Episode summary
The Healthy Advisor: Carolyn Armitage on Childhood Trauma and Psilocybin Therapy
Summary
Carolyn Armitage described how childhood sexual abuse shaped her nervous system, relationships, and sense of safety for decades, even as she built a long career in wealth management. She said the breaking point came after her mother’s funeral, when a family lunch triggered what she later learned was a three-hour flooding episode, convincing her it was time to pursue deeper healing.
Armitage explained that talk therapy helped her understand the problem, but not fully resolve it, because the trauma was embedded in her central nervous system. She turned to somatic therapy and then psilocybin after deciding she did not want antidepressants and wanted a more natural approach. During a guided six-hour journey, she said she reached the room where the abuse had happened, protected her younger self, and came away feeling calm, safe, and able to forgive her parents.
She also discussed producing the documentary Journeys to educate people about psychedelic-assisted therapy, including its use for trauma, depression, end-of-life anxiety, and veterans with PTSD. Armitage said the film is meant to explain the science, ethics, and practice around psilocybin and to show that healing options exist for people who have not found relief elsewhere.
Key takeaways
- Armitage said her trauma produced a lifelong fight-or-flight state, fear-based relationships, and a belief that she could only rely on herself.
- She said the crisis after her mother’s burial led her to recognize that she needed active healing, not just compartmentalization.
- Armitage chose psilocybin over antidepressants because she wanted a natural option and believed mushrooms would do the least harm.
- She said the guided six-hour psilocybin journey let her reimprint the memory of abuse by protecting her younger self in the scene.
- Armitage said Journeys was made to educate viewers on the ethics and uses of psychedelic therapy, including trauma, PTSD, and end-of-life care.
Notable quotes
“the memories did haunt me, including images, and that was sometimes even daily”
“It was a whole body crying uncontrollable experience which I later learned is called flooding”
“your nervous system doesn't let you. The trauma is a part of me”
“I really did a ton of research on alternatives and I read as many transformational stories like mine that I could”
“it was like the best control altdelete experience you could have to kind of reset yourself”
How the episode opens
Welcome to the Healthy Advisor, a podcast from Wealth Management focused on advisors, personal well-being, and healing. I'm Diana Britain, executive editor of Wealth Management. And in this podcast, we explore some of the struggles and personal development issues facing advisers and financial services professionals and how to get to a place of healing for mind, body, and spirit.
Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Healthy Advisor podcast and thanks for joining us. As you may know, this is the podcast focused on financial advisor health and well-being and today's guest definitely counts on that score. Her name is Carolyn Armitage.
She's the founder and CEO of Wealth Management Consulting and RA Circle. Carolyn, welcome and thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Diana, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.
So, a lot of folks in the industry know Carolyn. She's had an impressive career in the wealth management industry. Prior to starting her own consulting business, she served as head of Thrivant Advisor Network, the firm's independent channel for about two years.
And prior to that, Carolyn served as a managing director at investment bank and RA consulting firm Echelon Partners. She's also the former head of large enterprise business management consulting at LPL. Just had a great career.
And Carolyn recently produced a feature documentary called Journeys, an educational film about the power of psychedelic therapy and the eth ethics behind the use of psilocybin, a natural psychedelic compound found in over 200 species of mushrooms for healing purposes. And the film was inspired by her own personal experience with psilocybin to find healing from her childhood trauma. And so for many years, Carolyn kind of kept that trauma to herself while putting on this mask working in these senior corporate roles in the industry.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- childhood trauma
- somatic therapy
- psilocybin-assisted therapy
- emotional healing
- psychedelic ethics
Companies and tickers mentioned
- VOYA
- LPLA
- Wealth Management Consulting
- RIA Circle
- HD Vest
- Avantax
- ING Advisors Network
- Voya Financial
- Cetera Group
- Thrivent Advisor Network
- LPL Financial
- ECHELON Partners
Watch the episode
Watch “The Healthy Advisor: Carolyn Armitage on Childhood Trauma and Psilocybin Therapy” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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