We were lucky to catch up with Ami Grace, Lcsw recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ami, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
As a psychedelic assisted therapist, I am often sought after as the last resort. When clients find me, they have exhausted all mental health resources that have not helped resolve their symptoms. They have often been on antidepressant medications for years, have spent years in talk therapy, TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation), and even the most drastic and archaic form of treatment, ECT, electroconvulsive therapy. In the last few years, many have read the success stories on the internet, read the research literature, and have seen national media about how psychedelics can change your mind, altar your negative perception of self and others, heal chronic depression, anxiety, PTSD, alcohol abuse, self love, and breaking generational cycles of trauma. Many were influenced to give psychedelic therapy a try after the popular Netflix documentary Fantastic Fungi, and the docuseries, How To Change Your Mind with Michael Pollan were released in 2023. After years of training and mentoring, and twenty four years as a licensed therapist, I discovered my passion was to help people heal themselves through psychedelic assisted therapy. I was up for the challenge because I knew firsthand as a trauma survivor with PTSD that psychedelics can help save lives and give back the lives we lost to our mental health struggles.
Success Story:
I remember one client who called me to inquire about what I do and to see if I could help him and said, ” I am desperate and if I don’t change, my wife will leave me.” He had been a first responder and worked for years in crisis seeing death and devastation that rattled his heart and psyche. When Aaron first came from the central valley to the central coast to do his eight hour journey with me using psychedelics, his hand shook and the sweat dripped down his face. His brow furrowed with skepticism as our hands met, he and his wife took in my presence; a woman who was wise in her 50’s, dressed in white flowy garments out of respect to the medicine and the ceremonial process we were about to embark on together. He felt welcomed by my kind and nurturing energy.
I grabbed his hand, looked in his eyes and with calm told him to follow me into the yurt where I do my psychedelic work nestled in nature. He was conservative and nervously eyed my crystals, sage, palo santo, plants, altar and journey bed where he was to lay for six to eight hours, certainly not your stereotypical therapist’s office. Set and setting are crucial to the journeyer’s experience and healing. I provide that space for clients and give them the energy of safety and nurturing. I set the space with the four directions; an indigenous practice to contain the space and allow for our energies and the medicine to work while keeping all other energies outside of the sacred space.
Aaron ingested the psychedelic and began to journey into the “other realms” or the subconscious. He was nervous and as I saged him to release his fear and anxiety, I assured him he was in safe hands and his only job was to: Relax and breathe, trust the medicine, surrender and allow the process. “You don’t need to analyze Aaron”, I said in my calm and soothing voice as he shook with his eyeshades on, questioning why he was shaking so much and what the Aztec and Mayan shapes were about. I explained that shaking and trembling in the medicine is a good thing. It is working to release stored up traumatic energies which have been trapped for years. I continued to hold space for Aaron as he became peaceful and talkative about his traumas.
“Why do I have to wear these eye shades?” He questioned. “Because you are journeying into your own mind and subconscious, the wise part of yourself that is easier to access with your eyes covered. “You have your own divine inner healing intelligence and everything that comes up for you is meant for healing.” He played out the horrific scenes of death, chaos and destruction he had witnessed as a first responder for twenty years. He remembered watching an entire family burn to death in their car and by the time they arrived the family could not be saved. He sobbed uncontrollably, “I should have saved them! It was my job to save them- there were children and their dog dying before my eyes. I can smell it now.” I remained a calm and grounding presence for him holding his hand while he squeezed it tight. After sobbing and shaking, I told him it was not his fault, he did everything he could do and it was safe to forgive himself and let this memory go.
Aaron proceeded to recount many traumatic memories while I continued to hold space for him, softy reminding him he is safe now and providing empathy and support while he cried.
After the journey, Aaron came out and said “Oh my God, what just happened? I let go of so much and burdened you will all my trauma stories!” I assured him he was in the right place and could be free to talk about it, feel it and let it go. This is part of the healing process I explained. He mentioned he felt “twenty pounds lighter, emotionally speaking.”
A week after the journey, Aaron and I met for integration of his journey and he told me he was already feeling so much more calm, his anxiety was virtually diminished and he felt lighter and less negative and reactive towards his wife. One month later, we checked in and his symptoms of PTSD were almost none. Aaron felt he healed and was so excited about this form of treatment that he told every first responder who struggled about psychedelic assisted therapy. Two months later, Aaron’s wife texted me privately, and all she said was: “Thank you for giving my husband back to me and saving our marriage. If it was not for you and the encouragement you gave him to try psychedelic assisted therapy even though he was a skeptic I would have divorced him.”
Aaron is just one of many I have helped heal their depression, PTSD and anxiety. I get a lot of skeptics, even from the therapy community who question my ethics and this form of treatment. However, with more and more media coverage I am now receiving referrals from psychiatrists and other wellness professionals who see their clients are not improving after years of traditional treatment.
It is important to mention that psychedelic assisted therapy requires years of training in the psychedelic space and non-ordinary states of consciousness. Mentoring is important as well because this is not something just learned through training, you learn by practicing and doing and need to be prepared for a crisis/panic response as well as being trauma informed as trauma will most likely surface. Therapists who are trained in Internal Family Systems approach have an advantage as the different parts of our psyche could come forward: child parts and experiential memories, the teen self and the adult self who are unburdening shame and core wounds. This type of work is not for the faint at heart and psychedelic assisted therapy is different than just a guided experience because you should have training and mentoring experience as well as modalities that help resolve trauma under your belt.
Lately, there has been a surge of untrained guides doing this work who are not experienced except for having done a psychedelic themselves which is dangerous in my opinion. At the very least, one must be familiar with the harm -reduction model and trauma- informed modalities. This psychedelic experience when done with a trained and trauma informed therapist, is a vulnerable process where preparation sessions before the experience are key to the trust and therapeutic alliance with the client. We must include multiple preparation sessions with clear therapeutic goals and intentions as well as a clear explanation of ethical guidelines for safety and efficacy of the experience. When done safely and with ethical integrity clients are able to heal from traumatic childhoods, chronic depression, post -traumatic stress, and anxiety. Integration is an important part of the experience where clients meet with the psychedelic assisted therapist post-journey to discuss and unpack therapeutic themes and are able to step into post-traumatic growth, empowerment, and resilience.
I have a passion to help others through psychedelic assisted therapy. I have started a psychedelic assisted therapy and safe guiding course to train other professionals so that they can learn from my wisdom and experience as well as mistakes made along the way. Some tell me I am “outside of the box” but because I do psychedelic assisted therapy safely and ethically, I know that my personal and professional integrity is of my highest value. I will continue to help those who have exhausted all resources and want to heal this way. My mission is to help people heal and I have come full circle in fulfilling my spiritual purpose.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
As a holistic therapist for twenty five years now, I have worked with many populations and issues over ethe last twenty five years. I have worked for the Women’s Shelter Program with women and children affected by domestic violence and abuse, with youth in foster care, adoptions, mental health agencies, teaching at Cal Poly State University and Allen Hancock community college, and over twenty years in private practice.
In private practice, I see mainly those affected by trauma and have PTSD, anxiety, depression and relationship problems. I do individual and couples therapy and mainly specialize in psychedelic assisted therapy and neuro-nutrient therapy currently. I consider myself a holistic therapist and weave together the body/neurobiology, mind, and soul/spirit into my holistic practice. Fourteen years ago, I trained and mentored with best selling author of the ‘Mood Cure,’ by Julia Ross where I spent a year in a mentorship learning neuro-nutrient therapy. Neuro-nutrient therapy offers a holistic approach to depression and anxiety and alternatives to pharmaceutical medications and antidepressants using amino acids, vitamins, minerals, herbs and nutrition. I develop custom treatment plans that are tailored to each client’s symptoms such as: negative mood, anxious thoughts, cravings for sugar and carbs, sleep issues, and low energy.
I am also very passionate about psychedelic assisted therapy and have been working in this space for eight years after years of training and mentoring with experts in the field. I am passionate about helping clients heal naturally and encouraging their own inner healing intelligence through psychedelic assisted therapy. I have since developed a holistic psychotherapy training course for other therapists, and am currently about to launch my psychedelic assisted therapy and safe guiding course so that other professionals can be trained in how to provide psychedelic assisted therapy safely and ethically. I am the most proud of this experience and wisdom I can offer after so many years in the mental health field to both clients seeking healing and mental health professionals seeking training.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Other than training and knowledge, I think for mental health therapists the most important quality to offer clients is a warm, receptive, non judgmental energy. The successful therapists do not necessarily have to have a hundred different certifications and modalities under their belt, they need to have this type of essence of confidence and nurturing energy which provides a safe space for those who need healing. To be successful int he mental health field we need to believe our clients can step into resilience and empowerment and that they are the masters of their own healing as we provide the safe space and container for them to do so.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think of myself as a “hope merchant” for clients. I market hope, healing, resilience and empowerment as a holistic and psychedelic assisted therapist. A space where one can step into the best version of themselves. My story of hope and resilience began at my beginning. My passion for helping others heal their generational cycles of abuse stemmed from my own history of abuse and neglect. I was born into a traumatic childhood with my mother being a severe alcoholic and sexual abuse survivor, and father who was also an abuse survivor and turned to drugs in adulthood to numb his pain.
My earliest memories were of my father beating my mother so badly she was taken away by an ambulance to the hospital where she had to reconstruct her nose and face, which my father destroyed in his fit of anger. Sadly, in the 1970’s domestic violence laws were not in place yet and my mother dropped all charges of assault and battery. My father was arrested for attempted murder because her injuries were that severe. Not only did she drop all charges, she gave full custody to my father and paid him child support. I only saw my mother twice a month and she was usually so intoxicated by alcohol she was not able to parent my sister and I. We lived with my father full time and lived in a state of chronic daily fear of his rageful temper. We lived with his girlfriend who he beat frequently in fits of jealous rage. I used to quietly enter their bedroom after he beat her, and get her ice for her black eyes and tell her she does not deserve this treatment and to get out.
He was a tyrant and neglected our emotional physical and developmental needs as children. I was abused for fighting back as I always knew it was wrong what he was doing. No one noticed the malnourishment I suffered from lack of being fed, no one noticed the strategically based black and blue bruises on the side of my head hidden by my hair. I desperately wanted to escape and when I was fifteen, finally told my mother how bad his abuse was on a daily basis and we went and talked to a social worker and a police officer. The police officer walked me into my childhood home one last time, staying close to protect me as my father was on an errand There was a sense of urgency as he ushered me to my room and told me to quickly grab my belongings. I stuffed my jacket pockets with my diary and a few pairs of underwear and my toothbrush. I patted my cat one last goodbye and with a racing heart left my home with the police following us.
My father was held accountable for his child abuse and I was removed from my home immediately. I will never forget the sense of freedom and empowerment I felt escaping his wrath and holding him accountable. He had told me numerous times if I told anyone they would not believe me and he threatened to kill me f I told on him. As I drove away from my childhood home, dark with isolation and secrets, I felt the cool air and a taste of liberation on my face in my social worker’s 280z. She said, “Ami, you are safe now You never have to back there.” I went to a foster home and then eventually went to live with my mother who by then committed herself to sobriety and her new marriage. After living in that foster home, and living with other abused children (some much worse than me. I will never forget the cigarette burns on an eight month old). I vowed to help victims of domestic violence and generational trauma in my future. This became my main motivation to enter the helping field and become a therapist. I spent years in therapy and healed somewhat but pervasive PTSD would not go away. I still had that instilled fear in my body and was afraid to go to sleep at night for fear of my father’s late night abuse after his bender.
Then I found the power of psychedelics and began to break my cycle of generations of abuse and domestic violence. I healed symptoms that would never seem to go away; I grieved the loss of the father I wished I had, and the mother I never had growing up with both parents as substance abusers. I was determined to break the cycle for my daughter. I did not want to pass down what my mother and father gave to me. My passion was to help others heal their generational cycles of abuse and to stop the cycle. I was resilient and strong and used my strength, fortitude and determination to show others they too can heal and release years of baggage and traumatic memories and that they too can be free of the ghosts of the past.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amigrace.com
- Instagram: psychedelictherapyslo
- Other: (805) 234-2573 or [email protected]
