Gwen Pelfini
LMHC, LPCC, NCC, PATP
Journey Clinical Member, KAP Provider & EMDR Specialist
State: California & New York
Why did you join Journey Clinical?
I joined Journey Clinical when I opened up my own practice after having left a group practice. I had recently graduated from IPI, the Integrative Psychiatry Institute’s certification program, as a certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy provider. I wasn't interested in working with ketamine until the required KAP experiential as part of the IPI training. Once I experienced KAP myself, it was a no-brainer to offer it in my practice.
What sets Journey Clinical apart from other companies is the level of information and resources they provide. In case something comes up, I know where to go. I had onboarding coaching, joined peer consultation groups, and weekly events in marketing or the medical Q&A sessions. It's the live conversations that are most potent and supportive. I find the peer consultation groups really grounding in this work because we're still on the forefront. So that still remains a huge source of support for me from the beginning to continuing to build my caseload. Having ongoing support from Journey Clinical is reassuring, as we're all trying to build out our caseload and be resourced for our clients.
What does your KAP offering look like?
The clients that I've started to do KAP with were my pre-existing clients who I'd been working with for some time, so I already had rapport with them and had been planting the seeds around the direction I was going in with my training and future specialty with Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy. Currently, my KAP clients are all virtual. Contrary to my expectation, I'm finding remote work to be really conducive to my clients feeling most comfortable and safe in their own environment.
What outcomes have your Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy clients experienced?
It’s been encouraging to see how clearly my clients feel connected with themselves. The phrase that I use is ‘connecting with our inner healing intelligence’. As a provider and advocate for this work, I don't think it's the medicine doing the work. It's them. The dosing session creates a bridge to themselves, where then the rest of the integration work can be woven into our work together. It's not always a seamless experience either. My own experience wasn't. And yet there's always seeds and gems and pearls of insight to pull. That’s what sets apart Psychedelic-Assisted therapy from just taking drugs. Because, again, it's not the medicine doing the work, it's you. It's the integration of all of those insights.
Can you tell us about how you’ve stepped up as a leader in your community as a Journey Clinical local ambassador?
I enjoy being able to create community and I need it, too. Our first event had a really wonderful turnout. It was a low-key picnic in Washington Square Park here in North Beach in San Francisco. It was clear the moment the conversation spurred that we all had questions, resources, and topics that aligned. We took notes so that we could create a thread of resources for each other. It was really important for me to provide this platform for supporting one another. I had a women's event later that month that I invited everybody to, and others were hosting workshops in the area and online. I also recently attended another meetup in Oakland, where 20 Journey Clinical members met to leverage ideas and support each other.
In-person meetups have been a really great platform to share ideas, resources, and also shine a light on each other's projects and events, since we're trying to elevate ourselves and our own businesses, too.
What are you looking forward to in your practice?
I'm finding a lot of fun and creativity in building out resources to help people access this work. One example is a journal that I published that’s an interactive guide for your healing journey. It explains a little bit more in layman's terms, preparation, for example, around your psychedelic journey. I've also curated specific questions and journal prompts to complement your journey.
In the future, I hope to do this type of work on a larger scale, as well as group work, retreats, and advocacy around psychedelic therapy in general. Being able to give language, understanding, proper information and psycho-education around this work is becoming more important to me. I’m looking forward to moving into those kinds of roles as an advocate to create more understanding, respect, reverence, and clarity around how to best understand and utilize psychedelic therapy.
Is there anything else you’d like to share that you’re working on?
In my own practice, I’ve partnered with Ground Floor Club, a members-only shared workspace and venue throughout the Bay Area. I host in-person Q&A workshops about psychedelics and mental health. It’s affirming to see people curious about not just how to access psychedelic therapy but also seeking integration support. In April, I will be speaking at the San Francisco psychedelic conference, hosted by Discovery Sessions.
I just launched a new offering called “KAP Together” which is a beta remote group KAP experience for new clinicians who are curious about doing work with psychedelics. It will have all components of an individual package but it’s curated for a group experience and a sense of community.
A longer-term initiative I’m working on is establishing a group practice of conscious clinicians. The group will include those who aren’t licensed yet but want to work with psychedelics and create a collective of clinicians learning to do this work with integrity. The aim is to provide clinicians sovereignty and independence throughout the stages of being a conscious clinician.
As a conscious clinician, Journey Clinical has given me the agency to create my own practice. Journey Clinical provides monumental support to its members. Not only does Journey bring us into community with each other, but they also help us better connect to our clients.
Conclusion
Joining Journey Clinical has provided Gwen with support and motivation to expand her KAP practice and step up as a leader in her local community. Thank you, Gwen, for taking the time to share your experience with KAP & Journey Clinical with us.
To learn more about Gwen and her practice, visit her website.
By becoming a KAP provider with Journey Clinical, you too can gain the agency to expand your practice and become a leader in a cutting-edge field. If you’re a licensed mental health professional interested in becoming a Journey Clinical member, head here.