Psychedelic Divas

Episode 31 explores the sacred role of nursing in psychedelic-assisted therapy with Wendy Marussich, RN, MS, PMHNP, PhD, co-founder of the Organization of Psychedelic and Entheogenic Nurses (OPENurses). Wendy shares her unique journey from evolutionary ecologist to oncology nurse to psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and discusses why nurses are uniquely suited for psychedelic work.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Wendy's unconventional path from PhD biologist to oncology nurse, driven by a desire for more meaningful, heart-centered work that could make a tangible difference in people's lives
• How nurses' training in grounded presence, "non-awkward touch," and crisis management translates perfectly to psychedelic support work—from holding space during difficult journeys to recognizing when someone needs medical intervention
• The critical importance of discussing consent and boundaries around touch before a session, including practical techniques like testing different types of touch beforehand and using "imaginal touch" when physical contact isn't desired
• The mission of OPENurses: Creating professional support, education, and ethical standards for nurses working in psychedelic therapy, while advocating for full inclusion of nurses in this emerging field
• Why having a nurse in the room automatically increases safety as they can authoritatively reassure patients about medical status in a way that truly lands, especially in altered states when perception is heightened
• Pathways for nurses interested in psychedelic work, including ketamine training programs, experiential learning, and the importance of doing your own inner work before supporting others

Resources Mentioned:

• Open Nurses (Organization of Psychedelic and Entheogenic Nurses): https://www.openurses.org
• Open Nurses YouTube Channel: Monthly interview series with nurses working in psychedelic spaces: https://www.youtube.com/@OPENurses
• Open Nurses Facebook Group: Community support and networking: https://www.facebook.com/OPENurses
• The Microdose Newsletter: Free newsletter from UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics - https://psychedelics.berkeley.edu/about-the-microdose/
• PRATI (Psychedelic Research and Training Institute): Ketamine training program in Colorado - https://pratigroup.org
• Polaris Insight Center: Psychedelic therapy training - https://www.polarisinsight.com
• Zendo Project: Peer support for people having difficult psychedelic experiences at festivals - https://zendoproject.org
• Kay Parley's Article: "Supporting the Patient on LSD Day" - American Journal of Nursing, 1964

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

• Website: PsychedelicDivas.com
• Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com
• Instagram: @psychedelicdivas
• YouTube: @carladetchon
• Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

In Episode 30, Psychedelic Divas welcomes Annie Harrison, a pioneering journalist, harm-reduction advocate, and founder of the Women's Visionary Congress and co-founder of Lucid News. We explore Annie's decades-long contributions to drug reporting including her current role as Editorial Director at Lucid News, her commitment to risk reduction and education and her heart-centered leadership within an array of psychedelic communities.

In this episode, Annie discusses:

• Her psychedelic origin story, including her early psychedelic safety education from Grateful Dead shows, Rainbow Gatherings and Burning Man starting in 1996
• The founding of the Women's Visionary Congress, with its commitment to raising up women's voices and caring for our psychedelic elders
• The creation of the Full Circle Tea House at Burning Man with its focus on comfort, care and community
• The founding of Lucid News and her current work as Editorial Director
• The evolution of harm reduction strategies at festivals and psychedelic events
• The rise of ketamine and shifts within the psychedelic landscape
• The importance of sustaining a wellness practice and building ethical psychedelic communities

Learn About Annie

• Women's Visionary Council https://visionarycongress.org
• Elder donation page to support Ricci and Jack Coddington—please make a note that this is where you would like your donation to be directed: https://www.every.org/womens-visionary-council/f/2025-end-of-year-cam#/donate/card
• Manual of Psychedelic Support— https://maps.org/2017/08/29/manual-of-psychedelic-support-aug2017/
• Lucid News—www.Lucid.news
• Email Annie at [email protected]

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

• Website: PsychedelicDivas.com
• Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psychedelicdivas
• YouTube: @carladetchon
• Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

Episode 29 features New Mexico State Representative Andrea Romero (House District 46) in a hopeful conversation about psychedelics, policy, and community healing. We discuss how New Mexico is leading the way with groundbreaking psilocybin legislation—and why this moment matters far beyond state lines.

In this episode, we explore:

• The passage of SB219, New Mexico's bipartisan bill decriminalizing psilocybin for therapeutic use
• How psilocybin will be used to treat treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, and end-of-life distress
• What it really took to build bipartisan support—and lessons learned from Oregon and Colorado
• The importance of New Mexico's equity fund, designed to ensure access to psychedelic healing regardless of income
• Andrea's deeply personal connection to this work, including family and community experiences with addiction
• A vision for a holistic healing economy that supports mental health, community well-being, and justice reform
• The intersection of public policy, feminine wisdom, and leadership
• Andrea's surprisingly diverse background—including entrepreneurship and her patented probiotic-enriched egg!

Andrea also shares what she hopes comes next for psychedelic legislation, why community-centered healing is essential, and agrees to return to the show after personally experiencing legal psilocybin treatment in New Mexico.

Connect with Andrea

Learn more about Andrea—or donate to help her win re-election—at:

• Website: AndreaRomero.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrearomero_nm46/

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

• Website: PsychedelicDivas.com
• Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com
• Instagram: @psychedelicdivas
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@carladetchon
• Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

Episode 28 welcomes Cassidy Rosenblum, founder and editor-in-chief of Thunder Perfect Mind magazine, for a deep conversation about the intersection of psychedelics, the divine feminine, and cultural and religious transformation. In this episode, you'll hear:

• Cassidy sharing her journey from a hippie upbringing (her parents named her after Neal Cassady from On the Road.) to reporting on psychedelics for Rolling Stone.
• The inside story of a transformative group mushroom ceremony with former Mormon women.
• How Mormon women are choosing ketamine and nitrous over alcohol, which is forbidden by their religion.
• How Rick Perry (former Governor of Texas and Secretary of Energy) is using Biblical scripture to promote the use of psychedelics.
• The rising role of the goddess and the divine feminine in personal and collective healing.
• How psychedelics are influencing spiritual and religious landscapes, including challenges to traditional churches.
• The vision behind Thunder Perfect Mind: a print magazine as a devotional offering to the goddess.
• How to integrate psychedelic experiences into environmental activism and ethical cultural engagement.

Learn More About Cassady & Thunder Perfect Mind

www.Thunderperfectmind.org

https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/thunder-perfect-mind

Thunder Perfect Mind Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/thunderperfectmag/

Links from Show

Original Good Friday Experiment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_Chapel_Experiment

Updated Johns Hopkins Good Friday Experiment

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/05/26/this-is-your-priest-on-drugs

Cathy Coleman's book on Ralph Metzner's life: Ralph Metzner Explorer of Consciousness

https://www.greenearthfound.org

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

• Website: PsychedelicDivas.com
• Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com.
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psychedelicdivas/
• YouTube: @carladetchon
• Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

I'm your host, Carla Detchon, and in episode 27 of Psychedelic Divas, I welcome Tracey Tee, founder of Moms on Mushrooms, for a candid conversation about motherhood, microdosing, and breaking the stigma around plant medicine. Tracey shares her personal journey from comedy to community building, and how psychedelics have transformed her approach to parenting, wellness, and self-discovery.

Highlights:

• Tracy's first psychedelic experience and how it changed her life
• The mission behind Moms on Mushrooms and creating safe spaces for mothers
• Destigmatizing psychedelics for moms and challenging the "wine mom" narrative
• Navigating motherhood, boundaries, and self-care with plant medicine
• Honest conversations about harm reduction, safety, and education for families
• Building community and the importance of connection for women

Tune in for an inspiring and eye-opening discussion on healing, empowerment, and the power of community.

Learn More About Tracey Tee

Moms On Mushrooms

https://www.momsonmushrooms.com

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/momsonmushroomsofficial/

Global Psychedelic Society

https://globalpsychedelic.org

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

· Website: PsychedelicDivas.com

· Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com

· Instagram: @psychedelicdivas

· YouTube: @carladetchon

· Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

In past episodes, I've often mentioned accessing information in psychedelic sessions from my spirit guides. But what does that really mean? I'm your host, Carla Detchon, and in Episode 26, I share my personal experiences over the past 30+ years of learning to access and work with a range of spirit guides from ancestors to angels, to gods and humans and even my pets. I first learned to access non-ordinary guidance by working with world-renowned Shamanism expert, Michael Harner, and my long-term psychedelic teacher, Ralph Matzner. I share my first encounters of accessing guidance through drumming and meditative states, the process of formally inviting guides into your psychedelic journey, and the impact of this type of guidance on my life. I also talk about "cosmic manners" or the importance of gratitude and respect when accessing guidance, and I share a practical tool, the "rose exercise" to help you strengthen your own intuitive knowing. If you've ever wanted a deeper relationship with a guide in your psychedelic exploration, this is your episode.

Connect with Carla If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong: • Website: PsychedelicDivas.com • Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com • Instagram: @psychedelicdivas • YouTube: @carladetchon • Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

Episode 25 with Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD, is a journey back through the psychedelic time machine. Marsha started her medicine journey back in the 1970s, both as an underground explorer of psychedelics and an above-ground researcher for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). For nearly 20 years, she was the Principal Investigator on grants from NIDA to study women heroin addicts, cocaine, methadone maintenance treatment, and MDMA. She then moved to drug policy and education at the Drug Policy Alliance in San Francisco (where she is Director Emerita) where she founded the Safety First drug education project. Back when Marsha, got her start, the general view was that all drugs were bad, which then led to the creation of the war on drugs and all its devastating impacts. Marsha is one of the many voices that has helped our society to come to the new understanding that some drugs can actually be very beneficial and that the drug war did more damage than any drug ever did. Join us for a trip through the psychedelic decades as we explore the amazing contribution of Marsha Rosenbaum to the evolution of drug research, policy and education.

Learn More About Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD

Drug Policy Alliance: drugpolicy.org

Safety First Program: https://drugpolicy.org/resource/safety-first/

Before You Trip: beforeyoutrip.org

Coalition for Psychedelic Safety and Education: https://www.coalitionforpsychedelicsafety.org

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

· Website: PsychedelicDivas.com

· Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com

· Instagram: @psychedelicdivas

· YouTube: @carladetchon

· Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

Hey Diva listeners—this episode does contain descriptions of suicide and overdosing. If this would be difficult or challenging for you to hear, please take care of yourself and skip this episode.

In episode 24, we are swimming in the sacred wisdom of the psychedelic underground with author, Rachel Harris, PhD as our guide. Rachel is a psychologist, researcher, and author of "Listening to Ayahuasca" and "Swimming in the Sacred: Wisdom from the Psychedelic Underground."

In this episode:

• Rachel discusses her formative years at the Esalen Institute in the late 1960s, reflecting on the wild, unstructured, and sometimes dangerous environment that shaped her therapeutic roots.
• We explore Rachel's decades-long relationship with ayahuasca, including her personal relationship with the plant spirit. She also talks about her experiences with other psychedelics, and the importance of spiritual guidance and integration.
• Rachel explains the inspiration behind her books, especially "Swimming in the Sacred," which features interviews with 18 underground female guides—most with well over 20 years of experience.
• We discuss the unique wisdom and challenges of the feminine in psychedelic work, the importance of apprenticeship, and what's missing from modern psychedelic training programs.
• Rachel discusses the role of surrender, trust, and flexibility in both psychedelic journeys and life itself, including how these lessons prepare us for mortality.

Learn More About Rachel Harris PhD

· https://www.swimminginthesacred.com

· https://www.listeningtoayahuasca.com

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

· Website: PsychedelicDivas.com

· Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com

· Instagram: https://instagram.com/psychedelicdivas

· Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

Hey Diva listeners—this episode does discuss a sexual abuse story. If this would be difficult or challenging for you to hear, please take care of yourself and skip this episode.

In Episode 23 of Psychedelic Divas, we explore the critical role of ethics in psychedelics with Dr. Sandra Dreisbach—an ethicist, educator, and leader in the psychedelic community. As a former bioethics professor, tech industry veteran, and founder of EPIC (Ethical Psychedelic International Community), Sandra's unique perspective is grounded in real-life experience.

In this episode:

• Sandra shares her journey from philosophy and bioethics to becoming a leading voice in psychedelic ethics.
• The importance of ethics in the psychedelic space, and why "living well" is at the heart of ethical practice.
• The challenges of introducing ethical standards in underground and unregulated psychedelic communities.
• How power dynamics, vulnerability, and the "shadow" side of psychedelic work require careful navigation and open conversation.
• Real-world ethical dilemmas and stories from Sandra's work with EPIC, including issues of consent, integration, and community accountability.
• The creation and value of open resources like the Psychedelic Practitioner Code of Conduct and Psychedelic Safety Flags.

Learn More About Dr. Sandra Dreisbach

Website: SandraDreisbach.com Podcast: Psychedelic Source YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PsychedelicEthics EPIC Resources: https://www.epicpsychedelic.com/resources

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

· Website: PsychedelicDivas.com

· Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com

· Instagram: @psychedelicdivas

· YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@carladetchon

· Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.

For over a year, I've been creating Psychedelic Divas quietly, without fanfare or a lot of promotion. I told myself I was doing the work my guides had asked me to do — launching the podcast — but deep down, I knew I was still hiding. Hiding from visibility. Hiding from judgment. And, surprisingly, hiding from my 95-year-old mother.

In this deeply personal solo episode, I talk about how I shared my psychedelic path with my mother for the first time. For years, I kept this part of my life hidden from her, assuming she'd never understand or accept it. With guidance from my inner team (and a little help from Oprah), I designed a multi-step unveiling that involved clinical research, a YouTube interview, a delightful lunch with Sheri Salata (Oprah's former executive producer and a dear friend), and a handful of heartfelt letters from members of my community.

What unfolded was more than just a conversation — it was a profound healing for us both. It was also the key to unlocking something in me that I hadn't realized was there. It cracked open a new layer of freedom, visibility, and trust within myself. This episode is about truth-telling, hard conversations, divine listening, and learning to ride downhill with joy after an uphill struggle.

Connect with Carla

If you're inspired by this episode and want to stay connected, follow Carla and Psychedelic Divas on social media or visit the website to get your Psychedelic Safety Guide Including What to Do When Things Go Wrong:

· Website: PsychedelicDivas.com

· Carla's Coaching: CarlaDetchon.com

· Instagram: @psychedelicdivas

· YouTube: @carladetchon

· Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Psychedelic Divas. Your support helps amplify these important conversations and grow our community.