MY JOURNEY

My path from psychiatry doctor to integrative medicine practitioner, psychedelic therapy guide, and group retreat facilitator began, as so many journeys do, with a personal crisis. Facing the physical, emotional and existential challenges of stage IV cancer radically shifted my understanding of health, healing, and the connection between body, mind, heart, soul and spirit. Through this experience, I came to see health not only as the absence of disease, but as a state of love and connection - to ourselves, to each other, and to something beyond.

Alongside receiving conventional treatment, I explored holistic healing modalities, including sacred plant medicines and psychedelics. These ancient tools offered a way of going beyond pathology - honouring the full spectrum of human experience and deepening into something far greater and more mysterious than I had ever been taught about in medical school.

My cancer diagnosis turned out to be both an initiation and an invitation - to listen deeply, to trust and surrender, and to step into a more expansive understanding of what it means to heal. Below I share more about my journey and the lessons and insights that continue to shape how I work and move through the world today.

THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION

In our fast-paced world, many of us unknowingly live in a state of chronic stress - disconnected from our bodies, caught in cycles of overwork, and conditioned to push through, no matter the cost. As a junior doctor, I was immersed in this pattern for years - depleted, running on empty, and distanced from my own deeper needs. It wasn’t until my diagnosis that I became curious about the ways emotional and spiritual unease can imprint upon the body, impacting our health in ways medicine often overlooks.

Chronic stress, with its relentless activation of the body's fight-or-flight response, fuels inflammation, disrupts immune function, and lays the foundation for disease. The science is now unequivocal: prolonged stress alters everything from gut health to gene expression, contributing to conditions ranging from autoimmune disorders to cancer. Yet so many of us continue to override our body's wisdom, pushing forward despite the whispers (or, eventually, the screams) calling us to slow down, to realign, to tend to what has been neglected.

Through my own experience, I’ve learned that healing begins when we learn to listen - to the signals of the body, to the emotions beneath the surface, and to the deeper callings of the soul. Healing is not about silencing symptoms; it is about restoring balance - not just physically, but also emotionally and spiritually.

A HOLISTIC APPROACH

When faced with the enormity of my stage IV diagnosis - a prognosis of just 12 months - I knew I needed to go beyond conventional medicine and access my body’s innate healing potential. I embraced a holistic approach - integrating conventional medical treatment with lifestyle changes that supported my immune system and overall wellbeing. I optimised my gut health, improved my sleep, adopted a plant-based diet, made time for rest, adventure, time in nature, and contemplative and spiritual practices.

Then, by the most miraculous turn of events, I was able to access cutting-edge immunotherapy just a few months after progressing to stage IV. At first, my disease continued to advance, but about four months after my first infusion, the tumours in my chest began to shrink. By six months, the tumours in my lung and adrenal gland were gone. And now, nine years later, my scans still show N.E.D. (no evidence of disease).

HEALING V. CURING

One of the most profound lessons I learned during this period was that curing and healing are not the same. Curing is often considered to be the resolution of physical symptoms eg. the eradication of disease. Healing, on the other hand, is a much deeper and more integrative process - one that restores balance and harmony to the whole person: mind, body, heart, soul and spirit. In this way, you can be cured without being healed, just as you can experience profound healing even in the absence of a cure.

TRAUMA-INFORMED HEALING

Through my personal experiences, training, and professional work, I’ve come to understand the huge impact trauma can have on our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. While traditional talk therapy can be helpful, it doesn’t always reach the deep, embodied layers where trauma is stored. Trauma imprints on the nervous system, disrupting the body’s natural ability to regulate, heal, and feel safe in the world.

Healing requires an approach that goes beyond the mind - one that acknowledges the body. Certain tools and modalities such as somatic therapy, EMDR, breathwork, trauma-release exercises (TRE), plant medicines, and psychedelics can help with accessing and processing trauma.

PLANT MEDICINES AND PSYCHEDELICS

Shortly after going into remission in 2016, whilst still grappling with the fear of recurrence and death, I stumbled upon a TED talk by the late Roland Griffiths titled ‘The science of psilocybin and its use to relieve suffering’. Inspired by his research, I attended a psilocybin retreat in the Netherlands - an experience that was incredibly healing and transformative. This first retreat opened my eyes to the extraordinary potential of psychedelics to facilitate emotional release, offer insights, interrupt unhelpful patterns, move us beyond feeling ‘stuck’, and reconnect us with something far greater than ourselves. My experience was deeply psychological and therapeutic, yet it was also ancestral, spiritual, and transcendent. I arrived at the retreat with a persistent sense of fear: of disease recurrence, of death, of the unknown, and I left with something entirely different: curiosity, peace, and acceptance. Rather than feeling like an isolated island, I felt part of something vast and interconnected - love, energy, and the great mystery of existence itself.

As a result of both my personal and professional experiences with these medicines, I truly believe that when used with reverence, in the right setting, and within a well-held container of preparation and integration, psychedelics can take us beyond symptom relief and into the heart of what is asking to be healed. These incredible ‘teachers’ can help illuminate the patterns and fears that keep us stuck, guiding us toward curiosity, awareness, connection, and wholeness.

As research continues to reveal their therapeutic potential for conditions such as depression, PTSD, anxiety, existential distress, and addiction, I remain hopeful that these medicines will become more widely accepted and accessible - both in clinical settings and in group retreat spaces.

CRISIS AS A CATALYST FOR TRANSFORMATION

There’s no doubt that adversity has a way of unraveling us - shaking the very foundations of what we thought was certain and awakening us to the illusion of control. And yet within this unraveling also lies an invitation. Research on post-traumatic growth suggests that a personal crisis can serve as an initiation - one that calls us to shed old stories and step into a life of greater authenticity, connection, and purpose.

But transformation is rarely linear. Like the caterpillar dissolving within the cocoon, it asks us to soften and surrender to the unknown, to trust that in the midst of uncertainty something new is slowly taking shape. When we allow ourselves to be reshaped by these experiences - rather than resisting them - we may find that on the other side of the dissolution is a kind of rebirth. We emerge, not as we once were, but as something more whole, more expansive, more aligned.

SURRENDER & SUPPORT

I want to acknowledge that whilst growth and transformation are part of life’s natural rhythm, reaching a crisis or crossroads can often feel incredibly lonely. I know that was certainly my experience for several years.

If this speaks to you right now, I hope that wherever you are in your own caterpillar-cocoon-butterfly journey, you allow yourself to be held and supported. Transformation is not meant to happen in isolation but in connection: with yourself, with others, and with something greater. Love is always present - in the kindness of others, the wisdom of nature, and the unseen forces that gently hold us during our darkest moments.

Love to you on the journey,

Lauren ♡