🫠 Psychonaut POV

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that respects our wisdom keepers. But can we twist your arms into becoming wisdom sharers? The world could use it right about now. 😬

Ashley Carmen rejects a lot of what she picked up from her background in classic psychotherapy. Not peer consultation groups though; to her, those were invaluable. So she created the Psychedelic Guide Network to bring the same kind of support and structure to the psychedelic field.

We asked Ashley what modern therapists and traditional guides can learn from one another, how psychedelic practitioners are working through difficult cases, and why we should decentralize the medical model.

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What inspired you to transition from conventional psychotherapy to incorporating psychedelic medicine in your practice?

My inspiration came from working with two types of clients. First, I worked with women in recovery at an inpatient rehab in the San Francisco Bay Area. These were folks with a lot of trauma, detoxing off drugs and alcohol. They had dual diagnoses—addiction plus mood or trauma disorders—and they were heavily dosed with prescription meds. It felt like the pharmaceutical industry was using them as guinea pigs. That was my first inkling that I needed to shift out of that system.

I then went into corporate medicine and was providing therapy for a large insurance and in-house service provider. Even there, there was a huge push for pharmaceuticals. As a behavioralist, I'd face consequences if I didn't refer out for prescriptions. The psychiatrists were churning through 15-minute appointments. It didn't feel good. I decided I wasn't going to contribute to this problem anymore.

So, I went into private practice and started studying psychedelic medicine. My own history with psychedelics goes way back. I first tried mushrooms in sixth grade, which was way too early and left me with misconceptions about psychedelics for a while. But later, I got introduced to ketamine therapy research, which opened my mind a bit. Then I had some positive experiences with LSD and psilocybin that changed my perspective. When I met my fiancé, who's been a psychonaut since 2013, that really set me on this path.

Can you explain the concept of "decentralizing the medical model" in the context of psychedelic therapy? Why is it important?

To understand decentralization, we need to start with centralization. Right now, the medical model is centralizing psychedelics, siloing access to credentials, licensure, and medicine itself in the U.S. We're looking to the medical model and FDA for diagnoses to access these medicines.

Decentralizing the medical model means advocating for a paradigm shift. I'm pushing for a world where it's not only licensed practitioners or diagnosed patients who have access to psychedelics, but all people. I see psychedelics as more than just substances to help emotional well-being and mental health. They're consciousness tools. The medical model is minimizing the opportunity we have here.

Personally, I'm taking action by sharing wisdom from the medical model with folks outside it—shamans, spiritual practitioners, energy healers—and vice versa. I'm bridging licensed psychotherapists, ketamine psychiatrists, MDs, and naturopathic doctors with these other practitioners. By bringing these groups together, we break out of our silos and learn from one another.

There's still a need for ethical standards, certainly. But standards should encourage education and right relationship, not police people. As a society, we need to embrace personal responsibility, too. People would be better off educating themselves and making informed choices, rather than outsourcing their decisions to governing bodies. Ultimately, we need a new system that mitigates harm, upholds ethics, fosters community insight, and empowers the end client.

How does the Psychedelic Guide Network bridge the gap between academically trained medical professionals and traditional practitioners?

The core of PGN is our "wisdom circles." These are spaces for all practitioners, regardless of background, to come together and share their knowledge and experience. It's structured like a peer-to-peer consultation group, similar to what's required in the licensing model.

The wisdom circle serves multiple purposes. It puts practitioners in community, provides different perspectives on their work, and most importantly, invites self-reflection, especially around issues like countertransference.

The goal isn't just to focus on client issues, like "What do I do when a client goes non-verbal during a psychedelic session?" Instead, it invites guides to reflect on their own reactions: "I felt fear when they went non-verbal. It reminded me of when my mom wouldn't speak to me." This self-reflection is critical in psychedelic work because clients aren’t just opening up intellectually, but energetically and emotionally as well.

When done effectively, practitioners walk away more confident, having explored their own reactions in relation to the client. By including a diverse group of licensed and spiritual practitioners, we're sharing a variety of approaches, interventions, and ways of guiding. I call it a wisdom circle because it feels like what our ancestors did—sit around the fire, passing down stories and wisdom.

We've got structure, agendas, and templates that facilitate this process, all aimed at creating a multidisciplinary approach to psychedelic guidance. All these different perspectives and traditions come together to create a more holistic and effective approach to psychedelic therapy.

From your experience holding these wisdom circles, what are the greatest points of tension between traditional and modern guides? Have you been able to reconcile any differences?

We have community guidelines that emphasize openness and diversity as our strengths. Keeping those ideals centered reduces the head-butting, but there have definitely been points of tension.

One recent controversy came from a teacher who was training guides to provide online MDMA psychotherapy. Some community members had gone through his training and were practicing via Zoom. This jarred others who felt it was unsafe and unethical to conduct MDMA-assisted therapy sessions virtually. We facilitated dialogue in our circles and discussed safety plans, preparation, and energetic concerns. We don't always reach definitive answers, but we explore different perspectives together.

Another recurring theme of disagreement is around dual relationships. In the licensed model, serving friends or family members is a no-no to keep relationships clean. However, many practitioners without clinical training do serve friends and family. This often comes up in consultation when something's gone wrong in the relationship, leading to awkward situations or payment issues.

It's interesting to see the contrast in language and knowledge between different practitioners. For example, spiritual practitioners might not understand clinical acronyms like IFS, DBT, or CBT. On the other hand, we once had a psychology department head who was teaching about psychedelics but didn't know what "purging" meant in this context.

Being a multidisciplinary team means there's no one "right" way. This aligns with the idea of decentralization. We embrace many approaches and tools, which can lead to disagreements but also rich learning experiences.

How do you see the field of psychedelic-assisted therapy evolving over the next 5-10 years? What role do you hope PGN will play?

I have hopes of where it's headed, and I've placed my life force and vitality in that direction through PGN. But honestly, the future is uncertain. From my last ayahuasca sit, I'm trying to let go of the thinking and just lead with the knowing.

One major challenge is maintaining the integrity of traditional and underground practices. If the pharmaceutical industry monopolizes psychedelics, we risk losing valuable wisdom, culture, traditions, and rituals. These practices have survived so far, but at a great cost. People have been imprisoned, and there's been a lot of fear in the community.

If things don't change and it continues to be illegal with only certain groups allowed to practice, it becomes dangerous for others to transmit knowledge. It’s great that we’re moving towards legalization, but if things were to tighten up, it could end restricting access for many people.

What I hope is that we're heading towards a future where our God-given right to explore consciousness tools is accessible to everyone everywhere who chooses to. It just seems so silly to me that we have to jump through hoops to access something that was put here on Earth before us.

That's where I hope this is all headed, and that's at least where PGN is headed. We're trying to be a light for guides that believe in openness, multiple approaches, and ethical practice. That's what our community stands for, and that's the paradigm shift we're after—going from the war on drugs to freedom of access.

Want more from Ashley?

The Psychedelic Guide Network is welcoming new members in October. Join the waitlist.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.