A mom playing with her baby
In the past several years, psychedelic medicine has gone increasingly mainstream as more healthcare professionals, therapists, military veterans and lawmakers advocate for its use as a viable alternative treatment for trauma, depression and other conditions. DoubleBlind, a media company and education platform focused on the psychedelic movement, is expanding on this in a different angle with the launch of a provocative new course dubbed "Psychedelics & Maternity” targeting people who are seeking resources, such as psychedelics, which will help them gain control over their bodies and wombs.
Recently, Shelby Hartman, co-founder and CEO of DoubleBlind, discussed the conception and evolution of this course and how many can benefit from it.
This Q&A was edited for conciseness and clarity.
Iris Dorbian: What made you want to develop this course?
Shelby Hartman: This course is for everyone with a womb, mothers, and parents. It gets into plant medicines and holistic ways of living, from menstruation to conception, contraception and parenting. While this course was created by mothers, with the journey of motherhood in mind, there’s so much incredible information in it that applies to everyone on breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma, healing familial relationships, setting intentions for journeying, and beyond.
Dorbian: How did this course develop? How was it fleshed out?
Hartman: The course came after I moderated a panel on “psychedelics and maternity” at the Oakland Hyphae conference. Reggie Harris, the founder of Oakland Hyphae, puts together events that boldly address important topics that others are not willing to, including combining parenting and psychedelics which is still considered taboo. On the panel, I interviewed these beautiful, brilliant moms who are all doing important work at the intersection of psychedelics, womb care, and maternity and we got inspired to platform them. Together, they put together the eleven-module course based on their personal experiences as psychedelic moms and their experiences supporting countless other moms and people with wombs on their healing journeys.
Dorbian: Who are the teachers?
Shelby Hartman, co-founder and CEO of DoubleBlind
Hartman: It opens with Mikaela de la Myco getting into cycle tracking, menstruation, and ovulation. Sunny Jackson then takes us through contraception, making a birth plan, and postpartum depression. Gabrielle Williams gets into healing familial relationships, intergenerational trauma, and setting intentions for and navigating plant medicines journeys. Dayana Mendoza talks integration and important skills for incorporating lessons on plant medicines into your life. Finally, Destiny Rok gets into how to talk to your children about psychedelics (including a homeschooling curriculum she’s created that centers botany and mycology with picture books, rather than dividing “psychoactive” and “nonpsychoactive” plants).
Dorbian: How are psychedelics used here? Is it just mushrooms or other psychedelics?
Hartman: In the course, the teachers get into preparing for, navigating, and integrating a psychedelic experience. It’s through the lens of healing trauma within yourself and your lineages, with the idea that folks with children want to break cycles of trauma so as not to pass them on, but it applies to everyone. These principles apply to journeying on all psychedelics, from mushrooms to MDMA, ketamine and ayahuasca. We don’t get into specifics of different substances, dosage, etc. We have a separate course on that, which lays a good foundation for folks, if they’re new to psychedelics.
Dorbian: What are the key takeaways you want for people wishing to take this class?
Hartman: In the course, we do talk about psychedelic journeying, but we also talk about powerful legal plant allies—mugwort, chamomile, cannabis—as well as exercises for identifying triggers, connecting with your family tree, and beyond. Psychedelics can be powerful tools for transformation, but in order to sustain that transformation, we must look at our entire lives. For people who menstruate or are parents, these are huge aspects of a person’s life and are deeply connected to why they want to do psychedelics. So how do we frame this whole conversation in a way that inspires the kind of change people want? That’s what this course is about—that’s what our education is about—and that’s what we hope not only our students, but all people who are becoming interested in psychedelics consider before they trip.
For further information on the course and how to enroll, please visit here.
