🫠 Psychonaut POV

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Kylea Taylor became the psychedelics field's reluctant ethics advisor after watching one too many well-meaning therapists crash and burn in extra-ordinary states. Now she helps practitioners stay in integrity through peer consultation groups that feel a bit like therapy themselves.

We asked Kylea why psychedelic work creates unique risks for misconduct, what clients should look for (and run from) when choosing a guide, and how practitioners can stay in right relationship with those they serve.

Baeocystin. Norbaeocystin. Aeruginascin. Norpsilocin.

Nope, these aren’t the latest additions to IKEA’s furniture catalogue.

They’re just a few of the secondary alkaloids that naturally occur in psychedelic mushrooms. While psilocybin and psilocin get all the attention (and the Schedule I status), these lesser-known compounds also contribute to the full psychedelic experience.

Limitless has bred a strain that's loaded with these alkaloids but has undetectable levels of the illegal ones.

And yes, it still produces a powerful effect. No assembly required.

I used to dislike ethics. A long time ago, I was asked to be on an ethics committee and refused. I was defensive about my own mistakes, and part of me didn't want to be self-righteous and tell other people what to do. That’s what I thought ethics was.

My views changed while I was working with Stan Grof, a psychiatrist and pioneer in the psychedelic field. We were training people to be facilitators of Holotropic Breathwork®, and I was one of the senior trainers. I started noticing that a few good people were getting into trouble when they took this work back into their practices and interacted with clients in extra-ordinary states of consciousness.

One story really got my attention. I call it “the story of the woman who lost everything.” She used Holotropic Breathwork® with a long-term client, and they had a very deep oneness experience where they merged, which can happen. She didn't know what to make of it and thought maybe they were supposed to be together romantically. They acted on it. After a few months, the client felt exploited and reported her to the ethics board, then sued her in court. She lost her house, her practice, her license, and a lot of money. I thought, this is weird. She had had traditional ethics education. What happened here? I began to see there were gaps in ethics education for this work.

I started writing and thinking more about it. Then I was assisting at a workshop that Jack Kornfield and Stan Grof did together. During a debriefing with the assistants, I shyly shared a couple of my thoughts about ethics. Jack grabbed my journal and wrote “ETHICS” in big letters. That was encouraging to me. I proceeded to write a book on the topic, published in 1995, called The Ethics of Caring. That’s how I got started.

First of all, practitioners are doing something different from talk therapy. They're spending long hours entirely focused on the client, as opposed to one-hour sessions, and unexpected things can happen when you’re working together so intensely.

Transpersonal experiences can come up, and so can deep experiences of biographical trauma. Transpersonal experiences are experiences outside the biography, outside of what we've experienced since we were born. That can include perinatal experiences in the womb and the birth process, as well as all kinds of experiences outside our “skin-encapsulated ego,” as Alan Watts called it—past life experiences, mystical experiences, experiences of oneness with all beings. Traditional therapists need to get educated about transpersonal psychology to know what to make of these phenomena.

Then there's a whole other set of risks related to the fears and desires of the facilitator or therapist. What can come up is, for instance, a facilitator might be jealous of the experience the client is having. Or they could be afraid of the client's experience and push it away. Then there's desire to merge with the client, or fear of merging with the client. Therapists need to understand and anticipate that these desires and fears are going to come up, from the power of the extra-ordinary state alone.

My green flags are that the person is well trained, that they've had their own experiences with psychedelics or other extra-ordinary states, and that they have a support structure for their own self-exploration. They have their own therapist or a peer support group, or both. When they're talking with a client, they're looking at that unique individual and what that individual needs, rather than trying to fit them into a mold of how things should be.

Red flags would be if they have an investment in any kind of outcome with you as a client. They seem to want you to have a particular kind of experience, perhaps like their own, or want to direct how things should play out. If they're attracted to you or your transformation in a way that feels like they want more of a relationship with you, those are certainly red flags.

Before you work with somebody, talk with them first, at least one or two times, to get a sense of how it's going to be. If it doesn't feel good, go somewhere else.

I think the best way to do that is to have a peer consultation group. When everybody takes turns getting and receiving consultation, you get to hear other people's questions and feelings. You might recognize a feeling that you have yourself that you weren’t consciously aware of.

What I wanted to do with my InnerEthics® framework was provide enough structure for the group that people would know what their role was and be able to fulfill that role without going into their own stuff. There are three roles group members fill in rotation: the presenter, the consultants, and the facilitator.

The presenter brings an issue from their practice. It could be an ethical issue or a psychological difficulty with a client. The consultants are there to help the presenter unfold what is happening and feel safe enough to do that. They're not there to answer the question but to help the presenter answer it themselves. The most important way they do that is by offering compassion. Our society is starved for compassion. When we finally get it, we are more ready to get to the truth of what's really going on within us.

Then the facilitator is focused on the presenter and what they need. They step in if the consultants are going too fast, if the presenter needs more compassion, or if things are going off topic. They protect the presenter and make sure the structure is followed. The structure is critical. If people are devoted to it, amazing things happen.

Everybody who's doing this work needs oversight, whether they’re operating underground or not. And I think it can be very effectively handled with a group, as long as all the members are honest with themselves and each other.

I don't think that underground therapists are automatically going to be harming or not taking care of people just because they're underground. Having a licensing board doesn't guarantee protection either. I believe it depends on the person and the structures for reflection and support they’ve set up around themselves.

There are some times, for the benefit of the client or the practitioner, that you need one-on-one oversight. If you're working with a group and something comes up repeatedly that you can’t resolve with your peers, then it might be good to have your own therapist or a supervisor go into it more deeply with you.

The ideal situation is that practitioners are committed to their own process of introspection, and that they are connected to a supportive community. That's what's going to keep clients safe.

Pick up a copy of her book, The Ethics of Caring, or apply to join an InnerEthics® Wisdom Circle before January 24th.

That’s all for today, Cyclists! Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can help.

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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.