Education, Training, and License

Several years after receiving a liberal arts degree in creative writing, with a focus on music performance and legal studies, I attended the University of Michigan School of Social work to study clinical social work. While there I co-founded the Student Association for Psychedelic Studies (SAPS), an interdisciplinary student group focused on advocacy and education around psychedelic research and medicine, which continues to be an active member both on and off campus here in Ann Arbor. I received my MSW in 2019, after which I started in Private Practice and began training in Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration with Fluence later that year. I began training with Somatic Experiencing® International in 2022 and am pursuing the Practitioner certification.

I currently am in training with Somatic Experiencing® International pursuing the Practitioner certification (ongoing), and in training with Fluence pursuing certification in Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration (ongoing). I plan to continue to pursue additional training in trauma-informed, somatic-focused, psychedelic, and plant medicine modalities. This is an effort to continue to expand my knowledge and skills and to stay connected to the most up-to-date research and practices in clinical work.

Other recent training includes:

  • Putting Polyvagal Theory Into Practice, Online workshop, PESI April 2023

  • Introduction to Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, Polaris Insight Center, Virtual January 2023

  • Psilocybin Assisted Therapy for Clinical Trials, Fluence, Ann Arbor, MI August 2022

  • Motivational Interviewing (MI), 20 hour-intro, UHS Ann Arbor, MI June 2022

  • Emotional Freedom Techniques, Online workshop, Pesi June 2022

  • Intensive Trauma Treatment Course, PESI, virtual November 2020

  • Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, certificate workshop, PESI, Livonia, MI September 2019

  • Trauma Treatment, integrated trauma treatment certificate, PESI, Grand Rapids, MI July 2019

  • Mindfulness, clinical mindfulness certificate, PESI, Grand Rapids, MI June 2019

I am a licensed clinical social worker (LMSW) and receive supervision by Hillary Baldwin-Stellar LMSW, SEP

  • My License Number is: 6801115473

  • My Individual National Provider Identifier is: 1285283267

  • My Group National Provider Identifier is: 1750078655

Adam P. Whiteley, LMSW (He/They)

Personal

From an early age, I cared deeply about helping others and standing up for what was right. I was drawn to contemplative practice that bore witness to all beings' sacred gift of consciousness. Today, I continue to strive to learn on my own path of healing and consider myself a student of my own and others’ experiences as I am privileged to share sacred space with them. As a child, I often found comfort and catharsis in music, literature, film, creative writing, and nature. I was a performing musician for most of my life and pursued it as a career for several years after graduating college. I fell in love with the communion between plants and people working on a tranquil and serene organic vegetable farm and recognized the ancestral and interconnected power of healing that plants and nature possess. It was there that I began to be curious about exploring a new path in life and considered how I might contribute to the restoration of our own relationship with nature through our body, mind, and spirit. It was after attending a symposium on psychedelic therapy in graduate school that I came away forever changed and knew that these paths would converge for me personally and professionally. From there I decided to pursue a career focused on trauma, healing, and psychedelic integration.

Passion

Part of my own journey has been the ongoing recognition of the effects of trauma in my own life, family, and community and the intergenerational trauma that my ancestors were subjected to as well as perpetrators of. I walk through this world with an immense amount of privilege as a cis-gendered white male. Advocacy, social justice, and equity are staples of my own personal and professional beliefs and values, and I humbly welcome individuals of all backgrounds and identities. I work intentionally to continue to educate myself and my community on the ongoing effects of trauma that is inflicted upon and experienced by BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and individuals of marginalized and oppressed peoples. I truly believe there has never been a more important time to continue to advocate for the implementation of trauma-informed practice and policies and to support the inward journey of healing for the individual, and for our global community. I am passionate about the quiet power of mindfulness and meditation, embracing creativity and assisting in cultivating self-compassion. In partnering with clients, I hope to work together to create a safe and comfortable space to explore the individual’s own power for healing. My interests lie in Somatic Experiencing® for the healing of trauma stored in the body, the use of nature, gardening, and farming as a tool for self-reflection and mindfulness, and the therapeutic integration of experiences of all types of non-ordinary states of consciousness.