Ayahuasca is a powerful plant medicine that can evoke intense emotional and psychological states. For people with a history of trauma, ceremonies can sometimes bring up overwhelming or distressing experiences.
For this reason, ayahuasca facilitators need training in how to support participants who are struggling. This includes understanding how trauma shows up in ceremony, recognising when someone is dysregulated, and knowing how to offer grounded, appropriate support before, during and after the experience.
Trauma-informed ayahuasca facilitation helps create a safer, more supportive container so participants can work with what arises and integrate their experiences in a way that is meaningful and sustainable.
DETAILS & INVESTMENT
Trauma-informed facilitation means approaching ayahuasca work in a way that centres safety, consent and nervous-system awareness. The facilitator’s role is to create an environment that is as safe and supportive as possible, and to minimise potential trauma triggers. This includes thorough preparation and screening, clear guidance and support around the ceremony itself, and thoughtful post-ceremony integration.
In this masterclass, we’ll share practical tips and tools for working with trauma in ayahuasca contexts, including preparation and post-ceremony care, useful protocols, and how to facilitate in a trauma-sensitive way that is attuned, compassionate and as safe as possible.
Joining Atira as a guest is Elio Geusa, founder and director of AYA Healing Retreats.
“This trauma-informed plant medicine facilitation course has put language and science to the most important aspects of my work in ways I never could. This training empowered me to create safer, more integrated, and more compassionate healing containers for myself, the healers I work with, and of course our participants. I now feel that anyone working to facilitate healing of any kind should be trauma-informed as a foundational part of their approach. In fact, as we face the mounting challenges of today’s world, I feel we can’t afford to be.”
– Lara Charlotte, Co-Founder of Garden of Dreams, New Zealand.
“Participating in this training gave me profound insight into what I’m doing as a ceremony guide and integration & microdosing coach, illuminating areas where I can grow, and strengthen & expanding my toolbox of resources, practices, processes, protocols, and tools I already have, to be able to support people in their healing journeys even better.
Atira carries a strong and very clear vision of the importance of having a trauma-informed approach and awareness when working in this rapidly growing field of plant medicine & psychedelic-assisted therapies. Being in her presence and receiving her teachings was super inspiring and motivating to keep showing up for this special and very much-needed work.”
– JUAN MANUEL BURGOS, Microdosing & Integration Coach, Argentina.
“This program’s deep dive into the realms of living impeccable service has been nothing short of life-changing.
I remembered so much about the nervous system, about my life, about my purpose, about the bridges between paradigms and the collective trauma on the Earth. I was deeply warmed, inspired, challenged, and excited by the entire experience.
Atira transmits genuine, care, curiosity, understanding, and expertise. She is devoted to providing safe spaces for people to heal and her life’s work is a testimony to her wisdom. This body of work is a must for all.”
– MELE MAI, Art Therapist & Facilitator, Australia.
YOUR TEACHERS
Passionate about creating safer spaces for everybody, and bringing healing and awareness in the “shadowy” areas of life, Atira has worked as a trauma-informed integration specialist in retreat centers such as the Temple of the Way of Light and is currently the head of integration at AYA Healing Retreats.
Atira has mapped the trauma recovery of hundreds of PM participants in her private practice as an integration trauma specialist and co-facilitates Trauma-informed and Somatic Experiencing Plant Medicine retreats and dietas in Peru with AYA Healing Retreats. She is also the pioneer and founder of the Trauma-Informed Plant Medicine Program, of which has over 150 graduates in 2 years.
She possesses an MA in Art Therapy, has a background in Transpersonal Art Therapy and Holistic Counselling, and is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, amongst decades of training in various other trauma-informed approaches.
Atira has also worked for over a decade internationally in community organizations and international development as a consultant, clinician, and supervisor, as well as an educator in non-for-profit settings. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, researching the effectiveness of somatic and creative trauma recovery interventions for sex-trafficked survivors in Asia. Atira also has presented at numerous conferences alongside Dr. Peter Levine, Dr. Stephen Porges, Dr. Pat Ogden, and Dr. Gabor Mate, just to name a few.
The CEO and Founder of Art to Healing, an Australian charity which supports the recovery of child sex slaves, Atira has also initiated international women’s health, art therapy, and trauma-informed programs for women and girls who have experienced sex slavery and exploitation internationally for the past 15 years.
Pre-COVID, Atira taught workshops, retreats & teacher trainings in 4 continents around the globe including Australia, Europe, Asia, and South America. She specializes in supporting women, men, and children, particularly those who have experienced sexual abuse to recover from trauma, in groups & individually in her private practice and international development settings as a trauma specialist through the embodied somatic psychologies and other holistic approaches.
Elio believes that loving and inspired action can create meaningful change in the world.
Elio has been devoted to the path of plant medicine and Ayahuasca since 2009 and began an apprenticeship under the guidance of Maestro, Vegetalista Manaco Manai. In his long time in Peru, he has continued to deepen his knowledge, experience, and understanding of the workings of the sacred plant medicines, studying the Shipibo traditions under the revered Mahua family and has undertaken numerous Master Plant Dietas with well-respected curanderos in the Peruvian Amazon.
This immersion in the sacred plant medicines of the indigenous peoples of Peru enabled Elio to experience deep and profound healing. He has overcome crippling anxiety and anger as a result of traumatic childhood experiences and healing that trauma imprints that were not possible through the Western medical paradigm. His renewed sense of self-worth, love, compassion, and empathy for himself enables him to extend those same qualities to others.
Elio founded AYA Healing Retreats because he is convinced of the healing potentialities of sacred plant medicines. Not only does he hope to share the indigenous wisdom of the ancient traditions of the Indigenous people of the Amazon, but he also hopes to make a bigger difference by investing profits from AYA Healing Retreats into humanitarian projects that create a more compassionate world.
“What a life-changing experience. This training is a true treasure of knowledge and wisdom and shared with a caring and loving presence.
The depth of insights into a variety of tools to create safer spaces is the most I have ever experienced in any training. However, besides the theoretical teachings, what touched me the most was how the space was held in such safety and care and naturally became the soil for our personal softening into the journey.
And with that, we were able to truly experience the effect of a teacher who fully embodies what she teaches. And that is a priceless gift I will benefit from for the rest of my life.”
– FLORIANNE WOLFHART, Trauma-Informed Coach & Breathwork Facilitator, The Netherlands
“My mind and heart are in deep amazement and gratitude as I apply all that I learned in the Trauma-Informed Plant Medicine workshop.
I highly recommend this course/workshop, not only to those who are interested in the relationship between trauma and plant medicine but anyone who is curious about understanding human relational patterns to self and society. Atira shares in-depth knowledge and expertise of trauma studies and this work is much needed in the world.”
– ELIZABETH GOTTWALD, Kambo Facilitator & Photographer, USA
