PSYCHEDELIC INTEGRATION PANEL with Rosalind Watts, Michelle Baker-Jones, Anya Oleksiuk, Haya Heji & Mareesa Stertz FUNDRAISER

Psychedelics are powerful tools that can offer profound insights and lead to transformation. However, without proper preparation and integration we are missing the opportunity for meaningful change. Integration allows us to come to the experience intentionally, make sense of the insights gained during the trip and translate them into actions, creating lasting benefits in our everyday lives.

 It is never that you’re not taking enough medicine or not having enough experience. Rather, it is that you aren’t processing it appropriately. In 90% of cases, you look at people’s behaviors and lifestyles only to find they’re still stuck, they’re not taking what they are learning through psychedelic experiences and integrating it.

- Dr Westrum from “Everything You Need To Know About Psychedelic Integration”

Psychedelic integration is a growing field right now, and for a good reason. In order to facilitate lasting personal and habitual changes, integration is an essential component of that process. As Michelle Baker-Jones says, the psychedelic experience is only a start. And the real work is integration. Without proper integration, it's just another drug experience.

But what is psychedelic integration exactly? 

What practices and tools are available to integrate your psychedelic experiences?

Join us for part two of Documenting the Psychedelic Renaissance where we will be focusing our discussion on the importance of integration and how to start the process. Part one focused on psychedelics in the media, which further illustrated the lack of discussion and awareness around the role of integration in mental health and wellbeing.

We have curated an evening for you with a diverse panel of professionals from different backgrounds which helps broaden our perspective on this important and timely topic. Dr.Rosalind Watts and Michelle Baker-Jones provide us with insight into the clinical, research and psychotherapeutic elements of integration. Anya Oleksiuk and Mareesa Stertz illuminate journalistic, media and organizational perspectives of integration. Haya Heji explores the coaching & wellbeing approach to integration as well as the cultural nuances in the field.

This is a discussion that will be sure to get you thinking about where the psychedelic community is today and how we can shape a future that is safe, inclusive and impactful. 

This event will feature an online panel discussion, audience Q&A and an EXCLUSIVE preview screening of documentary footage from The Psychedelic Renaissance.

Funds raised from this event will go towards supporting the remaining critical pieces of production necessary to finish The Psychedelic Renaissance documentary film project.

You can also support us on our Gofundme page.

About the Speakers

Dr Rosalind Watts

As Clinical Lead of the Psilocybin for Depression Study at Imperial College London, Dr Rosalind Watts led the clinical team which facilitated over a hundred psilocybin treatment sessions in just over a year.  She has published qualitative research into the psychological mechanisms of psilocybin treatment, a model of psychedelic therapy- ‘Accept, Connect, Embody (ACE)’ -and designed a psychometric tool for measuring connectedness. In her new role of Clinical Director of Synthesis Institute, she is leading the Clinical Track of the Synthesis Practitioner Training Program, and developing programs to build ‘connectedness to self, others and the natural world’ based on her research.  Ros is committed to building structures to safeguard the ethical expansion of psychedelic therapy, and consults for Usona.

Michelle Baker-Jones

Michelle Baker-Jones is a member of the Psychedelic Research Team at Imperial College London, currently conducting research that compares psilocybin and antidepressants as a form of depression treatment. She is an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor offering individual psychedelic integration for people who are struggling to process psychedelic experiences. She also co-facilitates a monthly psychedelic integration group, which she founded alongside Dr Rosalind Watts who led the trial with psilocybin at Imperial, and a monthly integration circle at the Psychedelic Society. 

Michelle is also a lead therapist in studies in the new proof-of-concept trials for DMT as a rapid onset sustained treatment for various mental health disorders, developed by Small Pharma.

Anya Oleksiuk

Anya is a documentary filmmaker, host, and educator. She is a Co-Director of the Psychedelic Society UK, leading on video production, harm reduction, and education about psychedelics. She is also associated with the Psychedelic Society of the Netherlands and is a consultant for the Polish Psychedelic Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Psychodeliczne).

Anya is a founder and director of Triptika Studios, which is a collective of independent filmmakers with interests in health, science, innovative solutions, mental health, drug advocacy, social and racial justice, and environment-friendly lifestyles. She is also the creator, director, and producer of The Psychedelic Renaissance - a not-for-profit documentary film about the worldwide re-emergence of the psychedelic movement and the crucial role of psychedelic substances, plants, and mushrooms in human culture.

Mareesa Stertz

Mareesa Stertz is a Costa Rica/California-based filmmaker and a co-founder and media director at Lucid News. She is also a kundalini yoga teacher, community organizer, and documentarian who’s spent most of her life unraveling the impact of trauma on the human psyche. Her quest has taken her around the world, filming the stories of the shamans in Peru, psychedelic guides in the Netherlands, and holy men in India for her documentary series, ‘The Healing Powers (of psychedelics and other mindful practices)’, on Gaia TV. She is also the director of the film Damanhur: The Documentary on Gaia.

Haya Heji

Haya is a wellbeing coach, positive psychology practitioner and psychedelic integrationist. She holds a B.A. in psychology from Claremont McKenna College where she focused her senior thesis on the clinical uses of psychedelics. She recently received an MSc in applied positive psychology and coaching psychology from the University of East London, with a dissertation research project exploring the impact of psychedelic use on wellbeing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Haya is co-directing and co-producing The Psychedelic Renaissance Documentary and works as an events planner for The Psychedelic Society UK. She has previously worked as an administrator with Synthesis retreats and was involved with the French psychedelic society. Haya intends to dedicate her career in the field to help bridge the gap between psychedelic science and cultures in the SWANA/MENA region (South West Asia and North Africa/Middle East and North Africa).

About The Psychedelic Renaissance

The Psychedelic Renaissance is a not-for-profit whose mission is to provide an in-depth portrait of our ongoing psychedelic movement, educate others about the therapeutic uses and safety of psychedelic substances and promote a diversity of perspectives within psychedelics. As well as creating a full-length feature, with the intention to release for free public screenings by 2022, 

The Psychedelic Renaissance also produces ongoing blog content about psychedelic science and culture and sends regular newsletters, updating followers with the latest in psychedelic research and news. 

To find out more about the project and join their mailing list, visit thepsychedelicrenaissance.com

Support us on Gofundme!

Articles to read

Everything You Need To Know About Psychedelic Integration by Jasmine Virdi
Walking Each Other Home: Acceptance, Connection and Embodiment in Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy by Michelle Baker-Jones

Recording

The event will be recorded and the video will be sent to everyone who registered, within 2 days after the event.

REFUNDS POLICY: Please note, we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. When possible we encourage reselling on Ticketswap.

ACCESS:  We do our best to include everyone in our events, regardless of health circumstances. If you have access requirements please email the event organiser directly to discuss. Many facilitators are able to offer reduced ticket prices for those truly unable to afford the ticket price. If this applies to you, do please get in touch with the event organiser.

For PSYCHEDELIC KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES please check out the Psychedelic Society website. 

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