She is a certified psychedelic-assisted therapist and licensed psilocybin facilitator in Oregon and Colorado, where she completed her training. About half of her clients travel in from out of state for the therapy, she said, including a large number from Missouri.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Schroeder has followed the studies by psychiatry researchers at Washington University School of Medicine<\/a> in St. Louis, showing potential benefits of psychedelics in addressing hard-to-treat psychiatric problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n She\u2019s been excited to hear about Missouri lawmakers pushing legislation for the last three years to require the state to conduct a study on using psilocybin to treat depression, substance use or as part end-of-life care. Though the bill<\/a> died once again this year during the legislative session that ended in May, it was the first time it won the Senate\u2019s initial approval.<\/p>\n \u201cPsychedelic therapy isn\u2019t really about chasing those altered states or skipping the hard work,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s about deepening that therapeutic process and kind of being able to get to the parts of that self that can be gotten through in conventional therapy alone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pulling back the layers<\/p>\n For about six years, Schroeder has been working with a client who has been committed and dedicated to their weekly sessions. But they hit a roadblock in their progress.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of what they were trying to tap into and access was a deeper layer of fear from some childhood trauma,\u201d she said, \u201cand just weren\u2019t able to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n For years, her client would be triggered by certain things related to that childhood fear, and it would impact their daily life. About seven months ago, the client went through psilocybin-assisted therapy with Schroeder.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were able to get to that layer and discharge that energy in such a way that they weren\u2019t as activated all the time back in ordinary consciousness,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n And it wasn\u2019t just immediate, temporary relief, Schroeder said. The benefits of the psilocybin therapy have remained seven months later.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a real deep, energetic, somatic nervous system shift for them,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n For the treatment, her clients enter into a room similar to a regular therapy or meditation room, she said. Two main pieces of the experience are wearing an eye mask and listening to meditative music to help the clients go inward.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a psilocybin facilitator, Schroeder is there to hold a safe space for the experience. There isn\u2019t much talking, unless the person needs help moving through certain feelings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Probably the most important piece is the preparation, she said. If a person who has experienced PTSD has certain triggers\u00a0\u2014 such as claustrophobia or rage \u2014 that might come up during the session, there\u2019s a lot of preparation to help resource the person on how to work through those feelings.\u00a0<\/p>\n A week prior, the clients follow a cleansing diet and censor any agitating or dysregulating things, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJust like you pay attention to what you put in your body, it\u2019s like paying attention to the energy that you\u2019re around and making sure you\u2019re hydrating and sleeping and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Missouri\u00a0legislation<\/p>\n For the last three years, Missouri lawmakers have heard testimony from the veteran community about how psilocybin has helped veterans treat their PTSD in a way that prescription drugs or conventional therapy could not.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schroeder has been listening with much interest to the debate. During her training in Colorado, they explored research related to veterans and heard lectures and interviews about the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cI, without a doubt, believe in the efficacy of this for that population,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schroeder works with PTSD and complex PTSD in her practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTrauma is an experience that\u2019s kind of stuck in our bodies and in our nervous systems,\u201d she said. \u201cSo that is why a lot of the time conventional therapeutic approaches, even medication, can only get so far, because we have to be able to get down to that nervous system and integrate the experiences. And then they take their rightful place.\u201d<\/p>\n Veterans face elevated rates of PTSD and suicide, she said, so conventional treatments are often not enough. Psychedelic therapy offers more possibilities for that \u201cprofound, restorative change,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate that Missouri is taking a measured approach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolutely important option that we keep pursuing, not just with veterans, but there\u2019s many, many, many people who could benefit from it.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Schroeder, several Missouri lawmakers have repeatedly said during debates that they were staunchly opposed to the psilocybin legislation when they first heard about it.<\/p>\n Then they said they looked at the extensive research<\/a> coming out of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve probably spent, I don\u2019t know, 20 hours reading materials that came out of Johns Hopkins,\u201d said state Rep. Dave Griffith, a Republican from Jefferson City<\/a> and chair of the House Veterans Committee, last year. \u201cThe data that comes out of these studies that they\u2019ve done is remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he understands the idea may be outside some legislators\u2019 \u201ccomfort zones.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be chairing a committee and listening to psychedelics, I would have told you, \u2018You\u2019re crazy,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut I really have a passion for the struggles that my veteran brothers and sisters are going through, and I think we\u2019ve got to look at the big picture.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n