Hello and a Happy solstice to all. With the winter solstice comes the darkest time of the year when the sun’s rays shine for a shorter period of time allowing the world to shut down. These extra hours of darkness help give us an opportunity to reflect, reminisce and look inward. During this time of year, it’s important to consider the significance of storytelling. Regardless of what this time of year looks like for you, you may be choosing to spend some of this time telling stories.

This past November, Colorado residents voted to pass Proposition 122 in Colorado. This means that once the state has finalized the regulations for licensed healing centers and practitioners, psilocybin-assisted therapeutic services will be legally available in the state of Colorado.

Find out how Colorado practitioners are approaching support services for the personal use of psilocybin and the research behind how the medicine will be utilized for therapeutic services.

Community and collaboration between therapists is an effective way to grow skills in any kind of therapy but is especially important as you embark on newer therapeutic journeys. While there is evidence of its benefits in both the literature and clinical trials, there is still a lot that is unknown about best practices for approaching psychedelic therapy and integration. This is where leaning on other therapists in your community can come in handy as a method to either expand your knowledge or impart your wisdom.

Community and collaboration between therapists is an effective way to grow skills in any kind of therapy but is especially important as you embark on newer therapeutic journeys. While there is evidence of its benefits in both the literature and clinical trials, there is still a lot that is unknown about best practices for approaching psychedelic therapy and integration. This is where leaning on other therapists in your community can come in handy as a method to either expand your knowledge or impart your wisdom.

While a life dedicated to psychedelic medicine work may not work for everyone who wishes to take part in this work, it is important to appreciate that we might want to consider developing a model for psychedelic therapy and facilitator training that calls for more supervision and practice, more accountability, and more knowledge about how psychedelic medicine work has looked in the past and present in other cultures; not to emulate or to appropriate these models but rather to recognize the wisdom that holds these practices with reverence and requires a long learning process for providers and space holders.

As of late, psychedelic therapy has been on the forefront of the mental health circuit and is slowly making its way into the public eye through documentary essays and videos presented through media such as Vice News and Netflix. You’ve likely heard about or perhaps even voted on the legalization or decriminalization of psilocybin on the latest ballot. It is an important time for psychedelics and psychedelic therapy and while more practitioners are becoming curious and open to utilizing the tool of psychedelics in their practice, it is important to understand the best ways to administer this kind of therapy and what type of client psychedelic therapy is going to benefit most.

The concept of grief feels like a poignant topic given the climate as of late. With the seemingly unending violence and threats to our earth and basic human rights, I am seeing many clients come to me with intense feelings of grief. I, myself, have recently begun my own work around grief earlier this year and personally feel a lot of earth grief and collective grief about what is happening to our planet - and I know I am not alone.

Above all else, this blog is a reminder to you that you are not alone in your feelings of grief. Grief is a natural and healthy response to the suffering and pain that happens on our earth all too often.

For centuries, people have associated the moon with female energy and fertility, so it's no surprise that the menstrual cycle has also been linked to the lunar phases. There is a clear and consistent relationship between the moon and menstruation, allowing one to sync themselves with the moon and utilize certain behaviors during the different moon phases.

As a sex therapist in Fort Collins who specializes in female sexual therapy, I get a lot of questions about what happens during a typical session. There are a lot of misconceptions about what sex therapy is or is not. One of the main focuses is to practice seeing ourselves as a sexual being, and not a sexual object that exists to fulfill someone else’s desires. Here’s what it looks like to reclaim your sexual self at Reflective Healing.

One of the enneagram numbers is your dominant number, a number that will help you to look at yourself more closely. Some of the characteristics of the numbers are uplifting, and may build your confidence. It may be a source of pride for you. That’s nice and all, but of course it’s not where the growth occurs. The growth occurs in seeing the shadowed aspects of yourself, the parts you may never have been aware of.

This season, I want to extend an invitation to you: please, join me in spirit as I seek rest. The purpose of this is not to rest as a means to be more productive at work, or parenting, or your routines. The purpose of resting is to simply rest, for no other reason than that it is your birthright and a crucial salve for your body and mind.

The roots of the sister-wound run deep. This hurt started the moment that we burned women at the stake and led to the present day. But it doesn’t need to repeat itself.

While the idea of shamanism might conjure up all sorts of mental images, it really couldn’t be more practical and pragmatic— clients who come to me for shamanic healing are looking for internal clarity around their modern-day problems. That is the power of shamanism: just as in ancient times, internal wisdom exists.

Here’s the truth: right now, it’s the wild, wild, west of psychedelic therapy. We are all trying to figure out how to do best practice, and there is no “best way” of doing it- there are different ways. With that being said, there are some red flags, and things to look for.