Date: Monday, September 08, 2025
Time: 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm ET
Location: 5th Floor @ UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work (for UNC MSW students)
Format: Virtual Only
In collaboration with UNC Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Caucus
- Livestream via Zoom
CE Credit: 1.5 CEs, read for full information on credit types awarded.
Fees: Free of Charge (scholarships available)
Description:
Join the UNC Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Caucus for a conversation with Vonetta Taylor on the role of Indigenous wisdom and shamanic practices in contemporary psychedelic therapy. This session will explore how traditional healing frameworks can inform ethical, grounded, and culturally responsive approaches to psychedelic-assisted care. Vonetta will share insights from her work integrating shamanic traditions with trauma healing and personal transformation. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in dialogue about practitioner responsibility, right relationship, and the relevance of ancestral knowledge in modern therapeutic contexts.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the training participants will be able to:
1. Describe how traditional shamanic practices can support, inform, and integrate within contemporary therapeutic models.
2. Apply real world case studies illustrating shamanic methodologies applied in a modern context to facilitate healing and personal growth.
3. Discuss right relationship within the field of psychedelic assisted therapy for future professionals in the mental health field.
Trainer: Vonetta E. Taylor is the founder of The New Dawn Institute for Peace and Harmony and a practitioner of shamanic healing and spiritual leadership. Trained in cultural anthropology at Cornell University, her path began with fieldwork in Kenya and continued through initiations in Kriya Yoga, Tibetan Buddhism, and apprenticeship with an Amazonian Wisdom Keeper. Since 2012, she has led over 800 ceremonial retreats and developed a certification program in Shamanic Life Coaching and Facilitation. Her work integrates indigenous practices with contemporary approaches to healing, and she has partnered with neuroscientist Dr. Nakia Gordon to explore the intersection of science, spirituality, and social change. Her forthcoming memoir, The Shaman’s Apprentice, reflects on her personal journey and evolving vision of collective healing.
References:
- Fischman, L. (2025). My bad, you got this: Witnessing, therapist attitude and the synergy between psychedelics and inner healing intelligence in the treatment of trauma. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1469559. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1469559
- Geller, J., & Whitney, E. (2025). Therapeutic potential of MDMA- and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for adolescent depression and trauma. Current Psychiatry Reports, 27(2), 88-97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-024-01577-2
- Jerotic, K., Vuust, P., & Kringelbach, M. L. (2024). Psychedelia: The interplay of music and psychedelics. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1531(1), 12-28. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.15082
- McCleave, C. D., Beaulieu, S., Lopez, R., & Tafur, J. (2024). Traditional and indigenous perspectives on healing trauma with psychedelic plant medicines. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 22(2), 938-950. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-024-01252-w
- Podrebarac, S. K., O’Donnell, K. C., Mennenga, S. E., Owens, L. T., Malone, T. C., Duane, J. H., & Bogenschutz, M. P. (2021). Spiritual experiences in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: Case reports of communion with the divine, the departed, and saints in research using psilocybin for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 8(3), 177-187. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000242
- Soliman, P. S., Curley, D. E., Capone, C., Eaton, E., & Haass-Koffler, C. L. (2024). In the new era of psychedelic assisted therapy: A systematic review of study methodology in randomized controlled trials. Psychopharmacology, 241(6), 1101-1110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-024-06598-6
UNC Chapel Hill – Clinical Lecture Series