PT402 – Sunny Strasburg, LMFT – Magic, Virtual Reality, and Ketamine & Internal Family Systems
Psychedelics Today
Psychedelics Today, LLC
4.6 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2023
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, David interviews Sunny Strasburg, LMFT: Clinical Director at TRIPP PsyAssist; psychedelic trainer, consultant, therapist, and writer, specializing in EMDR and Internal Family Systems, and offering ketamine-assisted therapy as well as ketamine therapy retreats (often co-led by Dr. Richard Schwartz).
She talks about her family history with magic, and how the act of calling energy in and out pairs with psychedelic work; how the human experience is made up of contrasts; why we need to embrace the recreational part of psychedelics; how art can be used more in therapy; and how post-experience group integration is the act of creating mythology, recreating the small-community-sitting-by-the-fire archetype – that community we so desperately need. And she discusses ketamine: different ways she uses it; how it pairs perfectly with Internal Family Systems; and how it's autobiographical medicine, making us an observer and allowing us to separate ourselves from our story.
While passionate about the mystical, magic, and reconnecting to nature, she is also very involved with virtual reality, and she discusses how VR and meditation apps are easing people into non-ordinary states and familiarizing people with breathwork. With the help of pioneering psychedelic DJ, David Starfire, she created PsyAssist, an app with music playlists and voice integration for people to enhance ketamine experiences that don't otherwise include therapy or integration work. PsyAssist was acquired by VR company, TRIPP, and they're running a study on people using VR before a psychedelic experience to see if data proves that VR really does reduce the anxiety so many of us feel before taking that big journey. But she reminds us: as we become more connected to technology, VR, and AI, being connected to other human beings will become more and more important.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you're looking for a way to positively impact the mental health crisis or you care about |
| 0:04.6 | access for psychedelic-assisted therapy, we encourage you to check out Thank You Life. Access for |
| 0:10.2 | all is their marching song. Thank you Life's mission is to eliminate the financial barriers |
| 0:14.7 | for psychedelic therapy and revolutionize mental health care. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy |
| 0:19.5 | has shown great promise in treating various |
| 0:21.4 | mental health conditions, but unfortunately, high costs make it inaccessible to many individuals. |
| 0:26.6 | That's why Thank You Life has established a scholarship fund to provide access to these life-changing |
| 0:31.0 | therapies to those in need. Their goal is to ensure that everyone who is a suitable candidate for |
| 0:35.7 | psychedelic therapy has access to it, |
| 0:37.9 | regardless of their financial status. Not only are they making these therapies accessible, |
| 0:43.0 | but they're also contributing to the growing body of research on psychedelic treatments. |
| 0:47.0 | They believe in the healing power of psychedelic therapy and are dedicated to making it a reality |
| 0:51.0 | for people everywhere. Right now, they are raising $750,000 to help 100 underserved people receive these life-changing |
| 0:58.3 | treatments. |
| 0:59.3 | For more information or to donate, please visit their website at thank you life.org. Hello there. Thank you very much indeed for tuning in to psychedelics today. This is your host, |
| 1:22.3 | David Drabkin, having a conversation with Sunny Strasbourg. Sunny and I chatted in the winter, in the depths of the |
| 1:29.6 | cold and oh my goodness me, a lot has happened since we recorded just in the last few weeks. |
| 1:35.9 | So much is happening with field trip and with synthesis and a lot of questions being asked and |
| 1:40.1 | what does it all mean with banks failing as well? So sit back and enjoy this conversation |
| 1:45.1 | because I think there's some good answers interwoven in the conversation, |
| 1:49.1 | particularly just coming from that individual level. |
| 1:51.5 | Who am I? |
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