Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of addiction, opioid use (including fentanyl), complex trauma, intergenerational trauma, medical neglect, and the death of a child.

Dr. T and Truth Fairy welcome guest Liz Rezanson, a psychotherapist and social worker who works with the caregivers of children with disabilities, largely in her community of Vernon, BC. Liz believes in the healing power of connection and integrates mind-body attunement therapy, EMDR, EFT, hypnosis, and psychedelic-assisted therapy into her practice using a trauma-informed approach. Liz shares her deeply moving personal and professional journey through raising a daughter with catastrophic epilepsy and her oldest daughter Amy’s eventual struggle with opioid addiction, including fentanyl use, and repeated treatment attempts that led to a tragic end.   

Liz’s story highlights the need for a more compassionate and effective approach to addiction recovery, one that acknowledges the role of attachment, emotional regulation, and support. She, Truth, and Dr. T discuss how psychedelic-assisted therapy, specifically with medicines like ibogaine and MDMA, can offer a powerful opportunity ot desensitize past trauma and support emotional integration. Liz emphasizes that healing doesn’t happen through medicine alone, but through the presence of a trained and emotionally regulated facilitator and through a focus on coregulation and relational attunement. 

Dr. T and Truth Fairy agree with Liz in stating that her daughter Amy’s journey illustrates the high stakes and systemic failures in addiction treatment, particularly when treatment centres are ill-equipped to meet clients with compassion and flexibility. Liz emphasizes that healing developmental trauma requires practitioners to develop their own capacity for emotional presence through somatic awareness and self-regulation. Her story is a powerful call to reshape psychedelic integration therapy and addiction treatment by centring safety, right-brain healing, and the profound importance of human connection.

“Just that need to be so in tune or attuned to our clients, and especially in the psychedelic field. Yeah. You're doing sometimes long sits, and you have to be able to stay with it and be able to support, and I always say I'm not… I hate the term healer. I think I'm not a healer. I'm literally the guide in this process, whether it be we use something like eMDR or somatic or IFS, whatever, psychedelic, whatever we're using. I'm just the guide in the process. I'm just the person who shows you how to reconnect with yourself, right?” - Liz Rezanson
 

About Liz Rezanson, Psychotherapist, BCYC, MACP, CCC, RSW:

Liz has called Vernon home for the past 30 years, and for over two decades, she has had the privilege of working with individuals and families in that community. Her background includes more than 20 years supporting families, and 11 years working closely with children with diverse abilities and their caregivers.

At the heart of her work is a belief in the healing power of connection—both with ourselves and with those closest to us. Liz works alongside my clients with compassion, curiosity, and respect, helping them move toward greater authenticity, emotional safety, and meaningful change. True connection takes courage, vulnerability, and the right kind of support. She believes it’s her role to help create the space where that becomes possible.

Liz offers individual, couples, and group therapy in a safe and confidential setting. She draws on a range of approaches, with specialized training in: Mind-Body Attunement Therapy®, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples, Psychedelic Psychotherapy (studied over the past five years), Clinical Hypnosis

She takes an attachment-based, trauma-informed approach to therapy and works with clients navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, PTSD, grief, and chronic pain. In addition to psychotherapy, Liz offers parent coaching, health and wellness counselling, support for chronic pain management, and guided processing of trauma, loss, and life transitions.
 

In memory of 
Amy Elizabeth Rezanson
Dec 28,1997 to Nov 4, 2022

 

Contact Liz Rezanson:

LinkedIn: liz-rezanson-1b26ab67

Website: MindBodyCounselling.org

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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Allan Schore
• “Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self” by Allan N. Shore
• Darcia Narvaez, PhD: EvolvedNest.org
• Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Dr. Richard Schwartz

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Contact Punk Therapy:

Patreon: Patreon.com/PunkTherapy

Website: PunkTherapy.com

Email: [email protected]

 

Contact Truth Fairy: 

Email: [email protected]

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