Tara Samiy, PsyD
Psychologist
San Francisco CA
Many people are struggling with depression, anxiety, fears, grief, and relationships, both with themselves and with others. I believe that emotions have a function; they communicate or point to authentic needs and feelings. For various reasons, perhaps an unreceptive or unsafe environment, perhaps our culture’s emphasis on getting rid of these experiences, we avoid or resist our inner experience, so the emotions hold fast, speak louder, attempting to be heard. In our work, we will make space for all of your experiences with curiosity, respect, patience, and humor. We’ll take the unwinding path of understanding old patterns and adaptations, allowing you to connect more fully with yourself. My training in developmental and relational trauma informs my approach.
With regards to preparation and integration work, I bring a wealth of experience and training in the realms of non-ordinary states of consciousness, which has been an interest of mine since I was 14 years old! My studies and work experience with altered states (psychosis/spiritual emergence-y/madness, dementia, dance/movement, hospice, and drug use alongside a trauma-informed lens inform my work. I do not follow a protocol but tend to each person's unique process and unfolding path towards the unveiling of greater freedom and ease in life, but most importantly in service of their own intentions, their own truth.
Dr. Tara Samiy is a licensed psychologist (PSY27422, California). She has special interests in non-ordinary states of consciousness, psychosis/extreme states and spiritual emergence, culturally sensitive and trauma informed care, stress resilience, embodied transformation, and the therapeutic applications of entheogens, as well as how they may inform our understanding of consciousness. Tara earned her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she received The Kranzke Psychedelic/Entheogenic Research Scholarship for her dissertation research investigating through qualitative methods the experience of spontaneous dance/movement when facilitated by an entheogen. She earned a Bachelor’s in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tara was shaped by an altered state experience when she was 14 years old, that ignited a deep inquiry into human experience and consciousness and many years of study of non-ordinary states of consciousness, including conferences and seminars on entheogens, psychedelic therapy & integration, and psychosis/madness (overseas and in the U.S.) and work with individuals experiencing psychosis/madness, dementia, on hospice, and using drugs. She has been trained by M.A.P.S. in MDMA therapy for PTSD and in Ketamine-Assisted Therapy at the Alchemy Community Therapy Center. She welcomes all identities and experiences. She believes in humanizing healing.
For over two decades, Dr. Samiy has also studied and practiced somatic approaches to well-being, including body-oriented therapies, yoga and other movement arts, and meditation. She enjoys using somatic awareness techniques to help people attend to their inner landscapes.