SUPPORT FOR AMI
I have voted for Coonertys over the years and they have done good work in this city and county. Now it is time for a change. Ami Chen Mills brings the kind of transparency, communication skills, and coalition building that we need to balance the polarization that has become the norm in politics today. Whether it be the challenges of unhoused citizens, rapid growth, the influence of technology creeping into our lives or creating safer infrastructure on our city streets, Ami has a proven history of working with others to make positive changes in Santa Cruz.
What most impresses me about Ami is her ability to listen. I believe Ami will help Santa Cruz politics by bringing her communication skills to allow her fellow council members and people with just causes in our community together to co-create strategies to keep Santa Cruz a place where each citizen has a voice in protecting our sanctuary city from outside real estate money and the State of California’s control. Let’s come together to protect our autonomy by electing a mayor who has been doing the work and has developed the skills to build community.
Thomas Witz | Santa Cruz
DR. FEELGOOD
Thank you for furthering the informed and intelligent conversations surrounding the healing potential for psychedelics. Richard Stockton’s recent and past articles covering some of the developments can serve to change how these medicines are understood. Mental health treatment is in the midst of a revolution thanks to the “rediscovery” and increasing availability of a class of medicines known as psychedelics.
Decades from now, we will undoubtedly look back on the criminalization of these medicines as one of the biggest mistakes in the history of mental health.
The article says the science isn’t clear on whether a guide is necessary. Fair: no one has tested a guided journey against an unguided one. Across psychotherapy, the authentic relationship to the therapist is among the best predictors of outcome, and early psychedelic research points in the same direction.
In one psilocybin trial, the stronger the bond between the participant and the facilitator, the lower the depression scores up to a year later (Levin et al.,2024). Attachment researchers now propose that the corrective relational experience with a guide may be a predictive part of how these medicines work and early data show attachment anxiety dropping after psilocybin therapy.
The evidence is early, but every trial that shows these medicines work wrapped them in relational support. Guidance isn’t a nice extra. It’s part of what was studied.
I look forward to more articles and watching this movement grow and change our perceptions of these important medicines.
Elene Johas Teener | LCSW, Certified EFT, Oregon Licensure for Psilocybin Facilitation, Therapist Supervisor and Trainer
THE SNAKE
This seems an opportune time to remind my Republican friends of President Trump’s favorite poem.
It’s about a woman who found a half-frozen snake and took it home to warm it up and save its life. Here’s an excerpt:
The Snake, by Oscar Brown Jr.:
“Take me in, tender woman,” sighed the snake.
“I saved you,” cried the woman
“And you’ve bitten me, but why?
You know your bite is poisonous
And now I’m going to die.”
“Oh shut up, silly woman,” said the reptile with a grin.
“You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.”
Don Eggleston | Aptos
