Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy for Complex Trauma

Linda Curran, BCPC, LPC, CAC-D, CCDPD, EMDR-C, is president of Integrative Trauma, LLC. She provides clients an integrative approach to trauma, and treats PTSD in adolescent and adult populations, including clients with eating disorders, sexual trauma, and self-injury.

An international speaker on the treatment of trauma, Linda has developed, produced, and presents multi-media workshops on all aspects of psychological trauma. Linda is the author of best-selling Trauma Competency: A Clinician’s Guide (PPM, 2010) and 101 Trauma-Informed Interventions (PPM, 2013) and the soon to be released book set Trauma Treatment: Beyond Competency-Clinician Playbook/Client Workbook. She is the producer of the best-selling Master Clinician Series, in which she collaborated with the world’s leader in trauma: Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Peter Levine, PhD, Babette Rothschild, MSW, LCSW, Stephen Porges, PhD, Janina Fisher, PhD, and many more.
 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Linda Curran maintains a private practice. She receives compensation as a a reginal and international trainer. She receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. Linda Curran is a paid consultant for Evergreen Certifications. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Linda Curran is a member of the American Counseling Association and the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy. She serves on the advisory board for International Association of Trauma Professionals.

Michael Mithoefer, MD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina. In 2009, he completed & published the first FDA approved clinical trial of MDMA assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant PTSD, followed by completion of a Phase II trial. He is overseeing a multisite Phase III study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in 13 sites around the US (including the Trauma Research Foundation), and another MDMA-assisted psychotherapy multisite study in Europe and Israel.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Michael Mithoefer has employment relationships with Columbia University, Bassett Healthcare Network, University of South Carolina, Lykos Therapeutics and has ownership interest in Awakn Life Sciences. He is a sub-investigator and therapist at Zen Therapeutics and a consultant with MAPS. Dr. Mithoefer receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc.
Non-financial: Dr. Michael Mithoefer is a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Victor Cabral, MSW, LSW, CCTP-I, (He/Him/His) is a collaborative and strategic leader who is making an impact on historical inequalities in his community and across the United States. Victor is the Founder of Dreamers of the Day, LLC, and serves as the Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Fluence International Inc., a company that provides evidence-based training in psychedelic therapy and integration services to clinicians across the globe. Before joining Fluence, Victor served as Deputy Director for the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Advocacy and Reform where he co-led the implementation of the Trauma-Informed PA Plan, helped establish the first Racial Day of Healing in Pennsylvania history, and developed free trauma trainings for Pennsylvanians in collaboration with BIPOC mental health and trauma, and psychedelic medicine. He is a Licensed Social Worker and practicing psychotherapist in Pennsylvania with training in Internal Family Systems, Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy and Psychedelic Integration.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Victor Cabral is the Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Fluence. He receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Victor Cabral is the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Co-Chair for the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association.

Dr. Jim Hopper is an independent consultant and Teaching associate in psychology at Harvard Medical School, and consultant to the Outpatient Addictions Service of the Cambridge Health Alliance. For over 25 years, Dr. Hopper’s research and consulting work has focused on the psychological and biological effects of child abuse, sexual assault, and other traumatic experiences. As a clinician, Dr. Hopper works with traumatized adults. He was a therapist for the FDA-approved phase 3 trial of MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD, and since 2020 has provided ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in private practice. Dr. Hopper consults and teaches nationally and internationally to clinicians as well as investigators, prosecutors, judges, and other professionals.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: James Hopper maintains a private practice and has employment relationships with Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance. He receives royalties as a published author. James Hopper receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: James Hopper is a member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the APA Division 56.

Rosalind Watts, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, a mother, and a nature lover. Her work as the clinical lead for Imperial College London’s psilocybin trial has made her one of the most prominent voices and minds in the field of psychedelic research. Dr. Watts has been named as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Psychedelics as well as on e of the Top 16 Women Shaping the Future of Psychedelics, with her focus on integration, harm-reduction, and inclusion in the psychedelic space.

Hannah McLane, MD, MA, MPH, is a physician, psychoanalyst, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of SoundMind Institute, a Philadelphia and Oregon-based psychedelic facilitator training and research initiative aimed at bringing ethics, equity and innovation to the psychedelic ecosystem. She conducts research on cognitive diversity, psychedelic science, ethics, PTSD, and emerging alternative therapies for mental health issues.

Stacia Butterfield is a certified Holotropic Breathwork facilitator. Over the last two decades she has introduced Holotropic Breathwork to large public groups and a variety of academic and professional settings, including California Institute of Integral Studies, Tel Aviv University, MAPS Psychedelic Science 2013 & 2017 conferences, Sophia University, Kripalu and the Fetzer Institute. Stacia’s long interest in the wisdom of the body and deep trust in the intrinsic healing orientation of the psyche informs her work with others.

Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD, is a clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of post-traumatic stress. His work integrates developmental, neurobiological, psychodynamic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment.

Dr. van der Kolk and his various collaborators have published extensively on the impact of trauma on development, such as dissociative problems, borderline personality and self-mutilation, cognitive development, memory, and the psychobiology of trauma. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles on such diverse topics as neuroimaging, self-injury, memory, neurofeedback, Developmental Trauma, yoga, theater, and EMDR. 

He is founder of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts and President of the Trauma Research Foundation, which promotes clinical, scientific, and educational projects. 

His 2014 #1 New York Times best seller, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Treatment of Trauma, transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring – specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, somatically based therapies, EMDR, psychodrama, play, yoga, and other therapies.

Dr. van der Kolk is the past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School. He regularly teaches at conferences, universities, and hospitals around the world.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is a professor at Boston University School of Medicine, the Director of the Trauma Center, and the National Complex Trauma Network. He receives royalties as a published author. Dr. van der Kolk receives a speaking honorarium, recording royalties, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Bessel van der Kolk has no relevant non-financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Deran Young, LCSW, is the Founder of Black Therapists Rock, an organization that includes over 20,000 professionals committed to reducing intergenerational trauma in marginalized communities.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Deran Young has employment relationships with Brene Brown Education and Research Group, Internal Family Systems Institute, and Black Therapists Rock, Inc. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Deran Young has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Richard Schwartz, PhD began his career as a family therapist and an academic at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There he discovered that family therapy alone did not achieve full symptom relief, and in asking patients why, he learned that they were plagued by what they called "parts." These patients became his teachers as they described how their parts formed networks of inner relationship that resembled the families he had been working with. He also found that as they focused on and, thereby, separated from their parts, they would shift into a state characterized by qualities like curiosity, calm, confidence and compassion. He called that inner essence the Self and was amazed to find it even in severely diagnosed and traumatized patients. From these explorations, the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model was born in the early 1980s.

IFS is now evidence-based and has become a widely-used form of psychotherapy, particularly with trauma. It provides a non-pathologizing, optimistic, and empowering perspective and a practical and effective set of techniques for working with individuals, couples, families, and more recently, corporations and classrooms.

In 2013, Schwartz left the Chicago area and now lives in Brookline, MA where he is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Richard Schwartz is the Founder and President of the IFS Institute and maintains a private practice. He is a consultant with Portage-Cragin Mental Health and has a employment relationship with Harvard Medical School. He receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Schwartz receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Richard Schwartz is a fellow of Meadows Behavioral Healthcare and is a member of the American Family Therapy Academy and the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy. He is a contributing editor for Family Therapy Networker. Dr. Schwartz serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, the Contemporary Family Therapy, the Journal of Family Psychotherapy, and the Family Therapy Collections.

Dr. Jennifer Baldwin is a theologian, therapist, and trainer at Grounding Flight Wellness in Woodstock, GA, where she specializes in trauma recovery/PTSD, vocational discernment and school success, anxiety/depression, self-injury, and identity exploration. She also provides trainings for clergy and spiritual care professionals in trauma sensitive theology and religious leadership.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Jennifer Baldwin maintains a private practice and is the founder and lead trainer of Concrescence Institute. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Baldwin receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Jennifer Baldwin is the co-founder of Psychedelic Medicine Association of Georgia and is a member of the Illinois Counseling Association, the Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association, and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. She serves as an editor for Dialog Journal.

Mendel Kaelen, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Wavepaths, an organization that enables therapists and clinicians to work with music in a truly person-centered way, as an extension of the therapeutic relationships with clients. Prior to Wavepaths, he worked as a PhD and postdoctoral neuroscientist at Imperial College London since 2012, where his research was one of the first to demonstrate music’s central role in psychedelic therapies.

Leslie Korn, PhD, MPH, LMHC, ACS, FNTP, BCTMB, is a renowned integrative medicine clinician and educator specializing in the use of nutritional, herbal and culinary medicine for the treatment of trauma and emotional and chronic physical illness. She is known for her dynamism and humor providing clients effective alternatives to psychotropics. She completed her graduate education in the department of psychiatry and public health at Harvard Medical School and her life training in the jungle of Mexico where she lived and worked alongside local healers for over 25 years. She directed a naturopathic medicine and training clinic facilitating health, culinary and fitness retreats. She is licensed and certified in nutritional therapy, mental health counseling, and bodywork (Polarity and Cranial Sacral and medical massage therapies) and is an approved clinical supervisor. She introduced somatic therapies for complex trauma patients in outpatient psychiatry at Harvard Medical school in 1985 and served Acupuncture and faculty at National College of Naturopathic Medicine.

She is the author of the seminal book on the body and complex trauma: Rhythms of Recovery: Integrative Medicine for PTSD and Complex Trauma, 2nd Edition (Routledge, 2012, 2023); The Brainbow Blueprint: A Clinical Guide to Integrative Medicine and Nutrition for Mental Well Being (PESI, 2023), Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health (W.W. Norton, 2016), Eat Right Feel Right: Over 80 Recipes and Tips to Improve Mood, Sleep, Attention & Focus (PESI, 2017); Multicultural Counseling Workbook: Exercises, Worksheets & Games to Build Rapport with Diverse Clients (PESI, 2015); The Good Mood Kitchen (W.W. Norton, 2017); and Natural Woman: Herbal Remedies for Radiant Health at Every Age and Stage of Life (Shambhala, 2019). She was a founder of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, a Fullbright scholar in Herbal Medicine and an NIH-funded scientist, in mind/body medicine. She is an approved clinical supervisor and is the research director at the Center for World Indigenous Studies where she designs culinary and herbal medicine programs with tribal communities engaged in developing integrative medicine programs.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Leslie Korn has employment relationships with Health Alternatives, LLC., Center for World Indigenous Studies, and the Center for Traditional Medicine. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. Dr. Korn receives royalties as a published author. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Leslie Korn is a member of the Nutritional Therapy Association and Integrative Medicine for the Underserved.

Belleruth Naparstek, ACSW, BCD: Psychotherapist, author and guided imagery innovator Belleruth Naparstek is the creator of the popular Time Warner Health Journeys guided imagery audio series. Her first book, Staying Well with Guided Imagery, is a widely used wellness primer. Her second, Your Sixth Sense, has been translated into 8 languages and called one of the most thoughtful and sophisticated looks at intuition in print. Her latest book on imagery and posttraumatic stress, Invisible Heroes: Trauma Survivors and How They Heal, was released in late 2004, won the Spirituality & Health Top 50 Books Award and is out in paperback January of 2006.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Belleruth Naparstek is the founder of Health Journeys, Inc. She is an author who receives royalties. Ms. Naparstek receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.
Non-financial: Belleruth Naparstek has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.

Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is a distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium within the Kinsey Institute. He holds the position of Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland, and is a founder of the Polyvagal Institute. Dr. Porges served as president of both the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published approximately 400 peer-reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, biomedical engineering, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, neuroscience, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, psychometrics, space medicine, and substance abuse. His research has been cited in more than 50,000 peer-review publications. In 1994, Dr. Porges proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The theory is leading to innovative treatments based on insights into the mechanisms mediating symptoms observed in several behavioral, psychiatric, and physical disorders.

He is the author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation (Norton, 2011), The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe (Norton, 2017), Polyvagal Safety (Norton, 2021), co-author with Seth Porges of Our Body Polyvagal World (Norton, 2023), and co-editor with Deb Dana of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018). Dr. Porges is also the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol™, which currently is used by approximately 3,000 therapists to improve spontaneous social engagement, to reduce hearing sensitivities, and to improve language processing, state regulation, and spontaneous social engagement.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Stephen Porges is a Courtesy Professor with the University of Florida College of Medicine, a Distinguished University Scientist of Indiana University, and a Professor with the University of North Carolina. He receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Porges is co-owner of Polyvagal Music, LLC. He receives a speaking honorarium, book royalties, and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. He receives royalties and is a stockholder with integrated Learning Systems/Unyte.
Non-financial: Dr. Stephen Porges is an emeritus member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Society for Psychophysiological Research. He holds a patent on Televagal equipment.