Taylor Simon, LMFT
Psychotherapist
San Francisco CA
I believe that developing a safe, transparent therapeutic relationship is key to achieving the best outcomes. I’m going to be myself and will always hold space for you to do the same. You won't get a blank slate, and you won't have to wonder what I hold behind a facade. As a relational therapist, you'll be able to feel my presence in the quality of our connection and my own authentic energy. Together, we’ll work toward reconnecting with the parts of you that feel most real, most alive, and most like you.
As a therapist trained in liberation psychology, I also hold awareness of the larger systems that shape our lives, social, cultural, political, and economic, and how they may have contributed to your experience. It’s my belief that the well-being of any individual cannot be improved without addressing the impact of discrimination, inequality, and oppression where it exists. Through part of our work together, we’ll address the impact of discrimination in your life, whether you are marginalized at a systemic level or even within your family structure. ALL of your lived experience will be taken into consideration as we work to liberate you from the constraints that trauma has placed on your life.
If you’ve experienced trauma, you’ve likely had to adapt in ways that helped you survive, even if they don’t feel like they fit anymore. Perhaps you’ve become hyper-independent because you learned early on you couldn’t rely on other people to meet your needs. Maybe you self-medicate or seek ways to distract yourself from the pain of simply being you. Maybe you learned to rely only on yourself. Maybe you disconnect, push things down, or find ways to cope that get you through the day.
And maybe it works – at least, to a degree.
But you deserve more than a life lived in survival mode.
Healing from your experiences and living from your authentic self is very much available if you’re willing to work through the pain that keeps you stuck.
When suffering is all you’ve ever known, it can be hard to imagine that life could actually be better. The impact of toxic family dynamics in childhood follows us into adulthood and creates a distorted image of ourselves and the world around us.
I say “us” because I’ve been there too.
After feeling marginalized in my family and later going through an abusive relationship, I found myself in a painfully fractured place. I didn’t know how (or if) I could collect the seemingly broken parts of myself and create a whole, integrated being. But there was a dim yet undeniable spark inside of me that said, “There has to be more for me than this.” And so began my own journey into therapy to resolve childhood trauma. I was willing to excavate the most painful parts of my past so I could become the version of myself that I sensed already existed and desperately needed to be uncovered. The process was slow and challenging, but eventually, I started to find relief. I began to discover my unique gifts that were hidden behind all the hurt.
As my own trauma recovery unfolded, I became fascinated with the resilience of the human spirit. It’s my unshakeable belief that although traumatic experiences can make you feel inherently flawed and broken beyond repair — the true self has a natural drive toward wholeness. This core belief informed my career trajectory. I earned my Master’s degree in integral studies and psychodynamic theory at the California Institute of Integral Studies(CIIS).
Surprisingly, trauma courses are not part of the standard curriculum in many programs. So I intentionally sought them out because I always knew I wanted my practice to focus on therapy to heal childhood trauma and PTSD.
As a result of my education at CIIS and training at UCSF, I’ve become a clinician that holds mysticism in a clinically grounded framework.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy:
Medical screening and psychiatric evaluation
Preparation sessions
Initial phase series (lozenge or IM) of 4-6 sessions over 2-4 weeks
Maintenance sessions (1x/week or as needed)
Ketamine groups
Integration and ongoing therapy as needed
Psychedelic Breathwork Group/Individual:
Preparation Session
Breathwork session (2.5-3hrs)
Integration
Preparation for the psychospiritual medicine journey:
History and intake around why this particular medicine and why now
Exploration of your goals, hopes, and intentions
Exploration of what you are willing to offer up to the process
Exploration of what’s in the shadow, what wants to be changed, what you want to put in for the alchemical transmutation
Practicing a general surrender and readiness for the journey ahead
Integration after peak experience:
Inventory of the experience
Exploration of meaningful lessons and takeaways
Discussion of ways to implement your learnings to build a bridge from these huge experiences to daily life
Processing any changes to your relationship with self and spirit
Mining challenging journeys, which often have the most personal growth potential, for the wisdom they hold