Through my years of psychotherapy training, I was critiqued by some of my teachers when attempting to integrate spirituality into my written essays and clinical thinking. I was told “that’s not psychotherapy.” In my clinical supervision I felt excited to bring a piece of work about lucid dreaming and the nature of reality only to be told to “be careful you don’t come across as woo woo”, I often felt deflated, and my ideas were squashed. Some of my peers would view spiritual healers as charlatans supressing their wounding and believed that true healing was only achieved through years of therapy. Additionally, the term “heal” was not always viewed well, it was thought to carry connotations of quick fixes or magical solutions, which didn’t align with the gradual and sometimes challenging process of therapy. There was clearly, what I define a “spiritual stigma” that existed here.

After I obtained my psychotherapy Masters, I was free to integrate what I wanted without fear of spiritual stigma, so did various rigorous shamanic practitioner trainings including core, classical, Inca and Shipibo teachings. I got to experience healing first hand. Interestingly however, some of my shamanic teachers here critiqued psychotherapy saying “why spend years in therapy when you can see a shaman for a healing.” I was taught that if we just focus on healing the spirit or energetic, then restoration and recovery would automatically follow in the mind and body as a domino effect, so we simply need to heal our spirits and the rest will follow. Some peers viewed talking therapy as a “waste of money that didn’t lead to true healing”. There was clearly, what I define a “psycho stigma” that existed here.

What I am pointing at here is a split between two very powerful modalities. Stigma existed on both sides creating fuel for the split. However I could see something different, I could see magic, intellect, and the potential for integration, where the strengths of each modality complemented and enriched the other, leading to a more holistic approach to healing and growth.

Many who seek spiritual healing for trauma, struggle with integration, as despite healing taking place, old habits still exist. Many who seek psychotherapy for trauma recovery, still struggle with the loss of who they once were, as the energetic body remains fragmented or diseased. I very quickly realised my job is to unite these two healing modalities.

If we combine psychotherapy, which is great for integration and creating new healthy happy habits, with shamanic healing, which focusses on the restoration of lost power and energetic health, we have what I am terming “psycho-shamanic” therapy.

Psycho-shamanic therapy is therefore a bridging of worlds:

In trauma work, whether working as a psychotherapist or shamanic practitioner, we aim to do the same thing: reintegrate and recover lost and fragmented parts of the self. This leads to healing and recovery.

All disease, sickness, and the collective psychosis in the world stem from our disconnection from the planet, the community, and our true selves. Caring for the planet, the community, and our true selves is the essence of shamanism. Therefore, by reintegrating shamanic practices into modern psychology, I am attempting to correct and heal the ultimate trauma and split: the rejection of spirit. This is a soul retrieval on a macro level. I now take a psycho-shamanic approach to my work.