Dr Jim Matto-Shepard
Let the beauty that you are be what you do
— Rumi

jim Matto-shepard Ph.D.- Licensed Psychotherapist psy 15031

Petaluma
Psychotherapy Counseling & Workshops

 
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Everywhere we turn there are ideas about how to reduce suffering and be more healthy. “Stabilize your mind, build your mind/body connection, use ‘I’ messages, learn to listen, develop self-compassion.” These are genuinely good ideas that are readily available. So why do we continue to suffer? And what will actually help?

We have grown up in a world that has conditioned us in ways that creates an underlying sense of fear and dissatisfaction, and, at the same time, makes transformation difficult.

In order to implement the skills needed for living a satisfying life, we must recognize that we are an accumulation of defensive structures and habitual roles which unconsciously drive our choices and behaviors. Awareness and self-acceptance free us so that we are able to step out of these tendencies and operate from a more integrated Self.

The more frightened, insecure or callused we are, the more difficult it is to see the truth of who we are. And the cultural striving for success can easily lead us in the wrong direction. Which is why we need the guidance of someone who has done their personal work and who can see through cultural trappings.

I have been practicing psychotherapy for over 35 years and have been licensed as a psychologist since 1997. In addition to intensive training and experience in various traditional psychotherapeutic modalities, I have a long-time meditation practice, am a conscious dance teacher and a spiritual seeker as well as an advocate for cultural change.

I specialize in working with couples in extended session formats, group psychotherapy and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

In 2018 I, along with several colleagues, started a psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy clinic — Temenos Center for Integrative Psychotherapy. We currently offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) and psychedelic integration therapy. In 2020 we were approved by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) to offer their “expanded access" protocol using MDMA with people who have severe PTSD. We expect to enroll participants in this program in early 2021 depending on COVID. For information about these programs go to Temenos.center website.