Dear Parts

'A brave, deeply embodied account of trauma healing . . . reminding us that true medicine is not the substance itself, but the integration, relationship, and Self-leadership that follow . . . a meaningful contribution to the future of trauma-informed psychedelic care.'-RICK DOBLIN, founder and president of MAPSDr. Kim Taylor thought she’d grown up in a 'normal' family, where the absence of verbal affection and physical touch were all she knew. Raised on a diet of fast food and grease bombs, she spent her childhood overweight, learning early to deflect bullying with humor. Over time, chasing substantial goals-college, medical school, training for grueling athletic pursuits-ensured she had no opportunity to look within. Until a shocking diagnosis changed everything.Throwing herself into research, Kim discovered the source of her illness was likely rooted in emotional trauma. Though reluctant to seek out a therapist, she connected with a professional who introduced her to IFS-Internal Family Systems-therapy, a modality that addresses various 'parts' of our internal landscape. Through therapeutic sessions and the writing of letters, both with and without the assistance of plant medicines, communication with these parts opened avenues of self-understanding and healing Kim didn’t realize were possible-the core of which revealed years of unrealized emotional neglect. In an often raw and often painful journey of finding her way back to Self, Kim lays herself bare in this deeply honest and affecting memoir that stirringly utilizes songs as representational guideposts-and shows us what it looks like to courageously shift from five decades of living in a state of detachment within the head space, to embodiment with a sense of solace in the heart space, not in a prescriptive way, but in an inspiring and beautifully human way.