Therapy

PT385 – Relationships, Conviviality, and The Strength of Empathic Attunement

January 31, 2023
Featuring: Gina Gratza, MS, LMFT

In this episode, Joe interviews Portland, OR-based licensed marriage and family therapist, ketamine-assisted therapist at Rainfall Medicine, lead educator at InnerTrek, and speaker at our upcoming Convergence conference: Gina Gratza, MS, LMFT.

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In this episode, Joe interviews Portland, OR-based licensed marriage and family therapist, ketamine-assisted therapist at Rainfall Medicine, lead educator at InnerTrek, and speaker at our upcoming Convergence conference: Gina Gratza, MS, LMFT.

She talks about how she decided she wanted to become a therapist and when she knew psychedelics were the next step; meeting Rick Doblin at Burning Man; the efficacy of MDMA being used in conjunction with traditional therapy; how the self-compassion of MDMA gives her tremendous hope for its use in treating eating disorders; how non-ordinary states of consciousness teach us the wiseness (and uniqueness) of our inner healer; and her healthy concerns for how Oregon handles psilocybin legality: InnerTrek will be graduating some of the first licensed facilitators in Oregon and they should be certified by summer, but with OHA-approved service centers and manufacturers still up in the air, what happens next?

She and Joe also discuss how non-ordinary states of consciousness teach us the wiseness (and uniqueness) of our inner healers; the need for therapists to continuously do their own work; the idea of a psilocybin-licensed facility doubling as a music venue; David Nutt’s drug harm scale; Kylea Taylor; “The Trialogues”; archetypes of Burning Man; and how in psilocybin-assisted therapy, we can only do so much before the spirit of the mushroom ultimately takes over.

Notable Quotes

“There’s a strength in the empathic attunement that’s happening in the heart space that’s coming forward, so it’s not just talk therapy. There’s a connection happening. And we are creatures of love and belonging and connection, and when we feel that with another human being [and it’s] authentic – that is a very powerful force. We don’t have to compare it, but it’s just as powerful as medicine.”

“I hope to never be a master of any domain. I know that the juiciness of this life and this existence is continuing to stay open to learning and growing and evolving, and for me, that’s coming back to humility: I’ll never know everything, especially when it comes to the realm of altered states of consciousness. We’re trying to understand life in this state of consciousness, let alone bringing in altered states and the many different dimensions at which things can come through to you, and the uniqueness of everyone’s experience.”

“This is what we humans are able to do: Here are the measures, here are the ways in which we’re training. And then there’s the spirit of the mushroom. There’s what we are going to bring and then there is going to be what the mushroom brings: …the mycelium network, the earth, the nature; like a total other force that is beyond our ability to really know or read what will move through that.”

Links

Ginagratza.com

Rainfallmedicine.com

Innertrek.org

Chrisstauffermd.com (SNaPLAB: Social Neuroscience and Psychotherapy Lab)

YouTube: MDMA-assisted Therapy for Social Anxiety in Autistic Adults – Alicia Danforth

Clinicaltrials.gov: Psilocybin-Enhanced Psychotherapy for Methamphetamine Use Disorder

Clinicaltrials.gov: Study of Feasibility and Safety of MDMA-Assisted Group Therapy for the Treatment of PTSD in Veterans (MPG1)

Pubmed: MDMA-assisted therapy significantly reduces eating disorder symptoms in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of adults with severe PTSD

Hopkinspsychedelic.org: Anorexia Nervosa Study Seeking Research Participants

David Nutt’s Drug Harm Ranking scale

Marijuanamoment.net: Most States Will Legalize Psychedelics By 2037, Analysis Published By American Medical Association Predicts

Wikipedia.org: Feminist pedagogy

Psychedelics Today: PT288 – Annie & Michael Mithoefer – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

Pubmed: Combining Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD with 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA): A Case Example

Psychedelics Today: PT227 – Dr. Anne Wagner – Couples Therapy, MDMA, and MAPS

The Ethics of Caring: Finding Right Relationship With Clients, for Profound Transformative Work in Our Professional Healing Relationships, by Kylea Taylor

Psychedelics Today: PT290 – Kylea Taylor, M.S., LMFT – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

Exploring Holotropic Breathwork: Selected Articles from a Decade of the Inner Door, Edited by Kylea Taylor

Sheldrake.org: The Sheldrake – McKenna – Abraham Trialogues

Damer.com (Dr. Bruce Damer)

Psychedelicsalon.com: Dr. Bruce Damer

Gina Gratza 2

In this Episode

Gina Gratza, MS, LMFT

Gina Gratza is a licensed marriage and family therapist located in Portland, Oregon. She specializes in the treatment of eating disorders, complex trauma, couples therapy, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. In short, she works within the realm of relationships. In addition to her private practice, Gina collaborates locally with a few organizations in Portland that are contributing to the field of healing with the support of psychedelics. She works as a ketamine-assisted therapist with Dr. Steve Rosonke at Rainfall Medicine. Gina is a study research therapist on the Social Neuroscience and Psychotherapy (SNAP) Lab team at the Portland VA with the director of the research, Dr. Chris Stauffer, and she is also a lead educator with InnerTrek, a psilocybin facilitator training program. Gina believes that healing is our birthright and her work is centered in compassion and connection.

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