Support before and after the experience.
A psychedelic experience can bring up a lot: anticipation, uncertainty, intention, vulnerability, insight, confusion, emotion, or questions you didn't expect to have.
Psychedelic preparation and integration therapy offers a place to think intentionally about an experience you are considering and to make sense of an experience you've already had. The work is psychotherapy focused on you, your expectations, your history, your nervous system, and what you want to understand or carry forward.
Preparation and integration, not psychedelic-assisted therapy.
SOMA does not provide psychedelic-assisted therapy. I do not administer, prescribe, supply, source, or facilitate access to psychedelic substances.
Preparation focuses on the psychological and emotional aspects of an experience you are independently considering. Integration focuses on understanding and working with an experience that has already occurred. Both remain within the scope of psychotherapy and my professional licenses.
Preparing for a psychedelic experience
Preparation isn't about trying to control what will happen. Psychedelic experiences can be unpredictable. Instead, preparation gives you space to slow down beforehand and think about what you're bringing into the experience: your hopes, fears, expectations, history, current stressors, and the support you may need afterward.
We can also explore the difference between having an intention and expecting a particular outcome. An intention can give you something to orient toward without creating pressure for the experience to unfold in a certain way.
Preparation might include…
Exploring your intentions, hopes, and expectations
Talking through fears, anxiety, or uncertainty
Considering what emotional material may feel particularly vulnerable
Identifying existing grounding and regulation resources
Exploring how trauma history or nervous system patterns may affect the experience
Thinking about boundaries, support, and what you may need afterward
Making space for uncertainty rather than trying to script the experience
Planning how you'll care for yourself and create room for integration afterward
Preparation at SOMA is psychological and emotional preparation. It does not include instructions about obtaining substances, choosing a substance or dose, or guidance on how to use psychedelics.
After the experience: integration
Sometimes an experience feels immediately clear. Other times it leaves you with fragments: images, emotions, memories, body sensations, shifts in perspective, or a strong sense that something mattered without knowing exactly what to do with it.
Integration isn't about forcing every part of the experience to have a meaning. It's about giving yourself space to explore what happened, notice what continues to resonate, and decide what, if anything, you want to bring into your everyday life.
Integration might include…
Processing emotions, memories, images, or body sensations that emerged
Exploring insights without automatically treating them as literal truth
Making sense of confusing or difficult parts of the experience
Connecting the experience with patterns already present in your life
Exploring changes in relationships, identity, values, or priorities
Working with trauma-related material that may have surfaced
Identifying meaningful changes you want to make without rushing into them
Finding ways to carry useful insights into ordinary life
You don't have to decide whether your experience was “good” or “bad” before bringing it to therapy. We can make room for the meaningful parts, the uncomfortable parts, the parts that don't make sense yet, and even the parts you wish hadn't happened.
What if the experience was difficult?
Not every psychedelic experience feels healing, insightful, or peaceful. Some can be frightening, confusing, emotionally intense, or deeply unsettling. You may come away feeling more vulnerable than you expected, questioning what happened, or struggling to return to your usual sense of yourself.
You don't have to turn a difficult experience into a positive one in order to integrate it.
There is room for the complicated parts, too.
Integration can give us space to work with fear, grief, shame, confusion, memories, relationship concerns, or trauma-related material that surfaced during or after the experience. We can slow things down, separate what happened from the conclusions you may have drawn about it, and pay attention to what your nervous system needs now.
The goal isn't to convince you that the experience “happened for a reason.” It's to help you understand what you're carrying afterward and determine what feels useful, meaningful, or necessary from here.
Sometimes additional support is needed.
Psychedelic integration therapy isn't a substitute for emergency, medical, or psychiatric care. If something that emerged during or after an experience requires care outside my scope, we'll talk about that directly and identify an appropriate level or type of support.
Is psychedelic preparation or integration right for me?
You don't need to have had a profound experience, know exactly what it meant, or arrive with a perfectly formed intention. You may be preparing for an experience you're independently considering, trying to understand one you've already had, or simply realizing that something from an experience is still asking for your attention.
This work might be a good fit if you want to…
Explore your intentions and expectations before an experience
Talk through anxiety, uncertainty, or concerns beforehand
Consider your emotional needs and support system
Prepare for the possibility that difficult material may arise
Approach the experience with curiosity rather than pressure for a particular outcome
Make sense of an experience you've already had
Process emotions, memories, or trauma-related material that surfaced
Explore changes in identity, relationships, values, or perspective
Work with a difficult or confusing experience
Turn meaningful insights into changes that actually fit your everyday life
You don't have to know exactly what you need from preparation or integration before reaching out. We can start with where you are and figure out what kind of support makes sense from there.
Psychedelic preparation & integration at SOMA
In person: Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Telehealth: Available throughout North Carolina and Virginia
Who I work with: Adults 18+
Services: Psychological and emotional preparation before an independently pursued psychedelic experience, and integration afterward
Approach: Trauma-informed, body-based, nonjudgmental, and grounded in psychotherapy
Important: Psychedelics are not administered, prescribed, supplied, sourced, or facilitated through SOMA
Provider: Britney Dixon, MS, LCMHC, LPC, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist
Wondering if this is the kind of support you're looking for?
A free 15-minute consultation gives us a chance to talk about what you're looking for, whether that's preparation for an experience you're independently considering or support making sense of one you've already had. We can also clarify what I can and cannot provide within this work and decide whether I'm the right fit for what you need.