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theradelic program with the Civilization Research Institute

Sunny Strasburg, LMFT 2025

 Introduction                                                       

We are living through a time marked by profound challenges and uncertainties. We stand at a collective threshold that calls for the emergence of new ways of making meaning. This moment invites us to heal inwardly within ourselves, relationally between one another, and beyond in broader systems. Sunny Strasburg, LMFT, has successfully led transformational retreats and provided psychotherapy for mission-driven individuals across sectors, facilitating deep healing, insight, and renewed purpose. Building on this strong foundation, we are expanding into a more scalable and effective program designed to support influential individuals from diverse fields in taking meaningful, coordinated action toward addressing global challenges.

This pilot program brings together cohorts for immersive retreats, providing learning opportunities on how to effectively take action for a better world, and offers long-term community support. The aim is to validate a scalable model that fosters personal transformation, relational coherence, and systemic engagement. By integrating deep inner work with measurable outcomes, participants are empowered to face the metacrisis, a convergence of global threats such as climate disruption, technological upheaval, and social fragmentation, with clarity, resilience, and purposeful action.

Many leaders in business, technology, finance, and the arts have the potential to shape solutions to the metacrisis; yet, they often operate under strain and systemic misalignment. The most effective leadership must come from individuals whose internal systems are unburdened, whose transformation has been supported, and who are embedded in aligned, collaborative teams. These communities, or “Islands of Coherence,” are intentionally cultivated to foster resilience, shared purpose, and value-driven action.

This work is not simply about increasing performance or productivity. It is about restoring coherence within individuals, between collaborators, and across the systems they influence. More than psychotherapy, this approach is designed for meeting the challenges of the metacrisis. It recognizes that individual healing is inseparable from collective and civilizational transformation, guiding participants from personal integration to systemic engagement.

To evaluate the program's impact, we are piloting a six-retreat model over an 18-month period. The retreats will incorporate Mrs Strasburg’s Within, Between, and Beyond support framework, comprising preparation, an immersive multi-day experience, integration support, education on the metacrisis, and guidance for meaningful action. Self-report measures will assess how the retreats contribute to lasting personal transformation and metacrisis-informed engagement.

The program will operate as a partnership under the Civilization Research Institute (CRI), whose mission is to support the transition to a mature global civilization. This partnership not only provides nonprofit infrastructure and tax-deductible funding pathways but also positions the program within a credible institution that is deeply engaged in addressing global systemic and technological risks. This alignment further connects the healing work with civilizational impact.

Within | Between | Beyond 

Sunny Strasburg has adapted Britt Wray’s Within, Between, and Beyond framework to scale the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of psychology for leadership. It offers a flexible, human-centered approach that meets leaders where they are, whether facing inner conflict, interpersonal dynamics, or systemic change. At the individual level, it helps leaders understand and heal their internal autobiographical system, especially protectors that arise in high-stakes environments, fostering resilience and clarity. Relationally, it reveals how parts interact between people, allowing leaders to navigate conflict and collaboration with compassion and a shared language. At the systems level, the framework guides leaders in translating personal transformation into cultural impact, offering a pathway to engage with the metacrisis with coherence, vision, and responsibility. More than a model for insight, it is a tool for collective evolution.

We meet that need at three levels:

  1. Within: Healing trauma, deepening self-awareness, and cultivating resilience in individuals through the Theradelic Retreats program.

  2. Between: Build authentic connections and encourage meaningful collaboration among individuals through the CRI partnership, the development of metacrisis education, and the supportive Islands of Coherence.

  3. Beyond: Scaling personal transformation into industry-wide and societal change in larger systems through established growing communities and education that produce quantitative and qualitative outcomes in effectiveness and accountability.

Through this process, individuals are supported in claiming their unique role in addressing the complex challenges facing humanity today.

Retreats and Program Structure (2026)

  • Produce and host six bespoke Theradelic retreats, each with 8 to 12 carefully selected participants from fields such as government, technology, finance, arts, and education.

  • Cohorts will receive:

    • Preparation

    • A multiday immersive retreat
      Within, Between, and Beyond education

    • Integration 

    • Islands of Coherence community activation support

Ongoing Support and Community

  • Provide long-term integration support to help participants sustain and apply personal transformation

  • Develop the Islands of Coherence community for post-retreat connection, shared language, and collective resilience

  • Support participants in translating personal growth into meaningful, ongoing engagement in their spheres of influence

Education and Activation

  • Offer a values-based framework through CRI that links personal development to larger systemic challenges

  • Educate participants on the metacrisis and provide structured support for long-term action and purpose alignment

About Sunny Strasburg and The Theradelic Approach  

Our approach is grounded in The Theradelic Approach, an evidence-based framework developed by Sunny Strasburg, LMFT, that integrates:

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS)

  • Archetypal Psychology

  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

  • Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and other emerging psychedelic treatments

Guiding leaders through safe, well-curated transformational experiences creates ripple effects that extend into industries, policy, and global movements.

Theradelic, LLC provides immersive retreats, individual therapy, and leadership development that empower participants to transform their inner and outer worlds. Our mission is to foster self-awareness, compassion, and systemic change by working with high-impact individuals across industries.

Sunny Strasburg, LMFT, a licensed psychotherapist, educator, speaker, and pioneering author, specializes in training clinicians and designing impactful experiences that inspire both creativity and compassion. She is the founder of The Theradelic Approach, equipping clinicians with trauma-informed psychedelic-assisted therapy methods. This unique model blends Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, archetypal psychology, trauma-informed care, and Strasburg's extensive clinical experience, as detailed in her debut book, The Theradelic Approach, which elevates therapeutic best practices.

Strasburg's work focuses on creating secure attachment and systemic coherence at multiple levels: within the individual's internal ecosystem (harmonizing what IFS calls "parts"), between individuals in close relationships, and within the larger external ecosystems of organizations and society. This foundational approach enables her to catalyze transformation among leaders across high-impact fields, including artificial intelligence, business, finance, investment, politics, and entertainment, fostering deeper empathy and connectivity. She actively collaborates with organizations to help leaders cultivate greater compassion, true confidence, and authentic connection. Dedicated to supporting positive change, Strasburg focuses on professionals working in AI ethics, climate change, and social justice.

Her expertise is widely recognized, featured by National Public Radio (NPR), SXSW, EMDRIA, Psychedelic Science, the IFS Conference, and The Summit.