ABOUT
Christine Dennstedt, PhD, MA, RCC-ACS
I’m a narrative therapist, clinical supervisor, educator, and writer based in Whistler, British Columbia, with a practice that includes psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
For more than twenty-five years, I've been accompanying people through some of life's most significant transitions—moments when familiar ways of understanding ourselves no longer fit and something new is asking to emerge.
Throughout my career, I've worked alongside individuals, couples, and families navigating grief, disordered eating, substance use, relationship challenges, recovery, trauma, and profound experiences of change. Again and again, I've been struck by how often struggles that appear deeply personal are shaped by larger cultural stories about worth, success, gender, belonging, relationships, and identity.
These observations have led me to a central question that continues to guide my work:
How do we create enough space to notice the stories shaping our lives and choose how we want to participate in what comes next?
My work is grounded in narrative therapy, contemplative practice, and a deep respect for people's own wisdom and lived experience. Whether in therapy, teaching, writing, or psychedelic-assisted work, I am interested in the relationship between identity, agency, and change.
I completed my Master of Counselling in 2002 and my PhD in 2010. I teach and present internationally and am faculty at the Vancouver School for Narrative Therapy. I also work as part of a team offering psychedelic-assisted therapy in the Sea To Sky Corridor through Health Canada's Special Access Program.
My newsletter, After The Medicine explores the stories that shape our lives, the possibilities that emerge when we begin to see them, and what it takes to live differently. Through essays, reflections, and practices, I examine the possibilities that emerge when we pause, question inherited stories, and reconnect with what matters most.
Whether through therapy, teaching, writing, or conversation, my hope is to create spaces where people can hear themselves more clearly and participate more fully in their own lives.
Subscribe to After the Medicine:
Stay curious with me. Join a community of therapists, seekers, and curious humans making space to notice what gets lost in the rush—and what becomes possible when we find our way back.
Selected Publications & Research
Dennstedt, C. (2025).
Psychedelic-assisted therapy from a narrative therapy perspective: A map for practitioners.
International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, Issue 2, 32–48.
Dennstedt, C. (2010).
The interplay of substance misuse and disordered eating practices in the lives of young women.
Dulwich Centre Publications, Issue 3.
Dennstedt, C. (2010).
The interplay of substance misuse and disordered eating practices in the lives of young women: Implications for narrative therapeutic practice.
Doctoral dissertation, Tilburg University, the Netherlands.
Dennstedt, C., & Grieves, L. (2004). Unravelling substance misuse stories, re-authoring and witnessing practices. In S. Madigan (Ed.), Therapeutic conversations 5: Therapy from the outside in (pp. 55–72). Yaletown Family Therapy.
Specialized Training in Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy
TheraPsil — Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy Training
January 10–14, 2022
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) — MDMA-Assisted Therapy Training Program
Fall 2021
Stacia Butterfield — Holotropic Breathwork Experiential Workshop
October 16–17, 2021
Experiential workshop undertaken in conjunction with MAPS MDMA-assisted therapy training.
Roots to Thrive — Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Training Program
February 2020 | Cohort 2
