We’ve sent people to the moon, cloned dozens of species and conquered countless diseases once thought to be incurable.
Yet for all of humanity’s collective advancements, the brain largely remains as an enigma wrapped in a riddle.
And when it comes to mental health, the days of being instructed to “pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get on with it” are being replaced by alternative treatments: ketamine, MDMA and psilocybin as part of a federally approved care model known as “psychedelic assisted therapy.”
Locally founded and owned, Vancouver’s Qi Integrated Health has been in the allied health business since 2006. With a large patient care base of over 25,000, Qi was perfectly positioned to enter the mental health space. They have helped hundreds of clients reclaim their peace of mind with treatments like naturopathic medicine, traditional chinese medicine, physiotherapy, massage therapy and more.
“Most of the time, our clients feel a loss of connection from their family, from their purpose or their community,” says Qi Integrated Health’s founder and CEO Kiem Schutter. “They feel deeply unsatisfied, depressed, anxious, lost in thought, unmotivated and they can't create change. They're stuck in something.”
Psychedelic assisted therapy helps clients get unstuck. Emerging research shows that this method helps create new windows of neuroplasticity in the brain to form new pathways and connections.
To illustrate how those changes work, Schutter recalls a story from a first responder he treated when he was practicing as a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor. Schutter was primarily treating the physical symptoms where the trauma was in their client’s body. During the treatments, the first responder would have an emotional response, recalling and feeling traumatic events from the past. In this scenario, the first responder was on a call and one of their crew members was killed in the line of duty.
Each time survivors recall these incidents, they can feel like they’re drowning in dread and what ifs. But through psychedelic assisted therapy, the survivor can change his thinking and emotions from ‘Why me?’ to ‘I did the best I could.’ It’s a transformative process of self-forgiveness that allows for acceptance and ultimately, peace of mind.
Qi Integrated Health offers several psychedelic assisted therapy programs, depending on the client’s needs and diagnosis. From a transformative dose to a lower talk therapy dose, they are committed to improving accessibility to this form of care.
“When you come out of the experience, a therapist is there to help you to make sense of your new insights so that you have a new way of thinking and break the cycle,” Schutter says.
The full process takes a few weeks, starting with a pre-screening with Qi’s Psychedelic Concierge, and intakes and consultations with their accredited medical and therapeutic team. These sessions aim to unpack what a client needs to move on from: sharing, grounding, blood pressure checks, meditative practice, breath work and reviewing intentions are all taken care of.
On the treatment day, clients are welcomed by one of Qi’s nurse facilitators and the therapist they have been consulting with. The client enters the Grove, the purpose-built psychedelic space where the medication intake segment of the treatment will take place. Here, clients will settle into a luxurious daybed with a weighted blanket, and will also receive eye shades, personal headsets and a curated playlist carefully designed to match the arch of their treatment journey.
Overall, it's a beautiful experience where clients feel safe, heard and cared for.
“It's a deeply internal experience so that you can get in touch with your inner healing intelligence,” Schutter says. “That voice inside helps guide you on the journey and shows you the parts of yourself that need to have light shone on and an understanding gleaned.”
The treatment concludes with a thoughtfully-prepared food platter and a reflection session with a therapist.
"Robert," a pseudonym used to protect his identity, is a client of Qi Integrated Health whose career included time in the military and in the police force. He suffered from PTSD, major depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder and severe insomnia. Robert had tried numerous treatment models unsuccessfully before arriving at Qi Integrated Health.
“The therapy provided a level of relief that I had never known before,” Robert says. “It allowed me to view my life through a new lens, bringing clarity, gratitude and a renewed sense of hope. This profound shift has significantly improved my mental health, my mindset and truly changed my life.”
For more information, visit www.qiintegratedhealth.com.
