In this intimate and practical episode of PsychedelicIQ: Guidance for Guides, host Gv Freeman speaks with holistic therapist and psychedelic doula Benedicte Mannix. With over 30 years of global experience and a client-centered, non-directive approach, Benedicte shares her full psilocybin protocol—from screening and preparation to session design and integration. They discuss trauma, somatics, safety, ethics, and the power of agnostic, trust-centered facilitation. A must-listen for guides seeking grounded, ethical, and deeply personalized psychedelic healing. Subscribe to explore the diverse ways this work is practiced around the world.

[00:00] Introduction to Season 3’s shift toward practical facilitation

[01:15] Guest intro: Benedicte Mannix—holistic therapist with a global background

[02:39] Her intention: to teach through sharing real-life psychedelic experience

[03:42] Specializing in developmental and childhood trauma

[05:01] Why she prefers one-on-one retreats and how they differ from single sessions

[06:20] The role of a pre-session: building safety and informed choice

[08:39] Protocol insight: clients only pay for the pre-session initially to preserve autonomy

[09:00] Personal background: trauma, self-medication, 40 years of psychedelic use

[11:57] Studying Rogerian therapy and sophrology—blending somatic and client-centered tools

[13:33] Festival risk reduction work and non-intrusive sitting techniques

[14:19] Explanation of Rogerian therapy and systemic/transgenerational influences

[17:20] Therapy = helping people align body, mind, and soul

[19:15] Why she uses the term “psilocybin doula” over “guide” or “healer”

[20:33] Philosophy: clients are the experts of their own experience

[22:56] No one can predict how someone will respond to a psychedelic

[24:42] Choosing dosage: “Would you rather be overwhelmed or underwhelmed?”

[26:28] Holding space for high-dose requests, including risk-informed boundaries

[29:43] Why five grams is her usual starting point and the importance of mushroom potency

[31:37] Full process: self-disclosure, building trust, and asking “Why now?”

[34:34] Trauma as the root of many mental health challenges

[36:28] Guided meditation and dream-prep before dosing

[39:12] Revisiting intentions on the day of the experience

[42:06] No ceremony, no music—an agnostic, client-centered protocol

[44:31] Training others to “find their own way”

[45:02] Focus on self-connection over external stimulation

[48:16] Holding a womb-like space rooted in the safe mother archetype

[51:00] Non-directive model: letting the substance and the client lead

[52:56] The danger of re-dosing too early and trusting delayed reactions

[54:38] A powerful story: a doctor believing he was having a heart attack

[57:48] Holding safety even in intense psychological projections

[59:56] Reflections on nurses, safety, and psilocybin as a non-dangerous substance

[01:03:13] Integration begins: unfolding the dream and transforming it into life

[01:05:00] Why she asks clients to commit to three personal actions post-journey

[01:06:52] On traumatic memories and past lives—staying grounded, not interpretive

[01:09:30] Final reflections on ethics, humility, and self-trust in facilitation

[01:13:17] A client story: 17-year-old woman off her medications after one session

[01:15:35] Most important lesson: “I know nothing.”

[01:16:05] Advice to new facilitators: share your own experience, trust yourself, keep growing

[01:17:59] Offering a free session and support through her website: sophrodelic.com

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I am a positive and enthusiastic person, forever in search of truth and happiness. I believe in the immense potential of human beings and that every person is beautiful. In more than 30 years travelling the world I have met many people from different cultures and have learned a lot from them. I realised long ago that what makes people happy, more than anything else, is to be free. Everybody has the power to achieve whatever goals they can imagine and my role as a therapist is to help people know themselves to achieve them.

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