Inspiring Conversations with Samantha Dino of Samantha Seaton, Marriage and Family Therapist INC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Dino.

Hi Samantha, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Hi, I’m Sam. I became a psychotherapist over a decade ago. I was a patient first, a former dancer and lost soul that credits therapy for saving my ass and my life. I went back to school as a single mom and got my degree and license and finally found the career I was meant for. I specialized in Eating Disorders and addiction recovery, working in treatment centers, individual psychotherapy offices and group practices. After a while my practice progressed to Couples work and I became eager to serve people in the ways they were suffering most, relationships. It was working, I loved the trainings, loved the progress. I felt I had found IT!

Then the pandemic hit, and my own life and marriage imploded. I had unexpected pregnancies and brutal miscarriages in 2020, and the trauma of it all leveled us. ER visits masked and completely alone, and more trauma than zoom therapy sessions could keep up with. I’ll spare you the gory detail, but think worst fears coming true. Betrayals, unthinkable grief, and the global dread that was surrounding us all. It was early enough in the pandemic that i still had some grit in me. I persevered and my husband and I were lucky enough to welcome a healthy and absolute kick ass kiddo into the world at the tail end of 2021. He was joy and light and a dream come true but my inner world was a dark traumatized warzone.

I thought we had seen the worst of it, but we can all chuckle at the naiveté of that. Post partum anxiety took our whatever shreds of my resiliency that remained. I plummeted. My husband was so far away I would dream he had gone missing. And i could hardly get through a day without passing suicidal thoughts, and fantasizing about the end of day wine and escape of sleep. All the while the therapist inside of me knowing we were in trouble. I got some good help, some good meds, and although I kept trying I got zoom therapist after zoom therapist that just never quenched my thirst for satisfactory help, even though they surely keep me afloat and alive.

My practice was successful, I think my first hand knowledge of the hellscape that can be mental illness made me truly understand and hopefully helpful to those who also struggled. And I had been at it for over 20 years at this point so had something to offer folks, even in my limping along. In an attempt to fight for true peace and joy again in my life I kept at it to find a new therapist and the universe delivered. She was in person, she understood me, and she introduced me Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. I was willing, and it was life changing.

We met for hours and i took the meds as prescribed and we processed and wept and touched pain so deep I didn’t think Id ever be free from it. Life continued to beat me over the head. Marriage problems continued, some worsened in indescribably brutal ways, some remained stagnated for an unbearably long time, But my therapist and I used it all. Some sessions were spiritual, some childhood trauma resolving, some simple and clarifying, but all them sparked a fire back in me that had been extinguished years ago. My joy for life returned, my creativity grew back, my spirituality was alive again and my hope ( although shellshocked and timid) was at least identifiable again. I was sober, I felt good about myself in ways that had never before felt possible. I was not just renewed, I felt had a second chance at at life, and a way to feel that had never seemed possible.

So of course as any good therapist does I immediately became certified myself to do this work. The passion for psychedelic medicine gave me a new found compass for my career and life. I am now an individual and couples Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy provider. I partner with Journey Clinical, and have a practice here in Orange County.

As I began my work with clients and continued my own sessions I realized the need for some kind of way to track and share these powerful sessions. They are often visually stunning and hard to describe, musically provocative and inspirational. Full of thoughts, insights and life changing messages. But tracking this with a pen and paper journal is time consuming and frustrating and online journaling apps felt immature in their understanding of what it means to journal about a psychedelic experience. So I felt inspired to create one. Which bring us present. I am currently working on creating and app to do just this. Iris. Named after a minor god in Greek Mythology, Iris was responsible for the transmission of information from the gods to humans. Similar to Hermes in many ways, Iris was believed to travel on a rainbow and bring the water of life to mortals. Her name captured the essence of what we all seek when we hit our bottoms, and find this work. Some connection to inspiration again. Our app Iris is AI integrated to give you the best chance at creating and capturing the abstract, inspired images your mind created during sessions. Iris is also equipped with built in Spotify integration to play the music from your sessions that made an impact. Iris allows you to upload images, poetry, screenshots from your phone, draw freehand, type full entries, and even collaborate with your therapist. Iris has a therapist portal that therapists can view their clients shared boards, and collaborate with comments and give feedback. Iris is in development now and we hope to bring it live before the end of the year. My KAP journey continues, and I marvel at how we just never know where life will take us. Glad i help on for the ride, and i cant wait to share this app and be of service in this way to this community and hopefully across the world.

Thanks so much for reading and even if you don’t think my story will be of interest to others i so appreciate the space here to share what for me has been an invitation back to my life, and a renewed hope that a beautiful relationship with myself and my future could be possible, no matter what happens. I am a mom of 4 boys, a wife, a patient, a helper and a fellow traveller, relentless in my fight for everyday inspiration and wellbeing. Thanks again!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am a licensed marriage and family therapist in Orange County. I have a small thriving private practice where I see a mix of individuals, couples and families. I specialize in eating disorders and addiction recovery, treatment resistant depression, trauma recovery, couples and relationship work, and ketamine assisted psychotherapy. I am known for being refreshingly candid, engaged and authentic. My work is eclectic and deeply relational. I truly love what i do and who I work for. My training has been solid in old school psychodynamic and depth psychotherapy. For my couples work, I use emotionally, focused therapy and attachment theory and I have significant training in all of these areas. I recently become certified in ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) and I am in the process of creating an AI and Spotify integrated app to assist with the capturing, integration, and remembering process inherent in psychedelic psychotherapy to allow for greater collaboration and integration of psychedelic and Ketamine work. I offer in person and virtual sessions, consultation to parents and other therapists. And I absolutely love what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.samseatondino.com

Image Credits
Jason Dino Photography