144: Psychedelics as a Healing Tool for Sexual Assault Survivors with Melissa Barker

Dr. Melissa Barker is an advocate for psychedelics + the
improvement of protocols for complex PTSD. In this episode,
you’ll hear our personal experiences with trauma, therapy + how
psychedelics helped. 


If you have a loved one experiencing the pain of trauma + sexual
assault, perhaps this will provide the words they need to hear.


In this episode, you’ll hear:


The embodied practices that can support a trauma survivor

How the word “trauma” can become an excuse to remain
disempowered

Pop psychology + the cultural blocks that get in the way of
people being able to receive the help they need

The Phoenix Project - A free community with resources for
integration tips, self-healing topics + psychedelic integration

The difference between PTSD + Complex-PTSD

How psychedelics have the potential to transform our
understanding of trauma processing

Melissa’s personal experience with MDMA + ketamine for
processing trauma

Healing from narcissistic exes + cultivating internal safety

Psilocybin is a tool to create a deeper relationship with the
self

Hypervigilance + processing the trauma after a breakup

Taking responsibility for our healing and not outsourcing it
to others

Trauma survivors processing enmeshment and losing the sense
of self

Pearls of wisdom for trauma survivors to help understand
themselves






THE SKINNY ON OUR SEXY GUESTS


“Trauma is not the monster in the room. Trauma is the catalyst to
growth and inner transformation.” – Dr. Melissa Barker





Dr. Melissa Barker, EdD is an entrepreneur, activist, and
emerging voice in the growing psychedelics movement. Dr. Barker
is the founder of The Phoenix Project, a community-led mental
health tech platform created by survivors for survivors.


Dr. Barker holds a doctorate in Transformative Leadership. Her
doctoral dissertation (Leading Through the Dark: Hope and Healing
after Personal and Collective Trauma) focuses on how trauma
survivors are finding sustainable healing, especially in the
shadow of the pandemic. 


From 2018 to 2019, she served on the Board of Directors for
STAND! For Families Free of Violence, a Bay-area nonprofit
supporting survivors of domestic abuse.


In 2014, Dr. Barker filed a Title IX Civil Rights case against UC
Berkeley for mishandling sexual violence cases on the college
campus. In total, 31 brave survivors came forward, and four years
later, the Office of Civil Rights found UC Berkeley had violated
Title IX.


Dr. Barker’s personal experience of sexual violence and her
resulting PTSD diagnosis led her to explore such modalities as
somatic therapy, IFS, and mindfulness-based psychotherapy. She
eventually discovered the incredible therapeutic power of
psychedelics and began implementing them to integrate her trauma.


Her experiences with ketamine, MDMA/MDA, psilocybin, and LSD
(alongside her work helping other survivors) spurred her into a
deeper understanding of what healing from sexual trauma, abuse
and violence means for women, particularly in today’s current
climate.


She is now in the process of developing a new iteration of The
Phoenix Project that utilizes revolutionary tech to support
psychedelic integration for trauma survivors and to connect them
with the community and resources they need.


Dr. Barker has been featured in HuffPost, Forbes, Nasdaq, and as
one of Thrive Global’s “Social Impact and Nonprofit Leaders to
Watch”. She’s been interviewed on Third Wave and Only One in the
Room podcasts. She was a featured Mentor on the psychedelics
track at SXSW in 2023.


 


WANT MORE?


Guide for vetting your psychedelic practitioner:
⁠https://learn.sexloveyoga.com/Vetting%20Your%20Guide


Join me for an erotic couples retreat where you and your beloved
explore the sacred arts of tantra and BDSM and unlock its
synergistic power in the bedroom and beyond... Love + Leather:
⁠https://learn.sexloveyoga.com/LoveAndLeather