My Psychedelic Roots

Alycia Fridkin is an equity and anti-racism health policy activist who has been working in public health and harm reduction settings for over two decades. As a queer Jewish White settler living in Vancouver, BC on the unceded homelands of the Musqueam and Squamish Peoples, she currently works for the Provincial Health Services Authority in Indigenous Health as a collaborative practice and policy lead. As we hear a bit about in our conversation together, Alycia is also the founder of Jewish Third Space, a retreat based initiative that integrates Jewish wisdom with transformative embodied practices— a reflection of the way she has reclaimed and blended her spiritual and cultural roots with her psychedelic unfolding. In our conversation together, we talk about her chaotic childhood experiences, and the roles that both fear and magic played in making sense of herself and the world around her. We talk about her desire to ‘get high’ in her teenaged years, and explore two formative experiences—one with LSD and one with MDMA-- that both reflect the unique mix of fear and magic that Alycia experienced in childhood in many ways.

Shownotes

• Jewish Third Space: https://jewishthirdspace.net/
• The Spaces Between: https://www.thespacesinbetween.net/
• Alycia’s JewWitch tarot reader website: https://www.azrasilverstein.com/

Buy us a coffee and support the podcast: https://ko-fi.com/mypsychedelicroots

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Trigger Warning: discussions of suicidality

Kyle Buller is a somatic psychotherapist, breathwork facilitator, and educator recognized for his leadership in the psychedelic field. He is the Co-Founder, along with Joe Moore, of Psychedelics Today and the Co-Founder and Director of Vital Psychedelic Training, a professional program in Integrative Psychedelic Studies. Kyle also offers breathwork coaching and integration support for individuals navigating non-ordinary states through a grounded, relational, and body-based approach through his platform, SettingSun Wellness. As we hear in our conversation together, all of these contributions and accomplishments are deeply connected to his psychedelic roots in childhood. We talk about some of his mystical experiences as a child, and how his curiosity led him to connect deeply to himself and the world around him. Then, after a near-death experience in his teens and subsequent deep depression and destabilization, we hear about his first and existentially corrective psilocybin journey, after which his life's path turned toward understanding the nature of consciousness while also learning to stay grounded and connected to his body and day to day life.

A reminder that this episode contains explicit discussion of suicidal thoughts. This warning is meant to empower you with the knowledge you need to make healthy decisions about how and if you should consume this podcast content. We invite you to practice self-care and do what feels right for you. And if you need support, please connect with someone who can help: family and friends, professionals, or a crisis line. There are both Canadian and international recommendations in the show notes below. You are not alone-- not in your pain, nor in your healing.

Shownotes

Psychedelics Today: https://www.psychedelicstoday.com/

Vital Psychedelic Training: https://www.vitalpsychedelictraining.com/

Setting Sun Wellness: https://www.settingsunwellness.com/

Below are some Canadian and international mental health resources to access if you are in distress or need support:

• Crisis Services Canada: https://988.ca/
• Befrienders Worldwide (crisis lines serving 32 countries): https://befrienders.org/
• International Directory of Mental Health Helplines: https://www.helpguide.org/find-help.htm
• The Fireside Project (US-only psychedelic-specific support): https://firesideproject.org/
• Psychology Today (to find a therapist in North America): https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapists

Buy me a coffee and support the podcast: https://ko-fi.com/mypsychedelicroots

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Rielle Capler is the Executive Director for the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies Canada (MAPS Canada), and has a long history of engaging in research and policy spaces, providing consultations, testimony, and submissions on both cannabis and psychedelics to a variety of Canada’s federal, provincial and municipal governments and other nations. Before leading MAPS Canada, Rielle applied her Masters in Health Administration to the first medical cannabis dispensary in Canada, and worked in the cannabis field for over 20 years, co-founding and leading several nonprofits in the cannabis space-- eventually receiving the Governor General of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal acknowledging her contribution to Canadian society through her work. She went on to earn a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of British Columbia, and after her postdoc, also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. In our conversation, we talk about the awe and curiosity she experienced as a child, and the reverence she had for ritual at a young age. We explore her mostly-theoretical interest in psychedelics in her teenaged years, before happening into her first experience with an unexpectedly robust psilocybin mushroom tea one summer before starting university. We talk about what she has learned from her experiences over the years, and the importance of set and setting for moving in these spaces with intention, agency and humility.

Shownotes

MAPS Canada: https://www.mapscanada.org/

Rielle's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rielle-capler-mha-phd-21920718/

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Jamie Steel is an award-winning educator, music presenter, artist manager and community builder based in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Jamie has a background in Environmental Studies and Geography, and joined the local Huntsman Marine Science Centre in 1986 as Director of Education Programs. There, he developed experiential programs for students and teachers and created marine education resources used in Canada and internationally. His contributions were recognized with a New Brunswick Merit Award for environmental education and the Gulf of Maine Council’s inaugural Visionary Award. Jamie later carried that love of experiential learning into the arts, and has helped to build a vibrant arts community in St. Andrews and the broader region. He co-founded Paddlefest and founded the Winter Warmer Festival, both of which bring musicians and audiences together through intimate, community-rooted experiences. Named Music Industry Professional of the Year by Music·Musique NB in 2010, Jamie also received the East Coast Music Association’s Industry Builder Award in 2021. Across science, education and music, his work reflects his passion for bringing people together through creativity, community and shared experience—all of which is shared in our conversation together. In it, we talk about Jamie’s grounded childhood, which helped establish a solid base for his sense of exploration. We talk about how this admiration for explorers is connected to his psychedelic roots, the seed of which began on a train between Vancouver and Edmonton, and how those roots have supported his life’s many unfoldings and way of seeing the world—whether in a non-ordinary state of consciousness or not.

Shownotes

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Thessaly Storm Lerner aka Rainbow Valentine is a multi-media artist, storyteller and accidental counterculture historian. Along with producing narrative podcasts about hippie heroes with the “Psychedelic Women” podcast, Lerner shares her talents as a musical comedian known as The Ukulady, a voiceover actress best known for the cult videogames “Silent Hill” and “The Sims 2”, as well as a writer, producer, director, improviser, creator, and promoter of “the Downfall of Evil”. Thessaly adopted her childhood moniker Rainbow Valentine as her podcast alias while also making the popular podcast “Disorganized Crime: Smuggler’s Daughter” about her childhood growing up with pot-smuggling counterculture parents, which we talk about a bit in our conversation together. In tracing Thessaly’s psychedelic roots, we also explore the relativity of understanding oneself in childhood, we talk about the role magic played and continues to play in her life’s unfolding, and the role of safety and home in her first – and subsequent—psychedelic experiences.

Shownotes

Rainbow Valentine's website: https://www.rainbowvalentine.com/

Psychedelic Women podcast: https://psychedelicwomenstories.com/

Disorganized Crime podcast: https://www.rainbowvalentine.com/disorganized_crime.html

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Ona Praderas is an art therapy student (Toronto Art Therapy Institute), embodiment wellness coach, clinic administrator at FlowState Therapy, facilitator at ACER Integration, and board member of the Psychedelic Puppet Show. Previously, she co-led Synthesis Retreats, guiding participants through transformative experiences. Ona holds safe spaces for people to reclaim their bodies, pleasure, and power, and to reconnect with their creativity and inner wisdom. With over a decade of experience integrating movement, breath, creativity, and Gestalt Therapy–Informed Practices into the preparation, facilitation, and integration of psychedelic experiences, she supports personal growth, self-awareness, and empowerment, and proudly serves LGBTQ+ communities and non-traditional relationships. In our conversation, Ona describes her early childhood moving from Spain to Mexico, and finding comfort in the different languages and cultures in which she was immersed. She talks about how art and creativity helped her feel grounded and connected throughout her unfolding, and after some recreational experiences, she walks us through her first supported experience with friends at a retreat in Oaxaca Mexico. Ona also shares about the role that art and expression can play in psychedelic meaning making, and her own experiences of healing and transformation with creativity

Shownotes

Ona’s personal website: https://www.onapraderas.com/

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Kenneth Tupper is a Canadian policy consultant, scholar and educator who provides guidance on public health and transformative education, with a particular focus on mental health, substance use and psychedelic research. In our conversation together, Ken takes us through his childhood of embracing science while being surrounded by awe-inspiring nature in the west coast of Canada. He walks us through some of his early experiences with LSD where the seeds were planted for his interest in psychedelics and non-ordinary states of consciousness, as well as planting seeds for some of his more fulfilling and nourishing threads in adulthood, including his passion for playing music and caretaking of his body and health. Ken also shares about how his experiences with psychedelics helped shape his academic and professional choices, and we end the conversation talking a bit about what the present—and future—of Canadian drug policy is grappling with as we aim to work towards the equitable and sustainable unfolding of the legal and regulatory space in Canada.

Shownotes

Ken's website: https://kennethtupper.ca/

Ken's research & publications: https://kennethtupper.ca/publications

Ken's podcast, "Intonicated" - YouTube video channel (also available in audio-only on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.): https://www.youtube.com/@Intonicated-1

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Scott Wright is a filmmaker and producer who is on the cusp of premiering his new film The Next Chapter - Psychedelics, Healing, and the Second Half of Life: a documentary following adults over 55 as they have a shared psychedelic experience in a facilitated group setting. Through intimate, story-driven portraits, his film looks beyond the science to the human experience pf psychedelic experiencing — what it means to reflect, heal, and begin again in the later years of life. In our conversation together, Scott shares about what led him to make this film, and the rich and varied life that led him to his first supported psychedelic experience in his late 60s. Scott spent 25 years of his life on the radio, rising from his high-school station in suburban Chicago to become America’s most-listened-to DJ throughout the 1980s on Z-100 in New York and his nationally syndicated show “Hitline USA” (listeners knew him as “Shadow Steele” or simply “The Shadow”). He turned later in his career to film, and his latest offering was inspired by his transformative psilocybin experience in Mexico over three years ago. In our conversation, we hear about his spiritual experiences with music, his harrowing and unexpected first experience with LSD when he was 16, and staying away from psychedelics until he picked up Michael Pollan’s book in 2018 and rekindled his curiosity about the healing potential of these experiences—eventually leading to his profound experience of connection and compassion, and transforming into what he calls “Scott 2.0”

Shownotes

• The Next Chapter's website, where you can access the film as of June 25, 2026: https://thenextchapterfilm.com/
• Scott's personal website: https://www.wise-rabbit.com/
• The Michael Pollan book "How to Change your Mind" that Scott references a few times, that opened him to the idea of reengaging with psychedelics after many years: https://michaelpollan.com/books/how-to-change-your-mind/

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Ariel Fuenzalida is an Adjunct Professor for the Classics and Religious Studies Department and core faculty of the Psychedelics & Consciousness Studies M.A. Program at the University of Ottawa, while also teaching for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University. With apologies for the temporary rough audio in the introduction to this episode, in our conversation together, Ariel and I wend our way through his tumultuous childhood: from his experiences as a child growing up in Chile and losing contact with his mother for a year during the political unrest, escaping to Canada with his family, and finding grounding and community in what became eventually their new home. As he came to settle in Canada, Ariel talks about his early experiences of presence, flow and wonder that he accessed in his early years, and the influences and motivations that eventually brought him to his first psychedelic experience with friends as a curious and maybe a little naïve university student at a Chinese restaurant in Ottawa.

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

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Dr. Matthew Skinta is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Affiliated Faculty of Women and Gender Studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago, USA. He has had a recurring role as Visiting Professor of Ethics of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness in the Master's program in Psychedelics and Consciousness Studies at the University of Ottawa and has provided many invited lectures and workshops on culturally competent psychedelic-assisted therapy, from Harvard and Yale to the MAPS Psychedelic Science conference. He is also a peer-reviewed trainer of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, a certified Functional Analytic Psychotherapy trainer, and a certified teacher of Compassion Cultivation Training. As we will also hear in our conversation, Matthew also does global work on the adaptation and advancement of cognitive behavior therapies for work with sexual orientation and gender diverse people, a passion born out of his own experiences growing up queer and experiencing a childhood full of contrasts, challenges and changes that provided very little grounding as he literally made his way through the world, moving around as a military kid. As we explore this chaotic context of childhood, we learn about Matthew’s deep connection to mindfulness and meditation that he cultivated in early adulthood, and which continues to be an important spiritual anchor as he continues to access home and interconnection in himself and with the world around him. We also talk about how his spirituality has deepened since his first psychedelic experience at a supported retreat in the Netherlands a few years ago, and learn about the beautiful experience of connection and witnessing he had there. It was a lovely to have the chance to sit down and hear his story, and also to get to enjoy some time with Matthew’s wisdom, gentle spirit and compassionate heart.

Shownotes

• Links to Matthew's academic profiles: https://www.roosevelt.edu/profile/mskinta and https://psychedelia-stiftung.de/en/about-us/
• His current temple home, with links to recommended books, talks, and courses: https://www.ancientdragon.org/ - as well as one of his favorite retreats that he says are incredibly novice friendly (and the basis of his metaphor on the music and rolling hills of the Algarve that we end on): https://www.maitri-retreats.com/
• A primer on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): ACT in Steps (https://academic.oup.com/book/28735) and and his ACT/FAP book: Contextual Behavior Therapy for Sexual and Gender Minority Clients: A Practical Guide to Treatment (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429030307/contextual-behavior-therapy-sexual-gender-minority-clients-matthew-skinta)
• A primer on Functional analytic Psychotherapy (FAP): Functional Analytic Psychotherapy: Distinctive Features, 2nd Edition. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781032687179
• Read more about his experience in the "Queering Psychedelics" book he mentioned: https://chacruna.net/queering-psychedelics-an-introduction/
• Link to the ACT/FAP-based provider training in the Netherlands that he will be co-leading with Sergio Perez as a part of Psychedelia Stiftung: https://psychedelia-retreats.com/
• Finally, making a plug for diving into emptiness, spirituality, and queerness, Matthew wanted to reference this brilliant volume: Queering Shantideva's the Way of the Bodhisattva: A Buddhist Classic in Contemporary Queer Vernacular (https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/queering-shantidevas-the-way-of-the-bodhisattva-a-buddhist-classic-in-contemporary-queer-vernacular/9798896861478.html)

Music credit: Music by Mass X Audio from Pixabay

#psychedelics #podcast #tripreport