• 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

• 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.

• 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

Integration Psychotherapy teaches through our unique model called the Nine Dimensions of Self, which is influenced by but not limited to the following:

• 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

• 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

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.

Jennifer Smallwood is a BACP Senior Accredited Gestalt Psychotherapist, Integrative Therapist and Clinical Supervisor. Jennifer is also an EMDR UK & Europe registered and accredited EMDR Consultant with a successful private practice based in Sheffield. She holds a BA Honours Degree in Pure Philosophy, a master’s degree in Gestalt Psychotherapy, awarded in Meditation and Facilitation for Mental Health which she uses alongside her EMDR and Gestalt practices to further her work with trauma.

Jennifer has worked in private practice for the past 19 years as well as volunteering for The Samaritans, working for the NHS in Derby City Centre PCT, and eight years working for FREED BEECHES Eating Disorder charity in Nottinghamshire as Senior Psychotherapist and Deputy Clinical Manager. Before her retraining in Psychotherapy, Jennifer worked as a Business Consultant helping businesses improve the efficacy of their Systems and Processes. She is a guest speaker at SPACE Academy and also delivers workshops locally in Trauma.

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.