Thu March 7, 2024
Sex & Psychedelics with Courtney Watson, Gwen Pelfini, and Jess Alfaqih
SEE EVENT DETAILS
Join The Midway and Discovery Sessions for our next iteration of Discovery Sessions Salons: Sex & Psychedelics with Courtney Watson, Gwen Pelfini, and Jess Alfaqih.
This intimate conversation will provide insights into how psychedelics can potentially influence perceptions of sexuality, intimacy, and pleasure, and the ways in which altered states of consciousness affect - and often enhance - that exploration. This panel discussion also offers broader cultural and social perspectives, including legal and ethical considerations, societal attitudes, and historical contexts of the intersectionality of sex and psychedelics.
Featured Speakers:
Courtney Watson, LMFT, CEO Doorway Therapeutic Services, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist
Courtney Watson is a queer Black Mother, lover, friend, community member and warrior hailing from the unceded/stolen Ohlone Lisjan territory, so called Oakland California. She is her ancestors' baby descended from enslaved Africans stolen from West and Central Africa, Louisiana Chahtah, their white European oppressors and their disappointed Gallic Old Ones.
Courtney is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex therapist who understands her role more and more as a re-membering medicine woman and a remembering medicine woman studying under various African and American Indigenous Knowledge Systems. She is the owner of Doorway Therapeutic Services, a group therapy practice focused on prioritizing the mental health needs of Black Indigenous People of Color, Queer folks, Trans, Gender Non-conforming, Non binary and Two Spirit individuals in their offering of individual, couples, family and sex therapy by predominantly Queer and BIPOC providers.
Courtney has followed the direction of her ancestors to incorporate ketamine assisted therapy into her offerings for folks with multiple marginalized identities and stresses the importance of BIPOC and Queer providers offering these services. She also founded an 501c3 non-profit, Access to Doorways, because the cost of ketamine treatment is exorbitant in relation to the average income of clients with multiple marginalized identities, arguably those who, due to overlapping systems of oppression, need it the most (now accepting donations!). Her non-profit also helps subsidize the cost of psychedelic training programs and fiscally sponsors Queer and BIPOC led psychedelic projects to bring oft neglected voices to the forefront of the psychedelic field. A recovering workaholic, her PhD is pending as she prioritizes soul cultivation, ancestral healing, laughter, rest, joy and pleasure with her loved ones.
Gwen Pelfini, LMHC, LPCC, NCC, PATP
Licensed Psychotherapist + Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Provider
Gwen has been immersed in the mental health field for almost twenty years, having been exposed to the world of neurodivergence and innovative healing approaches at a young age. Growing up amongst the diversity within the San Francisco Bay Area, and gathering influential experiences and training from UCLA, NYU and various mental health institutes along the way, she has honed her expertise in the specialty of Integrated Health - honoring the wisdom of mind, body, and soul.
Gwen is an adjunct professor, multi-licensed psychotherapist, certified psychedelic-assisted therapy provider and advocate who is passionate about curating spaces for access and conversation in the community. Through her warm and direct approach, she has made it her life's work to help people connect with their own Inner Healing Intelligence and live a meaningful life.
Jessica Alfaqih, MA, Psychedelic Sex Coach, Psychedelic Integration Guide
Jessica Alfaqih, M.A. is a Psychedelic Sensual Empowerment Coach of mixed Lebanese-European heritage, living and working on the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people. She works with humans who feel like they've "tried everything" but still struggle to let go of past trauma, lived experience, and limiting beliefs that undermine their connection to pleasure and sensual power.
As a Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, certified Sex & Pleasure Coach, and Psychedelic Integration guide, she works in deep mind-body reprogramming to release trauma and rewire neural pathways so that the inner work, power, and beauty that you've cultivated within yourself shows up in your beliefs, actions, and relationships.
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This intimate conversation will provide insights into how psychedelics can potentially influence perceptions of sexuality, intimacy, and pleasure, and the ways in which altered states of consciousness affect - and often enhance - that exploration. This panel discussion also offers broader cultural and social perspectives, including legal and ethical considerations, societal attitudes, and historical contexts of the intersectionality of sex and psychedelics.
Featured Speakers:
Courtney Watson, LMFT, CEO Doorway Therapeutic Services, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist
Courtney Watson is a queer Black Mother, lover, friend, community member and warrior hailing from the unceded/stolen Ohlone Lisjan territory, so called Oakland California. She is her ancestors' baby descended from enslaved Africans stolen from West and Central Africa, Louisiana Chahtah, their white European oppressors and their disappointed Gallic Old Ones.
Courtney is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex therapist who understands her role more and more as a re-membering medicine woman and a remembering medicine woman studying under various African and American Indigenous Knowledge Systems. She is the owner of Doorway Therapeutic Services, a group therapy practice focused on prioritizing the mental health needs of Black Indigenous People of Color, Queer folks, Trans, Gender Non-conforming, Non binary and Two Spirit individuals in their offering of individual, couples, family and sex therapy by predominantly Queer and BIPOC providers.
Courtney has followed the direction of her ancestors to incorporate ketamine assisted therapy into her offerings for folks with multiple marginalized identities and stresses the importance of BIPOC and Queer providers offering these services. She also founded an 501c3 non-profit, Access to Doorways, because the cost of ketamine treatment is exorbitant in relation to the average income of clients with multiple marginalized identities, arguably those who, due to overlapping systems of oppression, need it the most (now accepting donations!). Her non-profit also helps subsidize the cost of psychedelic training programs and fiscally sponsors Queer and BIPOC led psychedelic projects to bring oft neglected voices to the forefront of the psychedelic field. A recovering workaholic, her PhD is pending as she prioritizes soul cultivation, ancestral healing, laughter, rest, joy and pleasure with her loved ones.
Gwen Pelfini, LMHC, LPCC, NCC, PATP
Licensed Psychotherapist + Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Provider
Gwen has been immersed in the mental health field for almost twenty years, having been exposed to the world of neurodivergence and innovative healing approaches at a young age. Growing up amongst the diversity within the San Francisco Bay Area, and gathering influential experiences and training from UCLA, NYU and various mental health institutes along the way, she has honed her expertise in the specialty of Integrated Health - honoring the wisdom of mind, body, and soul.
Gwen is an adjunct professor, multi-licensed psychotherapist, certified psychedelic-assisted therapy provider and advocate who is passionate about curating spaces for access and conversation in the community. Through her warm and direct approach, she has made it her life's work to help people connect with their own Inner Healing Intelligence and live a meaningful life.
Jessica Alfaqih, MA, Psychedelic Sex Coach, Psychedelic Integration Guide
Jessica Alfaqih, M.A. is a Psychedelic Sensual Empowerment Coach of mixed Lebanese-European heritage, living and working on the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people. She works with humans who feel like they've "tried everything" but still struggle to let go of past trauma, lived experience, and limiting beliefs that undermine their connection to pleasure and sensual power.
As a Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, certified Sex & Pleasure Coach, and Psychedelic Integration guide, she works in deep mind-body reprogramming to release trauma and rewire neural pathways so that the inner work, power, and beauty that you've cultivated within yourself shows up in your beliefs, actions, and relationships.
Join The Midway and Discovery Sessions for our next iteration of Discovery Sessions Salons: Sex & Psychedelics with Courtney Watson, Gwen Pelfini, and Jess Alfaqih.
This intimate conversation will provide insights into how psychedelics can potentially influence perceptions of sexuality, intimacy, and pleasure, and the ways in which altered states of consciousness affect - and often enhance - that exploration. This panel discussion also offers broader cultural and social perspectives, including legal and ethical considerations, societal attitudes, and historical contexts of the intersectionality of sex and psychedelics.
Featured Speakers:
Courtney Watson, LMFT, CEO Doorway Therapeutic Services, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist
Courtney Watson is a queer Black Mother, lover, friend, community member and warrior hailing from the unceded/stolen Ohlone Lisjan territory, so called Oakland California. She is her ancestors' baby descended from enslaved Africans stolen from West and Central Africa, Louisiana Chahtah, their white European oppressors and their disappointed Gallic Old Ones.
Courtney is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex therapist who understands her role more and more as a re-membering medicine woman and a remembering medicine woman studying under various African and American Indigenous Knowledge Systems. She is the owner of Doorway Therapeutic Services, a group therapy practice focused on prioritizing the mental health needs of Black Indigenous People of Color, Queer folks, Trans, Gender Non-conforming, Non binary and Two Spirit individuals in their offering of individual, couples, family and sex therapy by predominantly Queer and BIPOC providers.
Courtney has followed the direction of her ancestors to incorporate ketamine assisted therapy into her offerings for folks with multiple marginalized identities and stresses the importance of BIPOC and Queer providers offering these services. She also founded an 501c3 non-profit, Access to Doorways, because the cost of ketamine treatment is exorbitant in relation to the average income of clients with multiple marginalized identities, arguably those who, due to overlapping systems of oppression, need it the most (now accepting donations!). Her non-profit also helps subsidize the cost of psychedelic training programs and fiscally sponsors Queer and BIPOC led psychedelic projects to bring oft neglected voices to the forefront of the psychedelic field. A recovering workaholic, her PhD is pending as she prioritizes soul cultivation, ancestral healing, laughter, rest, joy and pleasure with her loved ones.
Gwen Pelfini, LMHC, LPCC, NCC, PATP
Licensed Psychotherapist + Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Provider
Gwen has been immersed in the mental health field for almost twenty years, having been exposed to the world of neurodivergence and innovative healing approaches at a young age. Growing up amongst the diversity within the San Francisco Bay Area, and gathering influential experiences and training from UCLA, NYU and various mental health institutes along the way, she has honed her expertise in the specialty of Integrated Health - honoring the wisdom of mind, body, and soul.
Gwen is an adjunct professor, multi-licensed psychotherapist, certified psychedelic-assisted therapy provider and advocate who is passionate about curating spaces for access and conversation in the community. Through her warm and direct approach, she has made it her life's work to help people connect with their own Inner Healing Intelligence and live a meaningful life.
Jessica Alfaqih, MA, Psychedelic Sex Coach, Psychedelic Integration Guide
Jessica Alfaqih, M.A. is a Psychedelic Sensual Empowerment Coach of mixed Lebanese-European heritage, living and working on the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people. She works with humans who feel like they've "tried everything" but still struggle to let go of past trauma, lived experience, and limiting beliefs that undermine their connection to pleasure and sensual power.
As a Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, certified Sex & Pleasure Coach, and Psychedelic Integration guide, she works in deep mind-body reprogramming to release trauma and rewire neural pathways so that the inner work, power, and beauty that you've cultivated within yourself shows up in your beliefs, actions, and relationships.
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This intimate conversation will provide insights into how psychedelics can potentially influence perceptions of sexuality, intimacy, and pleasure, and the ways in which altered states of consciousness affect - and often enhance - that exploration. This panel discussion also offers broader cultural and social perspectives, including legal and ethical considerations, societal attitudes, and historical contexts of the intersectionality of sex and psychedelics.
Featured Speakers:
Courtney Watson, LMFT, CEO Doorway Therapeutic Services, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist
Courtney Watson is a queer Black Mother, lover, friend, community member and warrior hailing from the unceded/stolen Ohlone Lisjan territory, so called Oakland California. She is her ancestors' baby descended from enslaved Africans stolen from West and Central Africa, Louisiana Chahtah, their white European oppressors and their disappointed Gallic Old Ones.
Courtney is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex therapist who understands her role more and more as a re-membering medicine woman and a remembering medicine woman studying under various African and American Indigenous Knowledge Systems. She is the owner of Doorway Therapeutic Services, a group therapy practice focused on prioritizing the mental health needs of Black Indigenous People of Color, Queer folks, Trans, Gender Non-conforming, Non binary and Two Spirit individuals in their offering of individual, couples, family and sex therapy by predominantly Queer and BIPOC providers.
Courtney has followed the direction of her ancestors to incorporate ketamine assisted therapy into her offerings for folks with multiple marginalized identities and stresses the importance of BIPOC and Queer providers offering these services. She also founded an 501c3 non-profit, Access to Doorways, because the cost of ketamine treatment is exorbitant in relation to the average income of clients with multiple marginalized identities, arguably those who, due to overlapping systems of oppression, need it the most (now accepting donations!). Her non-profit also helps subsidize the cost of psychedelic training programs and fiscally sponsors Queer and BIPOC led psychedelic projects to bring oft neglected voices to the forefront of the psychedelic field. A recovering workaholic, her PhD is pending as she prioritizes soul cultivation, ancestral healing, laughter, rest, joy and pleasure with her loved ones.
Gwen Pelfini, LMHC, LPCC, NCC, PATP
Licensed Psychotherapist + Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Provider
Gwen has been immersed in the mental health field for almost twenty years, having been exposed to the world of neurodivergence and innovative healing approaches at a young age. Growing up amongst the diversity within the San Francisco Bay Area, and gathering influential experiences and training from UCLA, NYU and various mental health institutes along the way, she has honed her expertise in the specialty of Integrated Health - honoring the wisdom of mind, body, and soul.
Gwen is an adjunct professor, multi-licensed psychotherapist, certified psychedelic-assisted therapy provider and advocate who is passionate about curating spaces for access and conversation in the community. Through her warm and direct approach, she has made it her life's work to help people connect with their own Inner Healing Intelligence and live a meaningful life.
Jessica Alfaqih, MA, Psychedelic Sex Coach, Psychedelic Integration Guide
Jessica Alfaqih, M.A. is a Psychedelic Sensual Empowerment Coach of mixed Lebanese-European heritage, living and working on the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people. She works with humans who feel like they've "tried everything" but still struggle to let go of past trauma, lived experience, and limiting beliefs that undermine their connection to pleasure and sensual power.
As a Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, certified Sex & Pleasure Coach, and Psychedelic Integration guide, she works in deep mind-body reprogramming to release trauma and rewire neural pathways so that the inner work, power, and beauty that you've cultivated within yourself shows up in your beliefs, actions, and relationships.
show less
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