About REMAP

• REMAP Founder & Lead Practitioner, Court Wing, as well as our principal Psychiatric Clinician, CJ Spotswood. Additionally, we are often joined by Magali Brecke, LAc MTCM, who both coordinates patient nutrition & lifestyle programs and co-facilitates during IMMERSIONS. We also have rotating, highly experienced, team members who are either facilitators, manual therapists, applied neurophysiology specialists, physiotherapy practitioners, or physiatrists.
• Group IMMERSIONS will include 5-7 participants at a time, in addition to the REMAP team.
• For One-on-One IMMERSIONS, clients may be joined by a trusted family member, friend, or member of their care team.

Considering risks is imperative when contemplating a psychedelic experience and it is equally important to recognize that psychedelic medicines are considered extremely safe when used in supportive contexts with proper preparation. Psychedelic risks are generally categorized into psychological risks and physiological risks.

Psychological risks can include anxiety, panic, paranoia, challenging emotional/spiritual experiences, depersonalization or derealization (see table). Psychedelics are considered “non-specific amplifiers”, meaning that they can amplify the current state of mind. For this reason, we strongly emphasize “set & setting.” “Set” refers to a participant’s mindset being in as neutral (ie. calm, stable) a space as possible. “Setting” refers to the surrounding environment being conducive and supportive to the malleable quality of a client’s psyche during and after a psychedelic session.

Physiological risks can include increased heart rate or blood pressure, or those risks associated with poor quality substances.

Common exclusionary criteria in modern psychedelic studies is having a first degree relative with bi-polar, psychosis, or schizophrenia. People with advanced cardiac conditions or high blood pressure are also excluded in modern studies, but these cautionary rules have been loosened in recent trials.

These rare, and often quite brief, challenges can occur. At REMAP, our highly trained team, including our experienced Psychiatric Nurse, C.J. Spotswood offers the best in harm reduction care beginning with the first client assessment.

As of this date, there is no evidence that psychedelics have caused anyone’s pain to grow worse permanently. A small percentage of participants in survey studies have reported an increase in their pain while psychedelics are acutely active (ie. during the “trip”) with a return to baseline after. Most reported an improvement in their psychological framework around their chronic pain and improvements in their sense of body agency. Some of those who experienced an acute increase also reported that they dosed in poor set & settings, i.e. during/after nighttime drinking, after difficult emotional experiences, and similar. To be clear, there are no published case reports of psychedelics worsening pain permanently or enduringly.

Chronic pain is complex, and for some, becomes an intractable condition. Psychedelics offer markedly new opportunities in pain management, with some individuals finding significant relief from their pain, either by taking these medicines in larger doses periodically, or daily in small doses. Many of these people have found total relief for weeks, months, or even years. Some experience little or no relief at all. For those for whom these medications work, the relief is often qualitatively different and stunning in its efficacy.

We are still in the early stages of investigation in this field of study, with active research and experimentation into identifying which compounds treat which conditions best, and for which patients.

We understand how impactful chronic pain can be on pain sufferers ability to earn a living wage. We currently do not offer scholarships but are looking to support them in the future with increases in our operating budget and philanthropic partnerships.

Most of our clients have complex presentations, often having been in the medical system for years, and as a result are prescribed multiple medications, aka “poly-pharma”. Even though you may have heard at other retreats “you have to completely taper off your meds”, we don’t recommend that or even think it’s necessary. There is a distinct cost-to-benfit ratio in withdrawing from multiple prescriptions and if mood destabilization and/or an increase in your pain baseline is the result, that may not be the most effective place to start reeducating your nervous system. Our principal psychiatric clinician is a psychiatric nurse practitioner with a 20+ year career. He is licensed to review and evaluate your medication schedule, analyze how they would interact with psychedelic medications, and then make recommendations in your medication schedule to coincide with your dosing days in order to get the best efficacy.

In order to give your individual nervous system the best opportunity to have improvements in your pain baselines, it’s necessary to identify sensorimotor deficits that can be contributing your total allostatic load, aka how much “threat” are you carrying, and perhaps more importantly, can you carry at any given time? Usually less once you develop chronic pain. Once key areas specific to your nervous system are identified, we then assess what kinds of neuromodulatory approaches you are most responsive to and then have you practice them, re-assess your response, and continue to make refinements. For these initial interventions to begin to “prime” your nervous system before the IMMERSION, there has to be enough volume and intensity developed ahead of time; usually around six weeks. Additionally, there is a significant amount of preparatory work in pain neurology educations, psychedelic mechanisms of action, and non-ordinary state of consciousness navigation. This is also a time for you to get to know the team and for us to get to become familiar with your unique “neurosignature” that will help us to identify and navigate around potential bottlenecks and roadblock in your process, while we developed a common movement, sensory, and orientation vocabulary to help us to work together on your journey. Our neuromodulatory approach is unique and groundbreaking in this field of study, requiring very specific preparation in order to give each client the best outcome available to them.

As discussed in our previous question, we devote a lot of focus and client hours during our PREMAPPING period in order to maximize the benefits that emerge during our IMMERSION and REMAPPING segments. So that means more individual and group time specifically working with our specialists directly. If you were to book these services out independently, the total cost would be significantly higher than clients find in our programming.

Absolutely; we understand and expect this response from your extended care team and our primary concern is making sure you have the best outcome possible. So a significant portion of that is making sure your health care providers understand our approach so that they can feel reassured regarding our procedures, the research involved that supports our practices, and getting informed on their before and after treatment for you. We want to make sure everyone is informed in order to provide a calm, stable program throughout your work with us.

No, you don’t “have” to do that, and since we know many people with chronic pain have sensitive GI systems, we don’t want to add further distress to an already overtaxed nervous system, so we take steps to mitigate those potential nausea inducting effects. That being said, mushrooms and other psychedelic-containing substances are often interacting with serotonin receptors directly in the gut, responsible for smooth muscle contractions among other activities, aka the same musculature responsible for inducing vomiting. Not everyone does, but it can happen. Plus, the cell-wall structure of mushrooms isn’t readily digestible, so that can contribute as well. In our work, we have specific recommendations for preparation and ingestion of the mushrooms in a manner to minimize this from occurring, as well as have medications available to settle your stomach as necessary. In the end, most people don’t have significant gastric disturbance from mushrooms and even if they do experience some, often consider it a small nuisance in comparison to the overwhelming benefit of these medicinal compounds.