Discover More About
The Work
01.
Individual Psychotherapy
I act as your guide as you discover important truths about why you are the way you are and how to develop and embody a truly loving relationship with your inner and outer experience, built on a foundation of trust.
We may explore: conscious and unconscious beliefs, emotions, habitual behaviors, nervous system activation, philosophy, spiritual awakening, sexuality, relationships, and anything else that falls under the umbrella of life experience.
02.
Education & Training for Therapists
This is your portal to deepening your healing work in the world. Here you discover how to allow your inner wisdom to direct the healing and growth process; creating a better experience for both you and your clients.
You know what Kevin, I’d really like to know more about this.
03.
Meditation & Mindfulness Training
Receive proper instruction about the real life changing power of these teachings and practices and how to apply them in the healing process.
What do you mean “proper instruction?” Explain yourself!
04.
Psychedelic Preperation & Integration
If you are drawn to the use of psychedelic medicines as part of your path, I provide culturally sensitive, harm reduction based psychoeducation and support related to their implementation.
05.
Reiki & Energy Work
Develop awareness of subtle energy and understand how it relates to your healing and growth process. Energy practices can be incorporated within the psychotherapeutic process to the degree that it feels right for you.
06.
The Whole Being Approach
Psychology means the study of the whole being, not just the mind. Here we develop a unique framework that incorporates the entirety of you. Your spirituality, or philosophy of life, creates the context for your healing journey.
Here's an in-depth description of our Work together
Addressing every level of being
Every person has a unique path, however, we have more commonalities than differences. Each moment is fresh and every session is designed to meet you exactly where you are at. The following are possible approaches and areas we will explore together.
Individual Psychotherapy
Everyone has their own understanding of what therapy is supposed to be. This understanding shapes how the process unfolds. I’d like to start off with a shared understanding of what we’re getting into together.
My intention is always to address the roots of your suffering. No matter what issues have brought you to therapy, we will inevitably examine how you relate to yourself, your emotions/body, and your moment to moment experience of life.
Therapy is not like calling a plumber; where there is a leak and then the plumber identifies and fixes the problem. Human beings are not toilets and I am not in the business of fixing people.
My role is to act as a guide who supports you with discovering how to listen to your own inner wisdom. This inner wisdom is communicating to you through your feelings, thoughts, sensations, dreams; through every experience in your life. We are conditioned to reject it, deny it, and fight against it. We have built up walls and defenses; armoring that once protected us but now stifles our self expression.
That is what the psychotherapuetic process is meant to be. A place where you can connect, human to human, with the raw reality of you and learn how to love, trust, and navigate your experience of yourself during this life.
Meditation & Mindfulness
I have nearly 20 years of experience teaching meditation and mindfulness. Self-inquiry is a crucial part of the psychotherapy process and these practices will serve you in expanding the awareness of, and compassion for, your moment to moment experience of life.
To say these practices are meant for stress reduction and relaxation is a vast oversimplification and leads people to believe they “aren’t good at meditation” or “aren’t doing it right” when they struggle with quieting the mind or experiencing a deeper sense of peace and relaxation.
The westernization of these practices often dilutes their central purpose, to discover the true nature of self and reality and break free from the cycle of suffering.
Meditation and mindfulness can be tailored to fit your goals. Whether you are seeking the ultimate realization or you’d simply like to experience more peace in your life, we will utilize these practices in a targeted way to support you with reaching deeper levels of stability, compassion, and contentment in your life.
Spiritual Awakening
It’s not for everyone. Enlightenment. Is it some mythical tale or an achievable lived reality? The mystical branches of every major religion and esoteric tradition talk about it and more and more people are getting a taste of it through the proliferation of meditation practices and psychedelic ceremony.
I define spiritual awakening as the realization and embodiment of our true nature, which is a unified living intelligence; nondual consciousness or “oneness.” I also call it god or the divine. It’s something that can happen instantaneously but is also a never ending process.
This isn’t poetry or metaphor. It is a practical realization that changes how you experience and inhabit your self and your life. Many therapists shy away from making such proclamations about the true nature of reality, but for me, this can be an essential part of the healing and growth process and you deserve to know that it is an option. Can be. It doesn’t have to be, but we will go wherever there is curiosity and resonance.
For more on nondual consciousness and spiritual awakening, and how it applies to the psychotherapeutic process, you can check out my podcast The Art of Becoming Whole on most major streaming platforms.
Sexuality
Sex is an often shamed and hidden aspect of the human experience. Between constant overstimulation, excessive screen time, societal conditioning, and porn, most people have a skewed relationship to their sexuality that often leads to dissatisfaction, numbness, and conflict in relationship.
Not only is it one of the most profound sources of connection and enjoyment in life, but its roots touch on your creativity, confidence, voice, and embodiment. Due to trauma, familial dysfunction, codependency, and attachment wounding, we can either be too focused on giving and making sure the other is having a good time, which disconnects us from our own sense of desire and boundaries, or we can be too self-centered, wanting only to fulfill our desires no matter how it may impact the other.
We will explore whatever the particulars are for you and how you can come into alignment with the movements of your desire while paying attention to and communicating clearly about the dynamics taking place between you and your partner(s).
How we engage sexually often connects to how we are being in other ways in our lives. Sex can be an incredible doorway to deep healing and growth, if you are open to going there.
The Whole Being Approach
As you may have seen, in the interactive map on the home page, there are 5 levels of being in my framework: somatic, emotion, cognitive, energetic, and spiritual. For the deepest healing, transformation, and growth to take place we have to address every level. Many frameworks and modalities out there are very helpful at addressing a singular level of being, but often are presented as if that’s all you need.
For example, it’s not that “talk therapy” is ineffective or bad; it’s when it is treated as THE solution that other necessary aspects of experience, which are part of the causal chain, are ignored. As a response to the focus on cognitive approaches, many in the field have moved in the direction of somatic work. A similar limitation shows up there as well. Ignoring any level misses an important part of the larger picture.
The body and mind are mistakenly treated as two separate things, but they are part of an interconnected network of being that we humans are only in our infancy in understanding.
Over the past 20 years I have been developing a truly holistic approach to healing and growth that clearly lays out the various doorways and tools that we can use to understand and address the developmental challenges of this moment. This is not a cookie cutter approach; it is a malleable framework that fits to the unique circumstances of who you are in this moment.
Psychedelic Prep & Integration
Psychedelic medicine has played a significant role on my path. I seek to normalize the use of these ancient healing tools and support people with learning how to safely and effectively utilize these substances.
I am aware of, and somewhat knowledgable about, the cultural importance and the ceremonial and shamanic usage of certain plant medicines and seek to honor the cultural heritage surrounding such practices.
The preparation and integration work is just as, if not more, important than the experience of the substance itself and I love supporting people with making the most out of these profound experiences.
There is a plethora of research that supports the effectiveness of psychedelic medicine, however the cultural and legal landscape is slow to adapt and there is a complex history of misinformation, misunderstanding, and propaganda that has worked well at curtailing what should be the choice and right of each human being.
Ketamine (which is considered psychedelic-adjacent) treatment is legal and can be utilized in conjunction with psychotherapy. I can help you prepare for session and integrate the experience afterwards.
I don’t promote the use of psychedelics, but I will support you if this is a direction you choose to move.
For Therapists:
The Art of Psychotherapy Portal
Discover how to let your inner wisdom guide the psychotherapeutic process through the practice of Deep Listening.
What Are You Waiting For...
Request a Consultation
I provide a free 20-30 minute phone call to determine if we are a good fit to do this work together. Reach out directly to inquire about openings or provide your information to be added to my waitlist.
Mailing Address
7231 Boulder Ave #507, Highland, CA 92346
Contact
Phone: +1 562-564-6844
Email: kevinstansburylcsw@protonmail.com