Psychedelic Assisted Integration Psychotherapy (PAIP)
The growing demand for this work from the public and healthcare professionals puts pressure on the establishment to review their stance on the safe and ethical use of psychedelics in healthcare (Pilecki et al., 2021). We could soon see an emergence of legislative frameworks that allow committed and skilled facilitators and therapists to practice openly in their communities. And, as psychedelic-assisted therapy becomes commonplace in modern healthcare, the demand for therapists equipped to work with this client base will increase.
We are very excited to share our ground-breaking approach to psychotherapy, which unites systems from modern and ancient philosophy, all four forces in psychology (including the somatic fields), health sciences, energy medicine, yoga therapy and interfaith spiritual practices.
The scope of our practice makes us best placed to support those who seek to heal by altering their state of awareness.
Course Design
First and foremost, it offers a space for diverse members of the plant and therapeutic communities to come together and learn from each other. It shares practical information suitable for people already working and preparing to enter the field.
There is also a wealth of wisdom from psychotherapy and embodied learning through group processes unique to each cohort. Practices from diverse mind, body and sacred traditions are taught to augment the psychotherapeutic work (permission has been obtained by tribal elders for any songs, stories or indigenous concepts that Shaura shares on the course).
Participants leave with a greater understanding of working multi-dimensionally with clients who undergo psychedelic treatment programs. Moreover, the taught skills are transferable and can be used therapeutically with all clients.
Live Integration Psychotherapy and Somatic Supervision sessions support the group to experientially absorb the content.
The course is accredited as a CPD certificate with the National Council for Integrative Psychotherapists (NCIP).
Course layout
- Five nights in-person retreat in a suitable country.
- Five online weekends.
In-person retreat
The retreat offers an opportunity to begin the learning by undergoing two psychedelic experiences, live integration sessions and supervision. We will continue embodying the teachings and sharing the theory and practice integration skills for the duration of the retreat. Each group has an organic nature, and we must also adhere to what the program needs to teach -over our years of teaching countless groups and shepherding participants through profound self-development journeys, we have learnt to dance between those two lines of tension.
Due to the difference in costs for accommodation in our venues, we have structured the fees for the course alone (£1800) – the cost for accommodation and flights is not included in the fees for the course.
The online sessions include the following training methodology:
- We use lecture-style learning to teach the relevant neurochemistry psychological theory and discuss what we feel is essential for therapeutic practice.
- The group learns by participating in plenary discussions and live integration sessions with the facilitator.
- Participants work together in breakout rooms to share some of the taught practices in the course.
Additional learning
We strongly advise you to engage in home groups where you meet outside the course to practice and support each other. We are, after all, a community of learners traversing life’s labyrinths with similar interests and worldviews.
Digital resources
Lectures and practices will be recorded and shared with the group – all meditations, specific psychotherapeutic interventions, and movement practices shared will also be available for you to keep.
Suitability
- Facilitators who are already working with psychedelics and wish to learn how to use skills from Integration Psychotherapy to increase the efficacy and safety of their work
- Psychotherapists or counsellors who are interested in working with clients undergoing psychedelic experiences or therapy
- Therapists and yoga teachers who are working with ceremony or in plant medicine communities
- Healthcare professionals and coaches wanting to diversify into the field
*The course is offered as a CPD for people who have some grounding in the helping traditions. The Pilamaya Centre may offer an entrance pathway to applicants not meeting the course criteria.
Scope of the course and future pathway
Next Intake 2026-27
The course starts with a five night retreat (details will be given upon booking) and follows on with five online modules.
Five Night Retreat
5-10th October
Online Modules
9-10th December
3rd-4th February
24-25th March
28-29th April
9-10th June
Course Topics
History, research and practicalities
- A brief history of psychedelic usage in spiritual and therapeutic traditions
- The use of psychedelics for ritualistic or ceremonial purposes
- Current use and trends of psychedelics in modern medicine, including where they show promise for treatment-resistant conditions
- Clinical and ritualistic settings and their effect on the experience
- Contraindications for use and practical guidelines for working with medium to higher-risk client groups
- Effects of the recent publicity around the treatment, including client expectations
- The reality of working with clients who present with long-term conditions
- Differentiation between spiritual and therapeutic expectations
- Helping people to prepare for the experience and working with the integration process
- Supporting clients who are working through trauma and those who have had traumatic psychedelic experiences
- The legalities of working with psychedelics for facilitators and therapists
- Using robust intake processes to manage risks for clients and facilitators
Relevant neurophysiology, biology and psychology
- Basic cell biology
- The role of DNA, including what we know about inherited genetics and epigenetic changes over the lifetime
- The development of the nervous system and how it functions
- A brief summary of significant neurotransmitters and their effects
- The organisation and restructuring of our neurobiological systems through the early years
- How the early environment and infant attachment shape our unique chemical signatures
- The workings of the autonomic nervous system in health and distress
- Toxic Stress: the long-term effects of stress and trauma
- Foundations of neuroplasticity and neurotransmitters that support change
- Increasing the potential for neuroplasticity with Integration Psychotherapy
- Current focus of pharmacological interventions for mood disorders and their effect on the system
- Neurological effects of psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, Ketamine, N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), Ayahuasca, Mescaline and Ibogaine.
Therapeutic relationship
- The role of the archetypal figures of priest, shaman, medicine person and therapist
- Creating the appropriate alliance for the journey
- Cultivating presence and the intentional use of Self
- Facilitating change and supporting long-term integration
- The use of mind and body practices
- Counteracting unfavourable experiences in recreational use
- Working with trauma that arises during or after a therapeutic session
- Preparing people with trauma background to work with plants
- Using alternative methods that alter consciousness without using psychedelics to change biochemistry
Psychotherapeutic models and influences
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Infant Attachment
- Deep Psychology
- ProcessWork
- Transpersonal Psychology
- Somatic Psychology
- Gestalt
- Native American Indigenous Science
- Vedic and Tantrik Psychology and Energy Science
- Field Theory
Practices
- Employing movement, dance and simple yoga
- Journeying with drumming, rattle or voice
- Building interfaith ceremonies and ritual
- Creating and delivering Yoga Nidra
- Utilising somatic resourcing
- Applying Gazespotting
Practical Details
The course is offered in partnership with The Yogologist and is accredited by The NCIP (National Council for Integrative Psychotherapists) as a 130-hour CPD Certificate.
We offer the course as a hybrid experience, where some of the theory is delivered over Zoom and can be accessed via online recordings. Group practice sessions are a combination of online and in-person. The in-person aspect of the course is run over a five-night intensive retreat.
Fees
The cost of the 5 night retreat is £1250 all inclusive
Total costs: £3050
We ask for a non-refundable deposit of £300 to secure your place.
The fee for the course and accommodation will be added together at the time of your booking and a payment plan can be arranged.
Student Liability
Please exercise due diligence and digest the material above fully to decide whether this course is for you. If this course calls to you, then come with an open heart.
Assessment and Graduation Requirements
All theory is assessed by written Q+A with a pass rate of 80%; students can retake any that fall below 80%.
Therapeutic skills are assessed throughout the course, with feedback given at regular intervals. Students must demonstrate that they have absorbed the relevant content on safe practice, including contraindications for treatment and working with moderate to high-risk clients. Furthermore, high levels of self-awareness, resilience and transferential tolerance must be observed for participants to gain the award.
We will discuss pathways to certification for those who appear to need longer to complete.
One 2000–3000-word case study highlighting how the skills taught in the course have been used within the student’s existing work frame, with either one client over at least eight weeks or with a recurring group.
Next Zoom Webinar Details
Your Facilitators and Guides
Shaura Hall
Your primary facilitator is the founder of the Pilamaya Centre and course director for the groundbreaking diploma in Integration Psychotherapy®. Shaura is a Multi-Modal therapist with qualifications in Yoga Therapy (C-IYAT), Supervision and Neurosomatic Psychotherapy (NCIP). She is also an Interfaith Minister (ROSIM) and regularly attends training courses on subjects that will enhance her capacity to work creatively. She has written and delivered Meditation and Yoga Teacher training for over ten years; her background has allowed her to support hundreds of clients and students seeking balance in today’s world. As part of her commitment to psychotherapy and the community, she co-founded Integration Psychotherapy Services (IPS), which offers subsidised therapy to those who could not otherwise afford it.
Her spiritual background began in 2004 with the Lakota First Nation people and practices; they introduced her to a ceremonial way of life, and she has continued to pray with the same community ever since. As part of that journey, she was given passage into NAC (Native American Church) meetings and introduced to the plant medicine peyote. This medicine is sacred to the NAC; therefore, for Shaura, it is not available outside of this group of people. Thus, she has been able to sit up with them on rare and precious occasions for the past twenty years.
Shaura was later surprised when the plants began to call her; issues of cultural appropriation and rights to carry medicines worked their way through her until what remained was the invitation from the plants and her commitment to serve humanity. Therefore, she started to train as a therapeutic plant facilitator in Spain. She was introduced to some typical integration styles and began searching for a recognised psychotherapeutic therapy training course. What she came across made her realise that her work style could hugely benefit this community. After five years of groundwork, including founding, formalising and directing the diploma in Integration Psychotherapy®, this course is finally ready. Shaura’s commitment to serving the field without taking from the traditional people has been the primary motivator for her to share her extensive knowledge and creativity with the plant medicine and therapeutic community. The course fulfils the need to enhance professionalism and therapeutic expertise for facilitators and therapists who work with medicines in the modern world.
Marcus Sorenson
Marcus Sorensen is a multimodal therapist, neuropsychologist and PhD researcher. He works to bring a biological basis of understanding to socio-psychological processes, while also maintaining a transpersonal perspective. In short, he enjoys working from cell to soul. He has a busy private practice combining talking therapy, energy work and neuropsychological interventions. As an Interfaith minister, he also provides spiritual counselling services, ceremony and ritual for groups and individuals.
Marcus is Course Director on three of NAOS Institute’s courses: the Two-Year Diploma in Neurosomatic Psychotherapy, the Advanced Diploma in Neurosomatic Psychotherapy, and the Diploma in Energy Therapy for counsellors and psychotherapists. Marcus is an Associate Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Kent, where his PhD research is on interoception: our ability to sense our inner environment in terms emotions and body sensations, which is profoundly influenced by the outer world. His research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how we can develop and maintain this sensing ability throughout life, so we can feel more connected to ourselves and others.
Marcus holds an MSc in Cognitive Psychology, a BSc in Psychology with Medical Sciences, Diplomas in Trauma Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioural Hypnotherapy, Training & Education, and Professional Energy Healing, as well as an MA in Architecture, and a BA in Commercial Languages. When not working or teaching, Marcus enjoys spending time with his young daughter, going on walking adventures or kayaking, watching the wonder of life unfolding.
Valeria Ricotti
Originally from Italy, Dr Ricotti is a Professor of Paediatric and Child Neuropsychiatry. In 2010 she joined the Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre, at the University College London (UCL) Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she currently holds a position as Honorary clinical Lecturer.
She is a dedicated clinical researcher, having contributed to the development of novel advanced therapies, biomarkers and international natural history registries. She has for many years been interested in the health applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in a collaboration with the National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centres at UCL and Imperial College London, which yielded two papers in Nature Medicine.
In 2019 she co-founded Dinaqor AG, a Swiss gene therapy company, where until 2022 she was responsible for the company’s overall scientific strategy with a focus on the translational activities, which included a lead compound now in Investigational New Drug Application (IND) enabling studies plus a pipeline of three other gene therapy products.
She is co-inventor of six patents. She is a co-founder and director of three UK-based start-ups, in the space of neurodegenerative diseases and plant-base medicine.
