EPISODE 20 - Tobias Penno

“I did a full 'deep dive’ into medicine work”

Tobias Penno

In today’s podcast, I spoke with Tobias Penno. Tobias is a Registered Social Worker with the 'Australian Association of Social Workers', and he has more recently focussed his career to become a mental health practitioner. Tobias believes that individuals have the wisdom necessary to work through their current life challenges, and sees his role as a ‘co-researcher’ working collaboratively with his clients towards their growth and healing. Tobias weaves together elements from a variety of different modalities. One of his central aims is to help his clients ostensibly ‘re-author’ the stories they tell themselves - about themselves.

In today’s podcast We Discuss;

  • His background as a Social Worker and his initial experiences with Ayahuasca in the Sacred Valley,

  • Tobias previous podcasts: S2 EP1 ‘asking for a friend’ podcast, and EP21 “Men Sex and Pleasure Podcast",

  • The importance of good ‘psychedelic mentors’

  • How his relationship with psychedelics has become more cautious over time,

  • His exponential growth in his capacity to share his feelings of love with his friends and family post psychedelics,

  • The potential complexity of physically travelling whilst you are psychologically integrating (a.k.a. as the ‘exotic grind’)

  • Tobias’ personal ‘Dieta’ when he recapitulated his own personal solitary ‘self-made’ psychedelic retreat.

  • The hummingbird retreat in Peru, and the issue of ‘Shonky Shamans’

  • The importance of journaling and how Tobias believes integration is a balance of ‘being’ and ‘thinking’

  • Tobias' master’s literature review into Ayahuasca experiences,

  • The integral role that Tobias believes Social Workers have to play in the field of psychedelics- and how psychedelics might be able to help (in a more holistic sense) in the field of Child Protection,

  • How Psychedelics can help with front line workers experiencing ‘burn-out’

  • The Inner Socratic voice,

  • The elements of a healthy integrative process and the importance of having some conventional therapy running in parallel,

  • How Tobias thinks of Somatic work,

  • Pierre Bouchard’s notion that integration is ‘integrative’

  • the interplay between embodiment and psychedelics,

  • Heartschool,

  • The concept of ‘Self Energy’ in I.F.S.

  • Punk Therapy,

  • The capacity to use psychedelics for Truth and Reconciliation

Tobias Penno

Social Worker, Emotional Health Practitioner

Tobias Penno is an Emotional Health Practitioner & Social Worker with a background in Government Child Protection and Counselling. After years of professionally managing extreme child, family and relationship stress, Tobias has found his passion in healing Emotional Pain & Trauma through the body. Tobias is currently supporting clients two days per week in his private practice, and working on his PhD three days per week, keeping a finger on the pulse of practice and research. Tobias wrote an award-winning dissertation titled How Ayahuasca Offers Psychosocial Wellbeing and is now working on a research project investigating the role of the therapist in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Niall Campbell