You Don’t Need a Therapist to Do Psychedelic Work,You Need the Right Guide

There is this growing belief in the psychedelic world that the right or safe way to do this work is with a licensed therapist. And while therapy can absolutely be supportive, I want to name something that often goes unspoken.

You do not inherently need a therapist to do psychedelic work. What you need is the right guide, the right relationship, and thoughtful integration.

These medicines are not tools or techniques. They are living intelligences. They have spirits, lineages, histories, and very specific ways of teaching. Working with them responsibly is not about credentials alone. It is about relationship. It is about time spent listening, learning, and being shaped by the medicine itself.

Many of the most grounded guides and integration practitioners did not arrive here through licensure. They came through lived experience. Through mentorship. Through traditional training. Through dietas. Through being in long-term relationship with the plants. This path requires humility. It requires reverence. And it requires a deep respect for the autonomy of the people you are walking alongside.

In my own journey, I have spent years in relationship with plant medicines. Learning directly from them through ceremony, dietas, and integration. I have sat with the rose and other plants as teachers, not as metaphors. I have learned how their wisdom unfolds slowly. How they meet each person uniquely. How real transformation does not happen through force, but through attunement.

At the same time, my background in coaching and behavioral science gives structure to the integration process. I do not tell clients what their experience means. I trust their inner knowing. My role is to ask thoughtful questions, to reflect patterns back, and to support them in translating insight into grounded, values-based action in their real lives.

This is the heart of integration work. You are your own healer. A guide is not here to diagnose, fix, or interpret for you. A guide is here to walk beside you, to help you stay in relationship with what emerged, and to support the embodiment of change over time.

Choosing who to work with in psychedelic spaces is deeply personal. I always encourage people to go beyond credentials. Feel for resonance. Ask about a guide’s relationship with the medicines. Ask how they approach integration. Ask how they honor your autonomy, your nervous system, and your inner wisdom.

This work is not about hierarchy. It is about a relationship. And when those relationships are rooted in integrity, humility, and lived experience, transformation unfolds naturally.

If this perspective resonates, I invite you to explore working with an integration guide who values relationship, reverence, and your own inner authority. You can learn more about my integration work or reach out for a conversation through my website. Trust yourself. You will know who is right for you.