Inner Ethics When Working with Non-Ordinary States
Two dynamic presentations and two essential manuals for improving your support of people in non-ordinary states of consciousness, e.g., via psychedelics, breathwork, etc. Learn what is ideal support when complex situations arise.
Applies to Level 2 Certification
This course is part of the Level 2 Spiritual Emergence Coach® Certification. You can take this course individually or as part of the complete certification bundle. Upon completion, this course will count toward your Level 2 certification requirements.
About this course
For breathwork facilitators, ceremony leaders using plant medicines, and practitioners of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, meditation teachers, and Spiritual Emergence Coaches®: Working with people in non-ordinary states of consciousness requires more than simply following the basic ethical guidelines. It calls for presence, self-awareness, relational maturity, and the ability to create conditions that support trust, safety, and healing.
This course offers a more reflective and compassionate approach to ethics by focusing on the inner qualities that shape how we show up with clients, participants, and communities. You will explore the best way to benefit a client who may be in a very vulnerable state of mind, and what it means to maintain ‘right’ relationship in emotionally intense and spiritually significant work. Building on the basic external codes of conduct, it helps you examine the deeper motivations, attitudes, and biases that influence your presence and your behavior. This puts you in the position to choose to make appropriate changes that improve client outcomes.
The course is taught by the creator of InnerEthics®, Kylea Taylor, MFT. Two dynamic presentations, a practical course manual, and two bonus interviews with leaders in the field are included. Kylea’s “Ethical Awareness Tools” are designed to support mindful self-inquiry and relational reflection, helping you navigate the challenges of holding healing space for people doing profound personal work.
At the heart of the course is a simple but powerful idea: relationship is central to healing. Ethical practice is not just about avoiding misconduct. It is about becoming someone a client can completely trust. This course will deepen your capacity for self-reflection, strengthen your ability to hold healing space with care and integrity, and help you better support the inner healing intelligence of the people you serve. Everyone receives a professional certificate of course completion. Four CEs/CMEs are available for licensed healthcare providers.
Learning Objectives
List the two informational gaps in most Western traditional ethics education that are filled by an internal approach to ethical relationship.
Describe one ethical difference between therapy with a client in an ordinary state of consciousness and a client in an extra-ordinary (psychedelic) state of consciousness.
Utilize the Chart of Professional Vulnerabilities to Ethical Misconduct to identify one’s own motivations.
Describe an ethically precarious situation in professional/client interpersonal dynamics and explain why that situation needs particular mindfulness in psychedelic psychotherapy.
Explain why self-compassion is a pre-requisite for self-reflection.
Utilize the tool Protection, Permission and Connection in a therapeutic container to assess the presence and balance of these elements.
Utilize the tool ‘Who’s This For?’ to identify conflicts of interest between client and therapist.
Explain the two main needs three black women therapists (Wiliiams, M. T. et. al.) identified as crucial when black women take MDMA.
Syllabus
Welcome by Emma Bragdon, PhD
(1 min vid) Welcome
Two 70-minute presentations with Kylea Taylor, MFT
- Describe InnerEthics®-our self-reflections needed to improve outcomes
- Course booklet
- Two optional quizzes to affirm learning
Two 20-min Interviews with Will Hall, PhD and Susana Bustos, PhD
- Perspectives on the need for improved ethical standards
Your Instructor
Kylea Taylor, LMFT
Kylea Taylor, M.S., LMFT developed and now teaches InnerEthics®, a self-reflective, self-compassionate approach to ethical relationships for therapists and practitioners. She has been writing and teaching about ethics for three decades. She is the author of Peer Consultation Groups and Ethical Awareness Tools for Psychedelic Practitioners, and The Ethics of Caring: Finding Right Relationship with Clients. Working with Stanislav Grof, M.D. as a Senior Trainer in the Grof Transpersonal Training throughout the 1990s, Kylea facilitated and observed thousands of extra-ordinary state-of-consciousness sessions. She began her study with Stan and Christina Grof in 1984. Kylea assisted Grof and Jack Kornfield, Ph.D. in workshops combining Holotropic Breathwork® and Vipassana meditation, and she facilitated Holotropic Breathwork® in residential addiction treatment. She is the author of The Breathwork Experience, Considering Holotropic Breathwork® and the editor of Exploring Holotropic Breathwork®. Kylea has also produced a series of pre-recorded InnerEthics® video courses for professionals interested in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy or helping clients to integrate profound experiences.
About Continuing Education Credits
For licensed health professionals seeking CE credits for license renewal
CE Provider Information
CE credits are provided by Westbrook University, an APA-approved continuing education provider for healthcare professionals.
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