PUNK Therapy | Psychedelic Underground Neural Kindness – Details, episodes & analysis

Content Warning: Talk of death by suicide, suicidal ideation, and sexual abuse

Dr. T and Truth Fairy welcome former NHL hockey player Corey Hirsch to the podcast to talk about medicine and mental health. Corey was drafted by the New York Rangers and played many seasons for the Vancouver Canucks but after retiring from playing hockey and becoming a coach and Sportsnet analyst, he turned his life and his focus to mental health. Corey is a firm believer in psychedelic medicine and wants to remove the stigma of its use in sports communities.

Corey shares his mental health journey and his battle with OCD with Dr. T and Truth Fairy and describes how he ventured into psychedelics two years ago after not finding the right therapeutic fit in other modalities. He found his way “back to his life”, as he puts it, and ascribes a great sense of hope and relief to psychedelics. The different perspective he gained and his positive experience led him to his fight against stigma today. Corey also talks openly about how death by suicide has impacted him personally and the peace medicine gave him around that trauma.

Truth Fairy describes how she met Corey and Corey shares the story behind that meeting, in which he experienced an intense journey into self-love after some medicine. One of the things Corey stresses is how working with medicine has opened him up and given him compassion and more love in life. Dr. T, Truth Fairy, and Corey discuss the intricacies of OCD and where it stems from, examine the emotional abuse inherent in a hockey player’s career, and examine Corey’s newfound purpose in life. This episode shines a light on how useful psychedelic medicine can be as applied to mental health and how the stigma only hurts people’s opportunities to experience this type of healing for themselves.

“It gives me a different perspective. You know, it's amazing when you sit with psychedelics and you think, oh, this person screwed me over or this happened or that happened, and it shows you a different angle of it. And it's like, wow, I did not even think of that perspective, right? And it's taught me to venture into things with kindness and love.” - Corey Hirsch

About Corey Hirsch:

By the time he was 21 years old Corey Hirsch had drunk from the Stanley Cup and won a silver medal at the Winter Olympics, but these accomplishments no longer mattered to him. Born in Medicine Hat and raised in Calgary, he was drafted by the New York Rangers and played for many seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. After retiring from play, Hirsch became an NHL coach for elite goaltenders and prospects, and later an analyst with Sportsnet. Dedicated to ending the stigma of mental health, he is also a co-host of The Players’ Tribune podcast, Blindsided. In October 2022 Corey released his first book—The Save of My Life—a compelling look behind the mask of a professional hockey player that offers both understanding and hope to anyone living with mental illness.

Website: CoreyHirsch.com

Book: “The Save of My Life” by Corey Hirsch

Podcast: Blindsided

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Dr. T and Truth Fairy are delighted to welcome a very special guest to the show in this episode. Rachel Harris, PhD, the author of Swimming in the Sacred, joins them for an intimate conversation about what led her to write the book and what it contains. She details how wise women are largely left out of the larger conversation on psychedelic potential and shares knowledge from the women guides she talked with who had never been interviewed before.

One of the points Rachel makes is that the women guides are not therapists and do not refer to themselves as therapists. They will refer to therapists outside themselves. We tend to be the ones who have conflated psychedelic guides with therapists. Rachel talks about how long traditional indigenously trained shamans will be considered apprentices and some of the ceremonies around the work they do. Rachel’s own experiences touch on many ancient wisdoms and draw from years of study and research beyond physical work with medicines and awareness.

Rachel describes lifelong learning and an unending search through experiences, a continuous exploration of self and spirituality, of being alive in the work of medicine. She expresses the need to talk about not exactly adverse experiences but about the reality of what can be experienced, of the truths of the challenges the medicine presents. Rachel’s wisdom ignites strong memories and insight from both Dr. T and Truth Fairy and what evolves is a conversation so deep and honest that it is not to be missed.

“Well, you know, these women are self-selected in a way that they've had unusual spiritual experiences, many of them, in their lives, often from childhood on. And... I write about this in the book because, to me, it's just very fascinating. Because I had this qualification, I had unusual spiritual experiences. I was missing a few other pieces, but that one I had. And so in that way I was similar to them. And I think because they have these unusual spiritual experiences, which, by the way, they don't mention to anybody ... They often say, I have never told anyone this and then they report an unusual spiritual experience, because our culture doesn't support this.” - Rachel Harris

About Rachel Harris:

Psychologist Rachel Harris, PhD is the author of Swimming in the Sacred: Wisdom from the Psychedelic Underground.  She was in private practice for thirty-five years working with people interested in psychospiritual development. During a decade working in research, Rachel received a National Institutes of Health New Investigator’s Award and published more than forty scientific studies in peer-reviewed journals. She has also consulted with Fortune 500 companies. 

Rachel was in the 1968 Esalen Residential Program, Big Sur, CA. This intensive six-month program focused on meditation and bodywork. In the early 1970s, Rachel studied with Dorothy Nolte in the movement system, Structural Awareness, based on Dr. Ida Rolf’s Structural Integration (Rolfing). Rachel also co-edited the Journal of the American Dance Therapy Association for three years. Awareness of how people live and move in their bodies has always been an aspect of Rachel’s approach to psychotherapy.

In 2005 Rachel traveled to a retreat center in Costa Rica and serendipitously found herself with the opportunity to drink ayahuasca with Ecuadorian shamans. The morning after her first ceremony, Rachel began asking questions about the therapeutic potential of this medicine. She conducted a three-year research project with Lee Gurel, PhD that resulted in “A Study of Ayahuasca Use in North America,” published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (Summer, 2012). Rachel is the author of Listening to Ayahuasca: New Hope for Depression, Addiction, PTSD and Anxiety. 

Rachel Harris Website: SwimmingInTheSacred.com

Book: “Swimming in the Sacred: Wisdom from the Psychedelic Underground” by Rachel Harris

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Resources discussed in this episode:

• “Listening to Ayahuasca: New Hope for Depression, Addiction, PTSD, and Anxiety” by Rachel Harris
• Eugene Gendlin, PhD
• Charlotte Selver
• Fritz Perls
• Irvin Yalom

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Email: info@punktherapy.com

In this very special episode, Dr. T and Truth Fairy meet in real life for the first time. Truth Fairy travels to Australia and the two hosts are united in person at last! Their conversation happens organically from the moment of meeting as they discuss what they’ve been doing and what plans they have. 

Dr. T fills Truth Fairy in on the clinical trial he has finally received permission to engage in. A trial with mushrooms for treatment-resistant depression. Truth Fairy reveals that Dr. T will be taking part in her five-day training while she is in Australia which both are extremely excited about. They reflect on the strangeness of finally being together in person and yet the familiar sense of recognizing each other as a kind of family.

Dr. T and Truth Fairy dive into the three-day medicine session Truth Fairy just before their meeting. Truth Fairy recounts what made her say yes to that session and how it went. They talk about prayers of gratitude offered before sessions, being drawn to work with people in trauma, the mentors they have found in the field, and finally reflect again on how wonderful it is to meet each other in real life and make the connection beyond Zoom.  

“It's like when I first saw you, a part of me recognized you and a part of me didn't recognize you because you were no longer the person just behind the screen. You were a real fully in-flesh person. And as I'm sitting here watching you, it's like the connections are being made and the recognition is coming and I'm sinking back into like, Oh, okay, I know this person.” -  Dr. T

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Gabor Maté
• Sharon Stanley
• smudge

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Punk Therapy: website |email

Dr. T hosts this episode solo and has a wonderful conversation with guest Shirley Dvir, founder and lead teacher of Relational Somatic Healing. Dr. T and Shirley both started in social work but are now pursuing careers in healing and they share their views on human to human healing touch and the psychedelic field. 

Shirley talks about how she sees the nature of healing as really being about deep listening and receiving the other person. She notes how people rarely get really truly listened to and when we do listen and simply meet people as humans where they are, when we can receive people as they are, it opens up an experience for deep healing.  

Dr. T and Shirley address how part of experiencing healing is the human to human contact we crave and how we have lost the healing art of touch in our modern modalities. They acknowledge how touch is so taboo and often tied to so much trauma but that the healing touch is something we need to foster again. They discuss the need for learning on consent to touch, of knowing when to offer touch and when not to, and how the psychedelic experience can heighten either need for refusal of touch. 

“There's a lot of abuse of touch in general in the world of physical touch and sexual touch and touch can be so dangerous too. And that can be so harmful, and at the same time so medicinal when it's being done right…. The boundaries are so important and the training of the therapist is so important.” -  Shirley Dvir

Resources discussed in this episode:

• “Integral Psychedelic Therapy: The Non-Ordinary Art of Psychospiritual Healing” - Shirley Dvir’s chapter is entitled “Relational Touch in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy”

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Punk Therapy: website |email

Shirley Dvir: linkedin | website

CW: talk of rape and sexual dysregulation

Dr. T and the Truth Fairy welcome guests Gam, a sociologist, activist, and soon-to-be craniosacral therapist from Scandinavia, and Rachael, a somatic sex educator, intimacy guide, and body worker in Canada, to the show to talk about solo psychedelic medicine journeys. Both Gam and Rachael have worked in cohorts with Truth Fairy and come from experiences in guiding themselves on solo journeys, and they share what the solo journey is like.

Gam embarked on solo journeys out of necessity, due to a lack of support and community in psychedelic therapy in Scandinavia. He admitted he also wasn’t particularly comfortable in groups so decided to start a long exploration into solo work and appreciates the deep understand he got from both good and bad experiences on his own. Rachael began in group work but explored solo work through the pandemic. Through that she found a certain strength in having external support she could reach out to if solo work became rough.

Dr. T., Truth Fairy, Gam, and Rachael discuss the benefits of ceremony and community, the necessity of inner work and preparation to precede solo journeys, relationship with the erotic self in solo work, and how our systems respond to psychedelics according to need. The conversation sheds light on how bodily integration and internal work are part of psychedelic medicine and the nature of support even within solo journeys.

“Psychedelics are an opportunity to open up our trust in our erotic bodies, to trust that we can hold that incredible life force and not inflict pain or desire in unwelcome spaces, not open ourselves to violation, and just be in the pleasure of our erotic body in community.” -  Rachael

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Sharon Stanley
• Antonio Damasio

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Punk Therapy:  website |email

CW: sexual content, trauma

Dr. T and the Truth Fairy welcome Temptress (she/her they/them), sex worker and advocate for psychedelics, to the show to discuss sex positivity and queerness in the psychedelic ecosystem. Temptress shares psychedelic healing and sexual experiences from their own past and addresses the need to define safe and sensitive psychedelic care for trans and queer individuals.

Temptress explains the gender trauma that defined much of her formative years and how psychedelics started her on the path towards healing. She did a lot of solo work, exploring on her own, until she was able to connect with a partner with whom she connected and could share psychedelic exploration. The experiences allowed them to reunify aspects of themselves that had been disconnected due to trauma.

Temptress, Dr. T and Truth Fairy talk about sex positivity within psychedelic healing, psychedelics in rave culture, queer connection and expression, and the need for language in psychedelic healing to shift to better support trans and queer folks as well as gender trauma. Temptress has a lot of personal insight and advocacy knowledge that opens valuable conversations that the psychedelic community needs to have. 

“You know, cisgender folks tend to be able to access health care with much more ease than transgender folks do and queer folks do. Cisgender folks and straight folks alike are able to access employment opportunities, as well as just the sexual economy, a lot easier. And so as practitioners, being educated on these differences can I think really help with establishing a sense of safety for other trans folks and queer folks who are entering those spaces.” -  Temptress

Resources discussed in this episode:

• NARM Training Institute
• Chacruna conferences - Queering Psychedelics
• “Queering Psychedelics: From Oppression to Liberation in Psychedelic Medicine” by Alex Belser PhD, Clancy Cavnar PsyD, and Beatrix Caiuby Labate PhD
• Sensei Kevon Simpson
• Lilla Watson
• José Esteban Muñoz

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Punk Therapy: website |email

CW: End of life care and distress

Dr. T and the Truth Fairy welcome Michelle Gagnon, a registered nurse with a background in medical assistance in dying. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of British Columbia where her research focuses on ethics, therapeutic psychedelics, and health care practices, specifically where they intersect. Michelle shares a wealth of health care experience and knowledge with Dr. T and Truth Fairy. 

Michelle’s masters’ research examined moral distress among intensive care nurses losing patients. She explains what moral distress encompasses and how she is researching the potential for psychedelics to help treat folks struggling with it. Dr. T shares a related personal experience that lends perspective to what Michelle is exploring.

In conversation with Michelle Gagnon, Dr. T and Truth Fairy learn about Michelle’s work with non-profit association TheraPsil, her hopes for the legalization of psychedelics like psilocybin for medical use, the limits of the current health care structure, and how ethics must factor into every aspect of research and practice. There is a lot of insightful information imparted about Canadian research into psychedelics and the individuality of approach necessitated by each person’s reaction to medicines in this episode. 

“I think sometimes with psychedelics as it's framed now, there's a lot of excitement about it and sometimes we can get lost in the hype that this could change things drastically. And it could, but it's not an easy cure, like you said, it's not necessarily even a cure or an assist for everybody. It's not right for everyone. It's just the way I kind of see it is it's another potential tool under our umbrella of other tools. And it's so unique in so many ways. And I think it is, like you mentioned, disrupting potentially a lot of the way we do things, which is exciting.” -  Michelle Gagnon

About Michelle Gagnon, RN:

Michelle Gagnon is a registered nurse with a background in emergency critical care and medical assistance in dying. As a by-product of her master's research, which focused on moral distress in pediatric critical care nurses related to the death and dying of child patients, Michelle became interested in the use of psychedelic medicine for distress. She is currently a PhD student at the University of British Columbia with a research focus on the intersection of ethics, therapeutic psychedelics and health care practices. 

Michelle worked for nonprofit TheraPsil to support Canadians seeking access for medical psilocybin through Health Canada. She also spends time volunteering with the Psychedelic Association of Canada's Ethics Working Group to draft and disseminate articles related to pressing ethical topics in the psychedelic field. 

In her free time, Michelle is an avid baker and enjoys reading mystery and fantasy. Through mud and snow she enjoys mountain biking the trails where she lives in the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut'ina, the Stoney Nakoda nations and the Metis Nation, and all who make their homes in the treaty seven region of Southern Alberta.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Michelle Gagnon on Medium
• TheraPsil
• Psychedelic Association of Canada

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Punk Therapy: website |email

CW: Physical assault, trauma, and suicide

Dr. T and the Truth Fairy welcome Dr. Sharon Stanley - renowned psychotherapist, author, and developer of the psychotherapeutic model of somatic transformation - to the show. They have a searching and revealing conversation with Dr. Stanley about her career and the decades of work she has done with humans and trauma. 

Sharon Stanley describes her work as “relational to the core” and explains how her somatic work uses relationship to at times discern a particular technique. She shares the personal story of how she first became interested in trauma and how her study moved into the idea of somatic transformation from there. Dr. Stanley also names many foundational figures whom she has drawn insight from along the way.

The discussion Dr. T and the Truth Fairy have with Sharon Stanley involve how Sharon keeps boundaries in the relationship formed through trauma bonding, what the intersubjective field is, and the six steps of somatic transformation. Sharon describes what ‘meaning making’ encompasses and she invites Dr. T and Truth Fairy into a brief thematic reflection. This episode sheds light on how much Truth Fairy has learned from Dr. Stanley and why she has been mentioned so frequently on PUNK Therapy. It gives insight into her intentions and careful trauma healing methods.

“When we do have an experience of going through something together, we can have an experience called trauma bonding. And the trauma bonding is a kind of an enmeshment where I feel what you feel, you feel what I feel. And we don't have clear boundaries. And that kind of leads me a little bit further into your question that working professionally with trauma, it's relational, but the boundaries are very clear. And how to make sure [in] those boundaries that there's a time, there's a place, there's a way we will, it's almost like a ritual that we will follow.” -  Dr. Sharon Stanley

About Sharon Stanley, PhD:

Over the past 17 years Sharon Stanley has developed and taught an emerging curriculum for healing trauma to thousands of  mental health practitioners. The educational experience of ST actively engages psychotherapists in exploring emerging research and practices in their own professional and personal lives. Sharon then applies their findings to the ongoing development of Somatic Transformation.

As an instructor for Somatic Transformation, Sharon has had the privilege of teaching psychotherapists from Canada, United States, Middle East and Europe. Her doctoral studies at the University of Victoria involved research into the development of empathy in caregivers working with traumatized children and identifies the transformative effects of ST as an amplification of empathic connection. Sharon has been engaged in a small study group with Dr. Allan Schore, a well-known neuroscientist, for 18 years. She lives and practices psychotherapy on Bainbridge Island, just outside of Seattle.  Her book, Relational and Body-Centered Practices for Healing Trauma: Lifting the Burdens of the Past was published by Routledge in 2016 and is used by psychotherapists interested in a humanistic, developmental, body-centered, relational approach to healing trauma.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• “Relational and Body-Centered Practices for Healing Trauma” by Sharon Stanley, PhD
• Judith Herman
• Edith Stein
• John O’Donohue
• Matryoshka dolls
• Max van Manen
• Suicide Hotlines and Prevention Resources Around the World

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Punk Therapy: website |email

Dr. Sharon Stanley: somatic transformation website | email

Truth Fairy flies solo again for a deep conversation with Daan Keiman, co-founder of Guild of Guides Netherlands, to explain what a Psychedelic Chaplain is. Daan himself is a Psychedelic Chaplain and guides listeners through what that means, as well as discussing education and training in the realm of psychedelics.

Daan shares details of how he views the work of a Psychedelic Chaplain and what informs his practice. He is trained as an interfaith spiritual caregiver and has a Master’s of Arts in both theology and religious studies. He was trained as a Buddhist chaplain so approaches his role with more of an existential questioning stance. He has psychedelic experiences to share, ones that helped shape his journey. 

Truth Fairy and Daan Keiman explore their experiences as instructors, in education capacities, and what it means to be trained in psychedelic healing. They address psychedelic apprenticeship, legalization, the bottleneck problem, and what Daan will be talking about in his upcoming conference. Their conversation explores crucial ideas at the heart of psychedelic medicine and approaches questions from a healing and helping perspective, informed by their combined experiences.   

“The profession of spiritual care, of offering spiritual care to people while they prepare for or move through or seek to integrate psychedelic experiences, can really provide a lot of pointers, practices and approaches on how to do that ethically, how to do that well. And a term that we could use is existential integrity, which might be understood as, I'm a client, I have a sort of right to be supported in understanding a psychedelic experience, in an existential language and through existential practices that I either consent to and/or that are deeply familiar to me.” - Daan Keiman

About Daan Keiman:

Daan holds an MA in Spiritual Care and is the co-founder of Guild of Guides Netherlands: an organization that seeks to professionalize psychedelic sitting services. His experience with guiding and caring for people in altered states of consciousness spans over a decade; ranging from psychedelic harm reduction work on festivals to his private practice as a Psychedelic Chaplain.

Daan draws from his personal Buddhist practices, psychedelic research and his professional experiences to create compassionate and powerful containers for personal and relational transformation. As an avid explorer of consciousness, he is highly capable of supporting others who are traversing the landscapes of the mind.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• “Thresholds” by John O’Donohue
• Vajrayana Buddhism
• Erowid.org
• De Hollandse Psychonaut
• Communitas
• “Towards psychedelic apprenticeship: Developing a gentle touch for the mediation and validation of psychedelic-induced insights and revelations” by Christopher Timmermann, Rosalind Watts, and David Dupuis

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Punk Therapy: website |email

Dr. T: email  |  Truth Fairy: email

Truth Fairy appears solo for this special episode in conversation with guests James Clifton, former Lead Facilitator, and Daan Keiman, former Lead Facilitator and Director of Program and Product Development, of the Synthesis Institute. This conversation aims to shed more light on the recent headlines surrounding the termination of employees and contractors by Synthesis as reported recently in psychedelic outlets like Lucid News.

James Clifton and Daan Keiman introduce themselves and get in depth about their own stories of how they came to psychedelic therapy and the formational time period in discussion with Martijn Schirp. They each give much-needed context to discussions about Synthesis - its origins, how the retreats came together, the thought and care put into the approach. They also note when some tensions started and what was behind the tension. 

Truth Fairy leads a very probing and insightful conversation with James and Daan in which they explore the truths and requirements for working with psychedelics, how the attitude of potential clients changed after the release of “How to Change Your Mind” by Michael Pollan, the complexities with diverse practitioners and educational considerations the leadership team constantly considered as Synthesis grew, and the challenge of balancing psychedelic reality against capitalist needs. James and Daan give context and meaning to the headlines, unpacking the impetus behind Synthesis and truths of its journey.   

“I think this may be something that I want to emphasize, because in a lot of what has been published, this is a perspective that is missing, it is that the leadership team itself struggled with the complexity. They had this monumental task ahead of them of bringing together this very diverse group of practitioners with their own perspectives on how to do this work, of navigating all these legal challenges, not to mention all the financial constraints and financial commitments that they made to investors, and to then ride this wave of this massive hype that started to started to emerge. I think it's within that sort of vast growing field - adding a corona pandemic that locked everything down and that required the organization to really make a radical shift in orienting themselves now towards the practitioner training - there's this challenge that comes with both asking yourself as an organization, who are we and what do we do and what do we offer as services.” - Daan Keiman

About James Clifton:

James Clifton has been a guide and ally for hundreds of individuals and groups in a variety of complex settings and environments, including hospice care, conflict zones and navigating non-ordinary states and realms of consciousness in psychedelic spaces for over 35 years.

As a clinically trained, trauma and integrally informed psychotherapist, he works in professional practice with individuals and their direct experiences that come with all the varieties that an extra-ordinary state demands and as it unfolds.

He was part of the core faculty and also retreat team lead at the Synthesis institute from 2019. He continues to consult internationally, advise, lead, supervise and support developing teams and organizations committed to the best emergent practices in psychedelic care.

He lives mostly in the UK on the South Coast and sometimes you’ll find him in the wilds of the South West Coast of Cornwall.

About Daan Keiman:

Daan holds an MA in Spiritual Care and is the co-founder of Guild of Guides Netherlands: an organization that seeks to professionalize psychedelic sitting services. His experience with guiding and caring for people in altered states of consciousness spans over a decade; ranging from psychedelic harm reduction work on festivals to his private practice as a Psychedelic Chaplain.

Daan draws from his personal Buddhist practices, psychedelic research and his professional experiences to create compassionate and powerful containers for personal and relational transformation. As an avid explorer of consciousness, he is highly capable of supporting others who are traversing the landscapes of the mind.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• “Synthesis Founder Confirms Bankruptcy of Dutch Sister Company” by Joseph Gallivan for Lucid News March 20, 2023
• Synthesis website
• “How to Change Your Mind” by Michael Pollan
• Bayo Akomolafe

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Punk Therapy: website |email

Dr. T: email  |  Truth Fairy: email