Brit Creelman, PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Evanston IL
As a therapist my intention is to hold space where one can safely explore roadblock behaviors and beliefs, see them they in a new light. From a more spacious perspective acceptance can settle in, and a more direct contact with the present can happen. I am comfortable doing "parts work," using an Internal Family Systems (IFS) lens, and can be an especially good fit for those with established mindfulness practices and an ability to tune into inner experience.
For work in the clinical trial space I received training from Usona Institute/Madison, with support from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). For years I've been engaged in ongoing consultation with leading research clinicians in the field. My orientation to working with non-ordinary states of consciousness is anchored in a “set and setting” approach informed by decades of research using psychedelic compounds to treat depression, PTSD, and other mental health challenges. There are three pillars to this approach: 1) initial sessions for preparation and intention setting prior to dosing, 2) ensuring safety and psychological support during the journey, and 3) post-dosing integration sessions to consolidate, embody, and implement insights gained during the process.
I'm also comfortable working in a more ceremonial space, facilitating international retreats using plant medicine.
Brit Creelman, PhD, is a clinical psychologist whose work, over the years, has included providing community-based recovery alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization, peace and justice activism in war zones, research on the relationship between trauma and substance abuse, home visiting in public housing projects, and 10 years’ service as training director in a program for youth survivors of complex trauma.
More recently, in addition to maintaining a private practice in Evanston, Dr. Creelman works in the clinical trial space using psychedelics to address mental health challenges. Dr. Creelman has served as Lead Facilitator in a study (PSIL201, Usona) using psilocybin to treat depression, and as Lead Dosing Session Monitor in a study (MindMed) using LSD to treat anxiety. Both studies were FDA approved, multi-site, phase 2 clinical trials. The MindMed study is historic, as it marks the first time LSD has been legally administered in the US since research with this compound was shut down in the 1970’s! Favorable results from PSIL201 were just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Aug, 2023). Dr. Creelman looks forward to a Phase 3 version of the PSIL study, which is scheduled to begin recruiting Winter 2024.
Dr. Creelman has also served in a more ceremonial context (Jamaica, Atman Retreats) that harnesses plant medicine for psycho-spiritual exploration and healing.
Dr. Creelman’s clinical work is informed by passionate study and training in Internal Family Systems (IFS), personal therapy with an IFS therapist, and ongoing consultation with a senior IFS lead trainer. Dr. Creelman was considering early retirement 7 or 8 years ago – but things changed when he learned about the reemergence of psychedelic medicine, and somatically anchored, spiritually infused ways of doing therapy.
No special programs being offered at this time.