Destiny: Dee Dee Goldpaugh, Embrace Pleasure

“A compelling, radical exploration of psychedelics’ healing potential.”—Kirkus Reviews

Explains how psychedelic experiences offer a way to reconnect with the body, reclaim pleasure, rekindle joy, and reawaken to love

Explores how psychedelics can support our sexual healing and offers a range of psychedelic integration techniques and somatic exercises to help release trauma and foster insight

Shares recent research on trauma and case studies from more than a decade of professional clinical work as well as lessons from the author’s own healing journey from sexual trauma and PTSD

In this groundbreaking book, psychotherapist and psychedelic integration expert Dee Dee Goldpaugh shows how the profound healing and restorative effects of psychedelics can help us heal our sexuality, reconnect with pleasure, find wholeness, and feel good again.

Sharing recent research on trauma and case studies from more than a decade of professional clinical work, Goldpaugh explores specific ways psychedelics can heal sexual trauma, enhance sexual pleasure, and deepen our interpersonal connections. Goldpaugh looks at MDMA, psilocybin, ayahuasca, mescaline, 5-MeO-DMT, and other psychedelics and offers a range of integration techniques as well as somatic exercises to help foster insight and apply the lessons learned during psychedelic experiences to everyday life. Goldpaugh also examines the methodology behind psychedelic-assisted therapy and how readers can safely navigate risks and explore their own healing at home.

Revealing the transformative power of embracing pleasure for healing sexual trauma, this book provides an essential guide to psychedelic sexuality as a path to healing and love.

Dee Dee (they/them/theirs) is a psychotherapist, educator, consultant, clinical supervisor, author, and activist. They are the Clinical Director of Chrysalis Integrative Psychotherapy. Dee Dee has taught and published widely on the topics of psychedelics, sexuality, trauma, gender, and spirituality. They have been a leading voice in the development of Psychedelic Integration Psychotherapy techniques, specifically with survivors of trauma and have published the first article to appear in an academic journal, Sexual and Relationship Therapy, exploring the intersection of sexuality, spirituality, and psychedelic healing. Dee Dee is a clinical supervisor for the EMBARK psychedelic-assisted therapy approach. They offer Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy as part of the team at the Woodstock Therapy Center and facilitate ketamine-assisted psychotherapy retreats. They have also completed the MAPS training in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Dee Dee is the author of the forthcoming book Embrace Pleasure: How Psychedelics Can Heal Our Sexuality being published by Inner Traditions in Summer 2025. The are a member of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicine’s working group for Women, Gender-Diversity, and Sexual Minorities. Dee Dee has been a presenter in the Sex Therapy Collaborative and a faculty instructor in the Trauma Therapy program at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy. They have presented at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research (ICPR), The Alt Sex Conference Speaker’s Series, The Center for Optimal Living, Ante Up! and are contributing author in the book Queering Psychedelics. They have been featured in articles by Vice Magazine, Chacruna, The Albany Times Union, Medium, Brides, Psymposia, Refinery 29, and Psychology Today. Dee Dee runs therapist consultation groups in Psychedelic Integration Therapy. Dee Dee holds a Master’s Degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work. They have received training at the C.J. Jung Foundation and the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy. They are fully trained in EMDR through the Parnell Institute and offer EMDR in their practice and have additional training in Internal Family Systems Psychotherapy. They have years of professional experience in the LGBTQ community and in community mental health in Brooklyn, NY working with an extremely diverse client population. Dee Dee has additional training in shamanic healing, bioregional herbal medicine and has attended intensive guide training through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy guides. When not in the office, Dee Dee is a painter, musician, activist, hiker, meditator, and voracious reader (in no particular order!)

https://www.deedeegoldpaugh.com/

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.