“You are not just ‘holding space.’  You are the space you are holding.”

Th

Level 1 — The Development of the Facilitator

11 weeks | 2.5-hour online sessions

Level 1 is really about you, the facilitator. Before we start looking at how to hold someone else in a psychedelic experience, I believe we first need to understand what we ourselves bring into that space.

Throughout these 11 weeks, we turn the attention inward. We work with embodiment, grounding and nervous system awareness, and explore the womb or hara as our centre of gravity and the place from which we can learn to listen and respond differently. We look at our own shadow, triggers, inner child patterns and projections, because these don’t suddenly disappear when we become a facilitator. In fact, when we are sitting with someone in a vulnerable and altered state, the parts of ourselves that we haven’t become aware of can very easily enter the space with us.

We will also spend time exploring the foundations of shamanism and developing a relationship with the unseen through journeying and the Medicine Wheel. This is not about collecting more spiritual tools or learning another technique. For me, it is about developing a grounded and embodied relationship with something beyond ourselves, while at the same time learning discernment around what we sense, receive and interpret.

As we move through Level 1, we begin bringing all these different pieces together. We explore sacred space and energetic hygiene, boundaries and power dynamics, the saviour pattern, projection and our Code of Ethics. We look at what happens when our desire to help becomes a need to rescue, when intuition becomes truth, or when our own beliefs about healing begin influencing someone else’s process.

Ultimately, Level 1 is about developing the inner foundations from which we hold space. It is an invitation to become more aware of yourself, more grounded in your own body, and more able to recognise what belongs to you before stepping into the responsibility of holding another.

The central question throughout Level 1 is: Who am I when I hold space?

Level 2 — The Practice of Psychedelic Facilitation

8 weeks | 2-hour online sessions

In Level 2, we change the perspective. Where Level 1 places you as the facilitator at the centre of the inquiry, Level 2 places the participant at the centre. Now we start looking at the person who is actually sitting in front of us.

We begin before the psychedelic experience itself, with screening and understanding who we are working with. We look at contraindications, medications, psychological and physical considerations, previous experiences, support systems and the circumstances someone is currently living in. Part of becoming a responsible facilitator is not only knowing how to hold someone, but also recognizing when a psychedelic experience may not be appropriate, when something is outside our capacity, or when the most responsible answer is not now or not with me.

From there, we move into preparation, informed consent and creating the container. We explore how we can prepare someone without already shaping what their experience should look like, and how we establish safety, trust, boundaries and choice before someone enters an altered state.

During the following weeks, we go deeper into understanding and observing the psychedelic experience itself. We look at the nervous system, trauma responses, activation, shutdown, dissociation, overwhelm and challenging experiences, while continually coming back to an important distinction: what am I actually observing, and what am I interpreting?

A big part of Level 2 is learning the art of intervention and non-intervention. When does someone need grounding or resourcing? When do we ask a question? When is touch appropriate within previously established consent? When do we need to take action because there is a genuine safety concern? And when might the most supportive thing we can do be to stay close, remain present and allow the process to unfold?

This is also where everything we explored in Level 1 around projection, intuition, power and the saviour pattern becomes very practical. Because even with the best intentions, we can start wanting something for the participant. We can want them to feel better, to have a breakthrough, to understand something, or to experience the medicine in a way that makes sense to us. Level 2 asks us to continually bring the attention back to the person in front of us and to their own experience, autonomy and inner wisdom.

We also explore group dynamics, integration and aftercare, and how we can support someone in making sense of an experience without giving them our meaning for it. Sometimes an experience may be understood psychologically, sometimes spiritually, energetically or symbolically, and sometimes its meaning may only become clear much later. Our role is not to decide that for someone, but to help create the space in which they can discover what it means for themselves.

Throughout these eight weeks, we work with real-life scenarios, case studies, discussion and practice, because psychedelic facilitation doesn’t  give us a simple set of rules that can be applied to every person.

The central question throughout Level 2 is: What does this person need from me in this moment — and what do they not need from me?

In-Person Practicum — Bringing It Into Practice

After completing Level 1 and Level 2, we come together for an intimate in-person practicum. This is where everything we have explored throughout the online training begins to come together in practice.

During the practicum, the focus will therefore be on experiencing, observing and practicing. We will work with real situations, role play, case studies, preparation and screening conversations, different ways of supporting challenging experiences, integration, group dynamics and supervised space holding. There will be space to practice, make mistakes, receive feedback and begin recognizing your own patterns as they appear within the facilitator role.

This is also where the two levels of the training meet. In Level 1, you have spent time getting to know yourself as the facilitator. In Level 2, you have learned to place the participant and their individual process at the centre. During the practicum, the invitation is to hold both at the same time: to remain connected to yourself, your body and your centre while staying deeply present with the person in front of you.

The practicum is not about performing or proving that you know what to do in every situation. I don’t believe good facilitation comes from always having the answer. What I am interested in is how you respond when you don’t immediately know. Whether you can slow down, observe, stay curious, recognize your own reactions and make conscious choices rather than automatically stepping in. And this is where facilitation becomes embodied. 

The central question of the in-person practicum is: Can I remain grounded within myself while keeping the participant, their safety, autonomy and process at the centre?