Leveraging Psychedelics for Queer Liberation with Wilhelmina De Castro, LCSW
In this episode of the Psychedelic Medicine Podcast, Wilhelmina De Castro, LCSW joins to discuss the ways psychedelics may be used to support goals of queer liberation. Wilhelmina is a psychedelic therapist in the San Diego area and serves as a DEI officer for Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She is also lead faculty for the Psychedelic Research and Training Institute and is committed to creating access to psychedelic healing for historically marginalized populations.
In this conversation, Wilhelmina discusses the major topics at the intersection of psychedelic healing and queer identities. She shares her own journey of how psychedelics helped with self-discovery and acceptance of her queer identity, discussing the ways these substances can help gender and sexual minorities step outside of forms of normativity that are enforced in the culture. She also discusses creating safe spaces for queer folks where they can access psychedelic healing with facilitators and other participants of a similar background. In closing, Wilhelmina reiterates the continuing issues of access and trust queer people face in the current psychedelic landscape, emphasizing the significant work which must be done to improve this situation.
In this episode:
- How psychedelics can help with self discovery and self exploration
- What inspired Wilhelmina to begin working professionally with psychedelics
- Creating spaces for psychedelic healing tailored to queer-identified people
- Dealing with microaggressions in the context of a psychedelic retreat
- Working with a therapist or facilitator who shares a queer identity
- The queerness of psychedelics
Quotes:
“When I began to explore with psychedelics, there were moments of this connection beyond… the way I was socialized or conditioned to think was normal. I was able to just be myself [and] found that this attraction and this embodiment that I was feeling was actually where I was supposed to be.” [4:41]
“Psychedelics can be really helpful in challenging, in questioning, in dissolving those oppressive narratives that keep people oppressed, that keep them from accessing their liberation. And so if we can do this consciously, and if we can do this in a safe space where harm is not perpetuated, then we actually have this beautiful opportunity for collective liberation” [14:25]
Links:
Wilhelmina's practice, Integrate
Integrative Psychiatry Institute
Psychedelic Research and Training Institute
Queering Psychedelics: From Oppression to Liberation in Psychedelic Medicine
SoundMind Institute Psychedelics and Identity Initiative
Psychedelic Liberation Collective
Previous episode: Psychedelics and the LGBTQIA2S+ Community with Dr. Angela Carter