How I Got Into Psychedelics and Psilocybin Facilitation
Hi, I’m Cate Ritter, a Transformational Coach and Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator in Bend, Oregon. This is the story of how psychedelics—especially psilocybin mushrooms—helped me heal, reclaim joy, and ultimately become a legal magic mushroom guide within Oregon’s regulated psilocybin program.
Disclaimer: This article is for education and storytelling only and is not medical advice or a promise of results. Your journey will always be uniquely your own.
If you’d like the longer version of my health and coaching story, you can also read Healing Journey of a Wellness Coach on my coaching site.
From Performance and Burnout to Seeking Deeper Healing
Cate with her coaches accepting her first-place golf trophy at age 8.
I grew up in a small lake town in the mountains of Northern California, near Mt. Shasta, and from age 8 to 18 I competed in over 300 junior golf tournaments, eventually earning 99 trophies and a college golf scholarship. On the outside, I looked successful. On the inside, I was a highly sensitive, empathic kid running on pressure, perfectionism, and “never enough.”
Even after winning a Division One tournament and achieving the goals I’d chased for years, my body and nervous system began to crash. Later, mold illness and a long list of diagnoses pushed me through what felt like every possible route in conventional, holistic, and functional medicine. I was doing all the “right” wellness things, yet I still felt depleted, stuck, and disconnected from myself.
Discovering the Subconscious and Inner Healing Intelligence
A turning point came when I learned how much of life is driven by the subconscious mind. Realizing that my old programming—overworking, self-criticism, tying worth to achievement—was still running the show, helped me understand why surface-level fixes weren’t enough.
I dove into brain rewiring and energy psychology tools, eventually training in PSYCH‑K. Working with my subconscious was the most effective thing I had found up to that point. I watched long-standing patterns begin to soften and my nervous system slowly come out of survival mode. This work showed me what I now call the inner healing intelligence—a wise, innate part of each of us that knows how to heal when given the right support. And realizing that real transformation happens beneath the conscious mind became the bridge that eventually led me to psychedelics.
The Call to Plant Medicine
2019 — Cate in Shaman Initiation Training in the remote jungle outside of Iquitos, Peru
The next calling came from the plant medicine ayahuasca. Even just watching plant medicine documentaries woke up a part of my soul. I felt unmistakably called to the Amazon and to learning from indigenous healers and plants.
In 2018, I traveled to the jungle outside Iquitos, Peru for an intensive two-week ayahuasca retreat and, in 2019, I completed a two‑month Shaman Initiation Training with Shipibo curanderos. Through more than forty ayahuasca ceremonies, participating in and volunteering at retreats, and completing an intensive training program, I gained a front-row view of both the profound potential of this work and the serious risks of poorly held ceremonial spaces.
I experienced mystical insight, profound connection, and a level of inner work that confirmed what I already sensed: I was meant to help others experience deep, transformational change. The jungle made that calling undeniable.
What the Jungle Taught Me About Safety and Integrity
Alongside the beauty, the jungle showed me a lot about what not to do. I saw firsthand how fragile people are in altered states and how damaging it can be when safety and integrity are not the priority. There were shaky boundaries, risky conditions, minimal screening, and very little integration support, with medical scares, psychological breaks, and ceremonies scheduled so frequently that people had no time to process what was happening.
As an empath, I felt everything intensely. I often called for help during ceremonies and no one came, which triggered old abandonment wounds and made the container feel anything but safe. Living in the slums and jungle added its own layers of stress—parasites, poisonous critters, and a general sense of volatility.
That period became my “badass boot camp.” It taught me how crucial it is to have well‑held, ethical containers for psychedelic work—spaces where people are not left alone, where facilitators are doing their own inner work, and where your vulnerability is honored, not exploited. When I was invited to take a job as an Ayahuasca Facilitator, I declined. I wanted to help people heal in a way that felt gentler, safer, more joyful, and sustainable.
Why Psilocybin Became My Medicine
Bend Oregon’s Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator, Cate Ritter with Prism Bend
After I returned home, mushrooms started whispering into my life—through books, podcasts, research, and conversations. I felt called to psilocybin in a different way: gentler, earthier, more grounded. Where ayahuasca had cracked me open, I sensed that mushrooms might help heal the cracks.
My first licensed psilocybin journey—what I now call my “Joy Journey”—was shorter and kinder to my body, yet more deeply restorative than those marathon jungle nights. In just a few hours, I released a mountain of grief and connected with an ocean of joy. I felt like I was finally meeting my true, authentic self: softer, more spacious, and genuinely at peace.
Psilocybin helped me slow down, stress less, and feel safe in my own body. It supported me in processing trauma, softening perfectionism, and expanding self‑love, creativity, and compassion. It also strengthened my intuition and trust in life’s flow. While ayahuasca changed my life, it was psilocybin that healed much of the trauma I picked up along the way and brought my light fully back online.
Why I Prefer Psilocybin For My Work
Both ayahuasca and psilocybin have been powerful teachers, but psilocybin is the medicine I choose to work with professionally. A few reasons why:
Gentler on the body and nervous system: Journeys are shorter, the “take-off” is often smoother, and integration tends to feel more manageable for many people.
Legal and structured: In Oregon’s regulated framework, psilocybin services include preparation, a professionally facilitated journey, and integration support. That structure offers the safety and accountability I once longed for in the jungle.
Integration over intensity: Instead of back-to-back high-dose ceremonies, people can take one journey at a time, then integrate lessons at their own pace. Healing does not have to be brutal to be real. Joy can be medicine, too.
For my path and the clients I serve, psilocybin offers a grounded, loving, and effective way to work with the subconscious, release old stories, and reconnect with inner wisdom.
👉 Psilocybin vs. Ayahuasca: How to Choose Your Psychedelic Experience
From Transformational Wellness Coach to Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator
Cate Ritter, Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator with Prism Bend in Bend, Oregon
Long before I sat with psilocybin, my professional life revolved around helping people feel better. I’ve spent nearly two decades as a Transformational Wellness Coach, with training in holistic and functional nutrition, yoga, heart‑brain coherence, subconscious modalities like PSYCH‑K, and sound therapy tools such as Biofield Tuning.
Over time, I realized that my role isn’t to “fix” anyone. My work is to help people reconnect with their inner healing intelligence by clearing what blocks that connection—old beliefs, stuck emotions, and unprocessed experiences—and by creating safe and sacred containers for real change.
When Oregon opened a legal pathway for psilocybin services, it felt like the missing piece. I completed the required training, became licensed as a Psilocybin Facilitator, and created Prism Bend to offer this work with the safety and integrity I wished I had in my early psychedelic experiences.
My Values as a Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator
Everything on my path—golf burnout, chronic illness, jungle initiations, subconscious work, sound therapy, and psilocybin—shapes the way I support clients. A few core values guide my work:
Safety and integrity: Careful screening, clear boundaries, informed consent, and a commitment to doing my inner work come first.
Client empowerment: You’re never passive in this process. Your inner healing intelligence leads; my role is to support and guide you within our ceremonial container.
Gentle, structured support: Preparation, ceremony, and integration are all equally important. I encourage clients to move at a pace that honors their nervous system, not a culture of intensity or spiritual bypassing.
Respect for the medicines and lineages: While I work exclusively with legal psilocybin in Oregon, I hold deep respect for the indigenous lineages and master plants that helped shape my path. I don’t see myself as a healer or shaman; I’m a guide walking alongside you.
I specialize in working with empaths, sensitive souls, and anyone navigating patterns like achievement‑driven worth, anxiety, depression, perfectionism, or old abandonment wounds. Together, we use psilocybin, subconscious work, and sound therapy to gently clear what no longer serves and integrate what you want to radiate more of.
Why I Share This Story
Sharing all of this is vulnerable, but in a field like psychedelics, who you sit with matters as much as anything else. You deserve to know what has shaped your facilitator, what they’ve learned from both light and shadow, and how they think about safety, power, and responsibility in altered states.
My journey has taught me that healing is less about finding the “perfect” medicine and more about how the space is held, how gently the work is paced, and how deeply we’re willing to meet ourselves. Ayahuasca cracked me open; psilocybin helped heal the cracks. Both led me back to my heart and to a life and practice built around joy, compassion, and integrity.
If you feel called to explore legal psilocybin work in Oregon and resonate with my approach, schedule a consultation below. The journey will always be yours—but you don’t have to walk it alone.
Much Love,
CATE RITTER
Transformational Coach & Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator (# FL-AF7C7216)