About Us
While psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is gaining recognition through clinical trials and regulated medical pathways, it represents only a small part of a much larger movement. Most people engaging with psilocybin, ayahuasca, MDMA, and other plant medicines are doing so outside formal clinical settings — increasing the need for psychological support, preparation, integration, and harm-reduction frameworks.
Ground Up Psychotherapy emerged in response to this growing need— offering preparation, integration, practitioner training, and therapeutic frameworks that help people work with these medicines safely, responsibly, and with deeper psychological support.
Where conventional models often understand psychedelic medicines through research and analysis, our approach places greater emphasis on direct experience — bringing the experiential orientation of traditional medicine practices into the clear relational container of psychotherapy.
Our Difference
Emergent
Emergent ~ arising within the broader whole of existence; an ecological interplay in which one’s experience emerges organically.
Inter- & Intra- Relational
Inter- and Intra- relational ~ a process of relating interpersonally and internally with alive aspects of ourselves and with others.
Felt
Felt ~ visceral and somatic information becomes infinitely more accessible and interpretable. The psychedelic experience is sensation lead.
Here and Now
Here and Now ~ present.
A deeper capacity to be in and with what is happening now, Presence also becomes an organising force of the unfolding experience.
Psychedelic medicine experiences move people out of analysis and into direct experience — deepening one’s capacity to become present, embodied, and felt-led.
From this place, people become more capable of relating — both internally to their own emotions, sensations, and histories, and externally to others.
This increased capacity for presence, embodiment, and relational awareness allows people to stay with what emerges rather than analysing, controlling, or escaping it. This is the essence of direct experience — and essential qualities when navigating psychedelic experiences safely and meaningfully.
Strengthening these capacities is central to our Psychedelic Informed Psychotherapy (PIP) training, preparation, and integration work. When preparation is guided in alignment with these qualities, individuals are better able to meet psychedelic experiences with steadiness, awareness, and relational presence.
Top-down and bottom-up processing
To simplify,
- top-down processing sounds like “research suggests 8 glasses of water a day are important”.
- Bottom-up processing sounds like “I feel thirsty, and I am going to get a glass of water”.
The latter is the expression of an internally lived and organismic regulated truth. These kinds of truths match the phenomenological truths which emerge in non-ordinary states of consciousness, and is why bottom-up processing is so important to support.
Robi Moore
A psychotherapist and psychedeic therapist with over 20 years’ experience in clinical private practice, and 25 years dedicated to personally exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness through yogic, meditative, psychedelic and plant medicine practices, Robi stands as a seasoned professional in utilising psychotherapy to integrate trans-personal/psychedelic experiences into meaningful change and healing.
With near 10000 clinical hours, working legally with clients integrating psychedelic experiences, Robi has acquired a deep understanding of the healing movements that these psychedelic medicines have on people.
Robi is sought after by psychologists, doctors, and psychiatrists seeking guidance in working with psychedelic preparation and integration through a relational, embodied, experiential and psychotherapeutic lense.
Dr Michael de Manincor
Michael is a registered psychologist and has been working in clinical practice for 25 years. He is also a senior yoga teacher, yoga therapist, adult trainer and educator, and holds a PhD in the area of mind-body integrative medicine.
Through academic, professional and personal interest, Michael continues to explore the world of non-ordinary states of consciousness, including psychedelic and plant medicines, and has supported many clients in the preparation and integration of their own explorations of psychedelic experiences. Michael brings a wealth of experience in adult training and education, as well clinical practice as a psychotherapist.