory cannabis sessions with Dr. Tyler’s mom.

Fireside Project – A free peer support hotline for psychedelic crises or spiritual emergence (aka spontaneous spiritual awakening).

Aya advisors – A directory of international healing centers with reviews submitted by real people. It’s like yelp for ayahuasca retreats.

Dr. Carver shares her ayahuasca experience - August 2019 interview filmed at an ayahuasca healing center in Iquitos, Peru.

The story of how psychedelics supercharged my spiritual awakening and transformed my career

My life changed irrevocably in 2016. My father — a stalwart, stoic, intellectually intimidating Marine Corps Colonel — died in the spring at the age of 69. While grieving the loss of my father, I began evaluating my life and my priorities. I broke up with my romantic partner and quit my service industry job with the steady paycheck. I decided to bet on myself and make the leap to full-time private practice. With the flexibility of running my own business, I started showing up regularly at a local yoga studio. I began connecting with earnest, health conscious, and spiritually minded folks. All of these events, unbeknownst to me at the time, were guiding me toward psychedelics and an invitation to elevate my consciousness.

When one of my favorite yoga teachers announced she was leading a yoga retreat into the Peruvian Amazon, I knew I needed to go. I signed up immediately. As I began researching the Amazonian region of Peru, I learned it was the home of ayahuasca. Something whispered to me to go for it and I said “yes.” I found an ayahuasca healing center that felt intuitively right and signed up for a ten day retreat. A few months later, I arrived in the jungle with curiosity and reverence.

Ayahuasca cracked open my heart and made me question a version of reality I had been clinging to for years. The medicine shook my soul free and helped me release an unhealthy attachment to scientific materialism. I was psychologically tested, pushed into unfamiliar realms, and forced to directly face my fears. One could say the teaching style was a bit harsh, but the lessons were unequivocal, undeniable, and life-altering. Ayahuasca helped me expand my consciousness by revealing a vast spiritual landscape I had been blocking for years. When I got home, my therapy practice blossomed. The medicine cleansed me, revealed truths, and helped me see my therapy clients with fresh eyes. I became a better therapist and a more loving human.

My soul stirring, heart opening experiences in the jungle propelled me to pursue training in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and iRest® yoga nidra meditation. I see an incredible amount of overlap between psychedelics and meditation. Neuroscience also supports this claim, as both practices can facilitate ego dissolution and brain activity outside of the default mode network. I view them both as powerful catalysts on the road to greater resilience, emotional freedom, and liberation. When clients inquire about these healing modalities, I enjoy dispelling the myth that they are magical elixirs. I emphasize that psychedelics and meditation demand active engagement, a letting go of expectations, and a willingness to stay with yourself during challenging moments.

In traditional talk therapy, clients often avoid anxiety-provoking material and resist facing shameful parts of themselves. We gently work with that resistance to understand its protective function — gradually melting the defenses to unearth core affective states. Psychedelic-assisted therapies, on the other hand, do not give clients the luxury of slowly chipping away at those defenses. As much preparation as we do, most clients have no concept of what it will be like to enter the ketosphere — a mind bending, logic defying, ineffable space.

The fortitude and courage of my KAP clients inspires me, and I believe my love and admiration shines through in the therapy room. This work buoys my soul, and I feel energized and enlivened after a KAP session. In my role as a KAP therapist, I provide calming, grounding cues drawn heavily from my mediation training; I encourage clients to welcome all that arises and perceive everything as a messenger. As my clients bravely open themselves to this delicate, highly variable, and psychologically disruptive space, I feel at home and at ease. There is simply no other type of work I would rather be doing. I am drawn to depth-oriented modalities and present-focused experiential approaches. Is there anything more meaningful and more in the here-and-now than walking alongside your clients as they journey beyond an ordinary state of consciousness?