Caroline Lee is a death doula, therapist, and photographer based in Oakland, California, where she is currently training to become a somatic psychologist and psychedelic therapist. She had the opportunity to receive ibogaine treatment about eight months ago.
What we discuss:
What is a death doula? What does it mean to be in relationship with death, and why is this an important relationship to consider?
How Caroline envisions psychedelics fitting into our rituals around death, if laws were changed and psychedelics were available at end-of-life for people suffering from palliative anxiety
The potential applications of ibogaine for palliative anxiety and more, from a therapist’s perspective
Should therapists be required to take psychedelics if they want to offer psychedelic-assisted therapy?
How ibogaine helped Caroline process the grief she experienced after a divorce that marked the end of a 16-year relationship
What death and the end of relationships have in common
What Caroline’s work as a doula and a therapist have taught her about the role of grief
Why it’s important:
You’ve heard it said before but I feel like it needs to be said more often: death is a part of life – and this conversation really showed me that talking about it openly isn’t morbid or negative or inherently bad in any way - it’s a way for us to stay more connected to the present moment. Feeling into the grief that we feel when someone dies, or when a relationship ends, expands our capacity for emotion – and using psychedelics including ibogaine can allow us to not only come to terms with those emotions, but arrive at a feeling of peace around our own mortality.
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