Eliza Dushku Makes Massive Career Change

Former Hollywood actress Eliza Dushku is trading in red carpets to help others and their mental health. The actress, known for her roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series Angel, has a new calling. 

After undergoing intense trauma therapy infused with psychedelic methods, she says it changed her life, and she wants the same for others in need of a breakthrough. Her therapy came after she revealed to millions of followers that she’d been molested by Joel Kramer, one of Hollywood’s leading stunt coordinators, in a Facebook post. 

“I found myself feeling so wholly unwell,” she told Boston Magazine. “So painfully vulnerable, raw, exposed—terrified and suffering from what was diagnosed as PTSD.” 

Despite her anxiety and hesitations about the therapy, about an hour into her psychedelic session, the mushrooms and MDMA took the proper effect for her, and she felt a sense “of being reborn into the world in this safe and loving way,” she reflected. “I finally surrendered and began to feel a release and a sense of peace and security and calm whooshing through me.” And for the first time in six months, she slept peacefully she recalled.

Seven years later, she’s a successful certified psychedelic-assisted therapy professional. Soon, she will complete a master’s degree in counseling and clinical mental health. With the help of her husband, real estate developer Peter Palandjian, she’s funding research and clinical trials about the uses of psychedelics. 

Her goal is for others to thrive after their bad experiences. “I had the means to shift directions and choose a course in my life that focused on healing myself so that I could help heal others,” she said. “I would be remiss if I didn’t now share the transformation and the peace and the passion that I have. This is just absolutely so clearly my real calling, my real purpose.”