The Inner Journey
The inner journey begins in childhood. Bonds of attachment are forged with our family in the furnace of childhood, determined by random birth lottery. These attachments lay down a model for all future attachments as well as the way we relate to ourselves, experiencing our feelings freely or covering them up. The latter can leave us anxious, afraid, and confused with symptoms of suffering that can manifest as depression, anger, panic attacks and more. The patterns are woven through our life like a quilt. A force dimly visible only at the edges of our awareness, impacting who and how we love, whether we face or avoid conflict and if we punish or forgive ourselves. These patterns are very much at the center of our successes and our failures, our healthy choices and our self-destructive habits. To create change in the present, the inner journey must first be taken. Together, in a safe and supportive but intensive manner we can do just that.
Examination of the problematic attachment patterns in ones current life can bring awareness of how avoiding painful feelings brings suffering. Only then can we release ourselves from the weight of these dysfunctional patterns and replace them with the ingredients of a joyful life: authenticity, self-compassion and confidence. The journey inward to face our pain is the only pathway that can return freedom to our lives.
At Sojourn Psychotherapy this inner journey is valued above all else. We take this to be our life’s work, and healing through facilitating this difficult but rewarding work, in whatever form that takes, is our mission. You will be challenged. You will be supported. You will ultimately be the vehicle of your own change. This is your chance to begin anew.
Ryan Shackelford, MD is the founder of Sojourn Psychotherapy. A Boise native, he returned home with his family in 2016 after completing medical school (MCW) and residency (UCSD) and fellowship (UCSF) and gaining much needed real world lived experiences. Applying the current standard of care treatments were not enough to help many of his patients so he went looking for lesser known modalities with higher rates of success and found Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy or ISTDP and later Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy or KAP. He completed a 3 year core training in ISTDP led by master therapist Patricia Coughlin, PhD and has done several years of advanced work with Steve Shapiro, PhD. He completed KAP training under Phil Wolfson, MD and recently MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy by the MAPS organization. He is a Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Washington and enjoys training psychiatrists locally through the UW Boise Psychiatry Residency where he has won several awards for his mentorship and lectures. His passions include wading into the psychological muck with people and being a co-pilot on their inner journey, making a mess of his kitchen and letting the dog clean up and mostly spending time with his family.
Nick Hovda, MD is also an Idaho native. He graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2018 and psychiatry residency (University of Washington, Idaho Track) in 2022. Fortunately, he had the amazing experience of training under the supervision of Dr. Ryan Shackelford during his final two years of residency. This included advanced training specifically in Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), where he witnessed multiple instances of large patient improvements with these modalities after first-line treatments were unsuccessful. Nick (Dr. Ryan Shackelford is a co-author) worked on a research project looking at the safety of ketamine for mental health conditions—now published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1h-mNbXYirDtd). Nick Hovda, MD continues to receive training in these modalities (he is enrolled in ISTDP core training led by Dr. Allan Abbass and Dr. Joel Town, routine supervision from Dr. Steve Shapiro, and ongoing KAP supervision with Dr. Alison Draisin at the AIMS Institute; he has also completed the MAPS MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD training program). He also serves as a University of Washington Courtesy Clinical Instructor in the Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Department where he has taught psychiatry residents about ISTDP and psychedelics in psychiatry.