By Mark Hrastar and Ari Kellner
What does it mean to truly know yourself? It is a question that lives in the background of so many moments, in our aching, our searching, our numbing, our healing. Carl Jung called this quest individuation, the lifelong unfolding of the Self, and it may be the most important journey we ever take. Not toward perfection or happiness, but toward wholeness.
In our modern world, where disconnection often masks itself as productivity, many people are waking up to a deeper hunger. Not just for symptom relief, but for meaning, for integration, for something that feels real and rooted. Psychedelic medicine, long buried by stigma and silence, is re-emerging as a powerful ally in that search. What it offers is not a shortcut, but a mirror.
The Shadow: What We Bury
Most people come to therapy not because they are lost, but because something inside them is trying to come into the light. Often, it is the parts they have buried: the grief that never had words, the rage that had no permission, the need that was once shamed. Jung called this the Shadow, everything we repress, disown, or exile in order to stay safe, liked, in control.
Psychedelics have a way of dissolving the usual walls that keep the Shadow at bay. In a single session, someone may find themselves face-to-face with childhood pain, with ancestral trauma, with some truth they have long avoided. It can feel like too much. It can also be the beginning of something real.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” — Carl Jung
If the Shadow stays hidden, it does not disappear. It becomes projection, sabotage, or shame. When we meet it directly, with compassion and not judgment, it becomes part of the whole. The goal is not to eliminate the Shadow, but to be in relationship with it. To listen to what it carries. To welcome it back into the Self.
Meeting the Archetypes Within
In both Jungian psychology and psychedelic therapy, symbols are not just strange images. They are meaningful messengers from the unconscious. When people enter expanded states of consciousness, they often report encounters that feel archetypal in nature: the Wise Old Man, the Great Mother, tricksters, serpents, cosmic beings, or inner children frozen in time.
These figures are expressions of something deeper, something shared. Jung called this the collective unconscious, a symbolic layer of the psyche that belongs to all of us. In psychedelic states, people might meet these energies vividly. These experiences may not always make sense in linear terms, but they often hold deep emotional clarity.
Integration: The Work That Follows the Journey
Psychedelics can be beautiful. They can be brutal. They can break things open, let light in, and show us parts of ourselves we never knew were there. They do not do the work for us. They are not healing. They are the invitation to heal.
Jungian integration might look like interpreting a dream that arrived the night after a journey. It might mean noticing what symbol keeps returning in art, music, or conversation. It might mean asking, again and again: What part of me was trying to speak? This is the heart of individuation. It is not a single realization. It is a daily practice of reclaiming what was exiled, holding what was hidden, softening what was armored.
The AK Psychology Group Approach
At AK Psychology Group, we use a three-phase model that includes structured preparation, supported medicine sessions, and integration therapy to help turn insight into lasting change. All clinicians are trained in psychedelic-assisted therapy through Fluence and MAPS-informed programs. Our work is trauma-informed, relational, and grounded in research.
Clients are never rushed. We take time to build trust and clarity before considering any medicine session. The process includes detailed preparation and continued integration. We also offer our Psychedelic Workbook, a resource designed to support reflection and long-term growth.
Medicine sessions are held in private, calming spaces at our Union Square and Westchester offices. Preparation and integration therapy can also happen virtually.
To learn more, visit arikellner.com/psychedelic-assisted or email info@arikellner.com.
About the Author
Mark Hrastar is a licensed psychotherapist whose approach is grounded in Jungian theory and depth psychology. He also draws from Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and is a certified practitioner in Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Integration.
With over 20 years of experience, Mark helps individuals transcend the limitations they face by guiding them toward meaningful change through increased self-awareness, compassion, and acceptance. He works transparently, honestly, and with deep respect for each client’s process. Mark holds a Master of Arts and a Master of Education in Clinical and Counseling Psychology from Columbia University.
