Living Medicine

Dr. Sandra Newes (Sandy) is a Licensed Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She is the Co-founder of the Living Medicine Institute, offering training and resources to therapists and medical professionals. A full-time KAP provider since 2019, she has facilitated more than 600 ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions. Her approach integrates evidence-based psychotherapy with trauma-informed, somatic, and experiential practices, bringing warmth, curiosity, and extensive clinical expertise to her work. In this episode… A psychedelic medicine session may be powerful, but it's only one part of the therapeutic process. Building trust, learning to feel safe in the body, and making sense of the experience are crucial before and after the medicine itself. What helps turn a psychedelic experience into meaningful, lasting change? Dr. Sandy Newes, a doctoral-level clinician specializing in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, explains that meaningful change begins during preparation, not just during a ketamine session. She emphasizes the importance of building trust, establishing informed consent, and teaching body awareness and grounding skills that help clients navigate difficult emotions. Dr. Newes also encourages therapists to let clients discover their own meaning rather than impose interpretations, while using integration to translate insights into everyday life. By focusing on both emotional experiences and practical skills, clinicians can help clients develop greater self-awareness, resilience, and lasting behavioral change. In this episode of Living Medicine, Chad Franzen of Rise25 talks with Dr. Sandy Newes, Co-founder of Living Medicine Institute, about the core principles of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Dr. Newes explains why preparation is treatment, how body awareness supports healing, and why integration matters more than insight alone. She also explores the observer mind and the importance of balancing distress with well-being.

Dr. Sandra Newes (Sandy) is a Licensed Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She is the Co-founder of the Living Medicine Institute, offering training and resources to therapists and medical professionals. A full-time KAP provider since 2019, she has facilitated more than 600 ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions. Her approach integrates evidence-based psychotherapy with trauma-informed, somatic, and experiential practices, bringing warmth, curiosity, and extensive clinical expertise to her work. In this episode… Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can open the door to experiences that feel deeply spiritual, relational, and transformative — but those experiences can also unsettle a person's worldview and challenge clinicians to be supportive without imposing their own beliefs. How can spirituality be approached in a way that deepens healing while keeping the work grounded, ethical, and connected to everyday life? Five psychedelic therapy and spirituality experts offer practical ways to bring spiritual awareness into psychedelic work. Roman Palitsky, PhD, encourages clinicians to recognize that profound spiritual experiences may arise unexpectedly and to create space for patients to process them responsibly. Matt Zemon suggests treating integration as an ongoing practice by bringing psychedelic insights into daily life, relationships, and the supportive community. Keith Heinzerling, MD, recommends approaching consciousness and spirituality with humility rather than positioning oneself as an authority on another person's experience. Rohini Kanniganti, MD, emphasizes slowing down, resting the nervous system, and returning attention to the body to ground spiritual awareness in lived experience. Will Van Derveer, MD, encourages practitioners to acknowledge the possibility of a deeper, collective wisdom that may emerge through psychedelic work. These approaches can help spiritual insights become meaningful, integrated parts of a person's life. In this episode of Living Medicine, Dr. Sandy Newes looks back on her most insightful episodes. Roman Palitsky, PhD, Matt Zemon, Keith Heinzerling, MD, Will Van Derveer, MD, and Rohini Kanniganti, MD, discuss the spiritual dimensions of psychedelic experiences, the importance of integration and community, and the role of humility and embodiment in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Dr. Sandra Newes (Sandy) is a Licensed Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She is the Co-founder of the Living Medicine Institute, offering training and resources to therapists and medical professionals. A full-time KAP provider since 2019, she has facilitated more than 600 ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions. Her approach integrates evidence-based psychotherapy with trauma-informed, somatic, and experiential practices, bringing warmth, curiosity, and extensive clinical expertise to her work. In this episode… Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy requires therapists to do more than guide a medicine session — it demands careful preparation, grounded presence, and an ability to follow what emerges without forcing meaning. So how can therapists support deep psychedelic experiences without steering the process? Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy clinician and trainer Dr. Sandy Newes explains that the process begins with safety, curiosity, and resisting the urge to interpret too quickly. Therapists can prepare clients by building trust, understanding developmental history, and helping them notice sensations and nervous system states before the medicine session begins. Dr. Newes also emphasizes accepting that you don't have all the answers, using body-based prompts to deepen awareness, and helping clients gradually become more comfortable with positive emotional states. These practices create space for insight, self-compassion, and meaningful integration without imposing a predetermined interpretation. In this episode of Living Medicine, host Chad Franzen of Rise25 talks with Dr. Sandy Newes, Co-founder and Programming Director of Living Medicine Institute, about the therapist's role in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Dr. Newes explains how curiosity, somatic awareness, and preparation support deeper therapeutic work. She also touches on integration, spirituality, and self-compassion.

Dr. Sandra Newes (Sandy) is a Licensed Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She is the Co-founder of the Living Medicine Institute, offering training and resources to therapists and medical professionals. A full-time KAP provider since 2019, she has facilitated more than 600 ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions. Her approach integrates evidence-based psychotherapy with trauma-informed, somatic, and experiential practices, bringing warmth, curiosity, and extensive clinical expertise to her work. In this episode… Internal Family Systems offers a powerful way to understand the protective patterns, wounded parts, and inner conflicts that can surface during psychedelic therapy. How can clinicians use IFS in a way that supports healing while respecting each client's unique internal system? Four IFS experts offer practical ways to bring greater care, curiosity, and skill into the therapeutic process. Dick Schwartz suggests working with clients' protective parts before a psychedelic experience and gaining their permission rather than bypassing them. Robert Falconer encourages clinicians to learn each client's language and worldview instead of imposing their own framework. Ted Riskin recommends helping clients reconnect with exiled parts, so unresolved trauma can be witnessed and healed. Karen Sprinkel emphasizes developing trauma-informed skills and knowing when active intervention may be more appropriate than trusting the inner healing process. These approaches offer clinicians concrete ways to make IFS-informed psychedelic work safer, responsive, and more effective. In this episode of Living Medicine, Dr. Sandy Newes looks back on her most insightful IFS episodes. Dr. Dick Schwartz, Robert Falconer, Ted Riskin, LCSW, and Karen Sprinkel discuss working with protective and exiled parts, meeting clients with curiosity rather than imposing a therapeutic framework, and applying trauma-informed principles to psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Rohini Kanniganti, MD, MSPH, HMDC, is the Associate Medical Director at Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care, which provides end-of-life and serious-illness care in North Carolina. A board-certified family physician with more than a decade in hospice and palliative medicine, she also works with Trail Winds Hospice and serves on the faculty of the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. Dr. Kanniganti's expertise spans ketamine and psychedelic-assisted therapies, integrative psychiatry, and relational, embodied approaches to easing pain, existential distress, and fear at the end of life. In this episode… Psychedelic therapy is often described as an inward journey, but healing also happens through the body, relationships, and community. Integration can deepen when these connections are treated as part of the therapeutic process. What can change when psychedelic-assisted therapy becomes more relational, embodied, and sacred? Dr. Rohini Kanniganti, a board-certified family physician specializing in hospice and palliative care and psychedelic-assisted therapy, believes healing deepens through safety, attunement, and connection. Her REST framework — relational, embodied, sacred tending — encourages people to slow down, soften into the body, and tend to what is present rather than trying to transcend it. In palliative care, ketamine-assisted therapy may also help address pain, depression, existential distress, and fear around dying. Dr. Kanniganti's approach points toward psychedelic care rooted in embodiment, community, and compassionate presence. In this episode of Living Medicine, Dr. Sandy Newes talks with Rohini Kanniganti, MD, MSPH, HMDC, Associate Medical Director and Physician at Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care, about REST and a relational, embodied approach to psychedelic therapy. Dr. Kanniganti discusses ketamine in palliative care, somatic integration, and the role of connection in healing. She also explores end-of-life care, mindfulness, and approaching death with greater peace.

Ted Riskin, LCSW, is the Founder and Lead Psychotherapist at GroupKAP, a program offering ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in a supportive group setting. A psychotherapist specializing in relationship issues and transpersonal therapy, he integrates Internal Family Systems, Holotropic Breathwork, Core Energetics, EMDR, hypnotherapy, and decades of group facilitation. Ted also co-developed Essentials of IFS, where he trains clinicians to apply the model's techniques with greater skill and confidence. In this episode… Psychedelic experiences can bring vulnerable emotions to the surface while weakening the defenses that usually keep them contained. Effective therapy requires more than accessing those feelings; it also requires a steady, compassionate way to understand and integrate them. How can clinicians support this process without overwhelming the protective systems that help people function? Psychotherapist Ted Riskin, LCSW, emphasizes building trust with those protective parts rather than treating them as obstacles. Internal Family Systems offers a practical framework for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Clinicians can prepare clients by identifying fears before a medicine session, remain grounded in self-energy during difficult moments, and revisit protectors afterward to reduce anxiety or backlash. Ted also recommends tracking the therapist's own agenda-driven or approval-seeking parts, since genuine presence creates more room for healing. By combining careful preparation, compassionate witnessing, and thoughtful integration, practitioners can help clients reconnect with their vulnerable parts without forcing the process. In this episode of Living Medicine, Dr. Sandy Newes talks with Ted Riskin, LCSW, Founder and Lead Psychotherapist at GroupKAP, about integrating Internal Family Systems with psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Ted explains how protectors respond to altered states, the importance of self-energy, and how group ketamine work can support relational healing. He also touches on therapist self-awareness, anger, and safety without judgment.

Harvey Schwartz, PhD, is the Co-founder and Psychedelic Psychotherapist at Polaris Insight Center, a San Francisco clinic and training center specializing in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. A licensed psychologist with more than four decades of experience, he treats complex PTSD, dissociative disorders, and spiritual and therapy-related trauma. Harvey also trains and mentors clinicians, drawing on relational psychodynamic, archetypal, existential, and mindfulness approaches to advance ethical, integrative psychedelic care. In this episode… Psychedelic therapy can open new viewpoints, but the experience itself is only one part of meaningful change. Lasting healing depends on how the work is integrated within a trustworthy therapeutic relationship. What helps clinicians support transformation without trying to control it? Psychologist Harvey Schwartz, PhD, argues that clinicians can support transformation through accompaniment rather than control. He encourages therapists to tolerate uncertainty, invite honest feedback, and examine their own countertransference so clients do not have to perform progress for the clinician. Expectation management, community support, and respect for the nonlinear nature of recovery can help clients carry insights into daily life. These practices create a more ethical and deeply human framework for psychedelic care. In this episode of Living Medicine, Dr. Sandy Newes talks with Harvey Schwartz, PhD, Co-founder and Psychedelic Psychotherapist at Polaris Insight Center, about why relational depth should remain central to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Harvey explains how humility strengthens care, why integration requires community, and what commercialization could cost the field. He also touches on countertransference and the healing role of wonder.

Robert Falconer is an Internal Family Systems (IFS) author, teacher, and consultant whose work explores advanced IFS applications, including unattached burdens, guides, and entities. He co-authored Many Minds, One Self with IFS founder Richard Schwartz and published The Others Within Us in 2023. With more than a decade of practicing IFS, Robert has extensive experience in trauma-oriented psychotherapy.  In this episode… Some experiences do not fit neatly into the categories modern therapy often relies on. In psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, clients may encounter voices, beings, ancestral material, or spiritual phenomena that can be meaningful, destabilizing, or difficult to name. How can practitioners stay grounded, curious, and helpful when a client's inner world stretches beyond conventional Western frameworks? According to IFS practitioner Robert Falconer, it starts with maintaining humility. Rather than pathologizing unusual experiences, he encourages clinicians to normalize them, learn the client's language, and support discernment around whether an inner presence feels helpful, harmful, or connected to the self. Robert also emphasizes the importance of preparation, integration, and asking permission from protective parts before psychedelic work, reminding practitioners that healing is often strengthened by curiosity, compassion, and a willingness not to know. In this episode of Living Medicine, Dr. Sandy Newes sits down with Robert Falconer, IFS author, teacher, and consultant, to discuss spiritual experiences in psychedelic therapy. Robert explains how to distinguish parts from other presences, why humility matters, and how therapists can create safer containers. He also touches on legacy burdens, trauma, and integration.

David Dansky, MD, is an internal and emergency medicine physician with 40 years of experience in acute and emergency care. After training with the Ketamine Training Center in 2019, he began providing ketamine therapy at Monterey Integrated Therapies, supporting both physical and psychological healing. Dr. Dansky also lectures at conferences and experiential workshops on the medical and practical aspects of ketamine therapy. In this episode… Chronic pain can reshape a person's life, narrowing their focus, limiting their choices, and creating a cycle of fear, inflammation, and exhaustion. When traditional treatments only offer partial relief, what else can help people alleviate their pain and begin to feel hopeful again? With decades of experience using ketamine in acute care settings, Dr. David Dansky's answer is to approach pain through both the body and the nervous system. Ketamine can interrupt pain signals, create distance from overwhelming sensations, and support therapeutic work around trauma, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Dansky emphasizes the importance of individualized dosing, safety conversations, and distinguishing dependency from addiction when weighing risks and benefits. For chronic pain patients, he advises working with a knowledgeable provider, considering routes such as lozenges, nasal spray, or topical creams, and focusing on how treatment improves function, hope, and quality of life. In this episode of Living Medicine, Dr. Sandy Newes sits down with internal and emergency medicine physician David Dansky, MD, to discuss ketamine therapy for chronic pain. He discusses what many people misunderstand about chronic pain, how ketamine works with pain pathways, and how combining ketamine with psychotherapy can support deeper healing.

Dr. Sandra Newes (Sandy) is a Licensed Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She is the Co-founder of the Living Medicine Institute, offering training and resources to therapists and medical professionals. A full-time KAP provider since 2019, she has facilitated more than 600 ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions. Her approach integrates evidence-based psychotherapy with trauma-informed, somatic, and experiential practices, bringing warmth, curiosity, and extensive clinical expertise to her work. In this episode… Psychedelic therapy is reshaping mental healthcare. With recent regulatory changes and increasing interest in alternative treatments, practitioners are exploring how to integrate these powerful tools safely and effectively. What does it take to train for and implement these therapies in a clinical setting? According to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy practitioner Dr. Sandy Newes, integration requires both knowledge and experience. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the unique effects of substances like ketamine, participating in experiential training, and collaborating with medical prescribers. Practitioners should prioritize trauma-informed care, client choice, and ongoing self-reflection to maintain ethical and effective practices. By combining clinical expertise with hands-on experience, therapists can navigate this evolving field. In this episode of Living Medicine, Chad Franzen of Rise25 chats with Dr. Sandy Newes, Co-founder and Programming Director of Living Medicine Institute, about psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy training. Dr. Newes discusses training programs and experiential learning, the role of ketamine in therapy, and embedding trauma-informed care into clinical practice.