The medicine of unconditional positive regard
The primary medicine on the Roots to Thrive journey is unconditional positive regard, a term coined by Carl Rogers, prominent psychologist. It means simply to accept another for who they are. Positive regard is not withdrawn if the person makes a mistake or if they show up in an irritating way. It’s not about approving or disapproving of another’s behaviours. It is respecting each other as human beings with free will, and operating under the assumption that we are all doing the best that we can with the tools we have. Unconditional positive regard involves knowing we all carry varying resources and capacities that inform the conscious and unconscious choices we make.
We don’t live in a society where we are taught how to receive or give unconditional positive regard, and very few of us grew up in a childhood environment where this was demonstrated. This has significant consequences, as unconditional positive regard is required to experience secure attachment. This is our sense of security in the world.
Those who are more securely attached tend to have higher self-esteem, and navigate the world with more confidence and less fear. Secure attachment, in turn, manifests as a wide range of personal resilience factors.
Roots to Thrive
Ketamine
Prerequisites
- Do you have a diagnosis of PTSD, depression, substance use disorder, anxiety, disordered eating, and/or disordered sleeping that hasn’t shifted as well as you had hoped with medication, therapy, and other approaches?
- Do you have the time, energy, and interest to be an engaged, open-hearted, and consistent participant in a weekly small group?
- If you are parenting, do you have child-care available for weekly meetings and in-person ketamine sessions?
- If you self-medicate with alcohol and/or other substances, is your life stable enough now to allow you to commit to a group process that counts on your being fully present and open-hearted each week?
- Do you have reliable internet for weekly virtual meetings via Zoom?
- Are you able to attend in-person ketamine sessions on Vancouver Island, British Columbia?
Exclusions
- Inability to tolerate group work
- Intense emotional instability
- Active symptoms of psychosis
- High blood pressure (150/90) that is not controlled
- Pregnancy
- Hepatic, kidney, vascular disorder (reviewed on a case-by-case basis)
- Delirium
- Dementia
- Ketamine allergy
Roots to Thrive
Psilocybin
Prerequisites
- Do you have a terminal diagnosis with limited life expectancy?
- Are you experiencing emotional distress?
- Are you between the ages of 19-80?
- Are you ambulatory?
- Do you have the time, energy, and interest to be an engaged and consistent participant in a weekly small group
- If you are parenting, do you have solid child-care plans?
- Do you have stable internet service that can accommodate video calls via Zoom?
- Are you able to attend in-person psilocybin session on Vancouver Island, British Columbia?
- If you self-medicate with alcohol and/or other substances, is your life stable enough now to allow you to commit to a group process that counts on your being fully present and open-hearted each week?
Exclusions
- Treatment in clinical trial where psilocybin would exclude you from continuing to recieve treatment.
- Pregnancy or lactation
- Poorly controlled insulin-dependent diabetes
- Uncontrolled hypertension (high blood pressure)
Roots to Thrive
Resilience
Prerequisites
- Do you have the time, energy, and interest to be an engaged, open-hearted, and consistent participant in a small group?
- Do you have access to reliable and stable internet to participate in video calls via Zoom?
- If you are parenting, do you have child-care plans for weekly meetings?
- If you self-medicate with alcohol and/or other substances, is your life stable enough now to allow you to commit to a group process that counts on your being fully present and open-hearted each week?
Exclusions
- Inability to tolerate group work
- Intense emotional instability
Roots to Thrive
Training: Experiential CoP
Prerequisites
- Do you desire to understand and experience the process of co-creating a space of Unconditional Positive Regard?
- Do you have the time, energy, and interest to be an engaged, open-hearted, and consistent participant in a small group?
- Can you engage in a comfortable level of vulnerability within a group setting?
- Do you have access to reliable and stable internet to participate in video calls via Zoom?
Exclusions
- Inability to tolerate group work
- Intense emotional instability
Roots to Thrive
Training: KAT Experiential Intensive
Prerequisites
Do you have a mental health condition that hasn’t shifted as well as you had hoped with medication, therapy, and other approaches?
Medical intake screen required to participate in the Experiential Training. Applicants are required to complete a thorough medical intake to determine eligibility into the program.
Before applying to this program, you must have completed psychedelic-assisted therapy (PaT) theory training. To ensure an equitable theoretical floor to build off of, all participants must demonstrate previously acquired training in:
- Personal development/mental health requirements to ensure safe and ethical PaT care.
- PaT history and political landscape.
- Cultural humility, inclusion, and equity informed PaT.
- Therapeutic Presence in PaT
- The mechanisms and processes involved in providing PaT.
- Applying research and other culturally informed ways of knowing to PaT.
- Trauma informed care.
- Common therapeutic models applied in PaT.
- Attachment theory application to PaT.
- Transference /Countertransference.
Exclusions
- Inadequate theory preparation.
- Lack of practice experience in the field of mental health.
- Inability to tolerate group work
- Intense emotional instability
- Active symptoms of psychosis
- High blood pressure (150/90) that is not controlled
- Pregnancy
- Hepatic, kidney, vascular disorder (reviewed on a case-by-case basis)
- Delirium
- Dementia
- Ketamine allergy
Roots to Thrive
Training: Operational CoP
Prerequisites
- Completion of RTT-Training: Experiential Training CoP
- Are you a registered clinician/therapist who desires to understand and experience the process of co-creating a space of Unconditional Positive Regard?
- Do you have the time, energy, and interest to be an engaged, open-hearted, and consistent participant in a small group?
- Can you engage in a comfortable level of vulnerability within a group setting?
- Do you have access to reliable and stable internet to participate in video calls via Zoom?
Exclusions
- Inability to tolerate group work
- Intense emotional instability
Confidentiality
Like other medical services, all data must be collected and securely stored according to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA).
The only people accessing personal data are those who are collecting it. Clinicians who are overseeing your care (the intake team) would be the only people who would access your data, and only on a need to know basis. Data can be viewed as a cohort by the quality improvement lead, but this data has been anonymized (no names or overtly identifying qualities). Any information you share with a clinician is only known by that clinician, unless another member of our team has a “need to know”.
Collection and Use of Information. Personal information should only be collected when it relates directly to and is necessary for a program or activity of RTT, and only from the individual, rather than from a third party. When personal information is collected from an individual, the individual should be informed of the purpose for collecting the information. Personal information can only be used for the purpose for which it was obtained or compiled, or for a use consistent with that purpose. Personal information may be disclosed to other RTT staff on a “need-to-know” basis.
Past participant,
