The Psychedelic Therapy Podcast

As psychedelics become increasingly popular in the US and beyond, it’s imperative that new businesses honor, protect, and profit-share with the indigenous communities who are stewards of these medicines. Today on the show, Jesse Hudson, Chief Legal Officer at Woven Science explains the recent policy paper from Woven’s nonprofit El Puente which focuses on reparations, education, preservation, and inclusion for indigenous wisdom keepers.

We begin with Jesse’s early work with ICEERS’ Ayahuasca Defense Fund (ADF) and the case for religious freedom. We discuss the importance of corporate social responsibility in psychedelic medicine and some examples of organizations which are doing it well. Jesse shares El Puente’s recent policy paper including the four pillars of biocultural conservation, appellations of origin, regulatory sandboxes, and financial sharing. We conclude our conversation with the value for psychedelic businesses of preserving, protecting, and giving voice to indigenous communities.

Jesse Hudson has worked in the psychedelic space for 15 years as a lawyer, consultant, and advisor for organizations including ICEERS' Ayahuasca Defense Fund, Chacruna Institute, Enthea Health, Sage Institute, Journey Colab, and Vine Ventures. He is Chief Legal Officer at Woven Science, where he leads the non-profit El Puente, which promotes access and benefit-sharing with indigenous peoples and holds 10% of Woven’s equity.

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Iboga (or its extraction ibogaine) is one of the most powerful psychedelic plants. Today we are joined by Jonathan Dickinson, of Ceiba Recovery, an integration coach and consultant for iboga and ibogaine healing.

Our conversation begins with an overview of iboga and its unique value in treating addiction. We discuss Bwiti tradition in Gabon and Central Africa, where iboga is used as an initiatory sacrament. Jonathan shares his work with Ceiba Recovery, which includes online ibogaine aftercare. We conclude with the pros and cons of a clinical ibogaine setting vs the traditional iboga initiation, as well as general advice on integrating this powerful medicine.

Jonathan is a recovery coach and consultant and has been working with iboga and ibogaine in both clinical and ceremonial contexts in Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica since 2009. He has been part of hundreds of detox treatments and has also coached people through long-term micro-dosing protocols for everything from depression and anxiety to neurodegenerative disorders. He previously served as the Director of the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance (GITA), during which time he led the development of the Clinical Guidelines for Ibogaine-Assisted Detoxification, a risk management guide that remains a standard in the field.

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Today we are joined by Saj Razvi an expert on psychedelics and the somatic approach to healing single-event, complex, and dissociative trauma.

We open with an understanding of how trauma is stored in the body, and why it can be so hard to overcome with traditional therapy. We then discuss the difference between primary and secondary consciousness, and how psychedelics play a role in disrupting the default mode network to heal trauma. Finally, we talk about the Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy (PSIP) model that Saj and his team are successfully utilizing at the Psychedelic Somatic Institute.

Saj Razvi is the Director of Education at the Psychedelic Somatic Institute (PSI). He is a psychotherapist and former clinical researcher in the MAPS Phase 2 trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, and one of the primary developers of the Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy (PSIP) modality which is a conscious oriented psychotherapy. Saj's primary focus is to train clinicians to provide legal, effective psychedelic treatment in their private practice settings utilizing readily accessible medicines such as cannabis and ketamine.

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On today’s episode we delve into the promising future of Dr. Dan Engle’s new wellness institute, Kuya, located in Austin, Texas. The center focuses on whole human care, hoping to eliminate anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental health issues.

On the show, Dr. Dan Engle explains his history with psychedelics and the path that led him to open the center. He also speaks on his new book, A Dose of Hope, which follows the treatment of PTSD with MDMA-assisted therapy, recounted through the eyes of a fictional patient. We then finish up with the future of psychedelics, the need to train 100,000 new therapists, and advice to those looking to get involved.

Dr. Dan Engle is an American psychiatrist with a background in integrative psychiatry, neurocognitive restoration, peak performance medicine, and psychedelic research. His trans-disciplinary approach focuses on healing all aspects of the mind, body, and spirit to help individuals achieve optimum health, wellbeing, and sustained fulfillment. Dr. Engle is the Founder and Medical Director of Kuya Institute of Transformational Medicine in Austin, Texas; Full Spectrum Medicine a psychedelic integration and educational platform; and Thank You Life, a non-profit funding stream supporting access to psychedelic therapies.

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The Psychedelic Renaissance is well underway, but thirty years ago there was another revolution in psychiatry, the introduction of prozac, the first SSRI. Today’s guest Dr Priya Parmar started her residency at that time but today she is ending her relationship with traditional psychiatry. Since 2017 she has been using ketamine in her practice which she feels is a potent frontline treatment for mental health disorders… with the caveat of the importance of integration.

On the show Priya and I share a long preamble about the state of the American healthcare system and we talk about the crisis in confidence in Western medical authority. Priya explains why she started using ketamine and her particular protocol with the medicine. We discuss set and setting, group vs individual sessions, recreational use of ketamine, as well as tolerance and dependency. Finally Priya shares her passion for supporting patients in getting off of the antidepressants that were once heralded as a miraculous cure.

Priya is a board certified psychiatrist in Los Angeles, California. After almost twenty years in a solo practice in San Francisco, she is now the CEO of State of Mind Wellness Center where she offers ketamine-assisted therapy based on the social theory of primates.

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What if a simple test could reveal the speed of your psychedelic metabolism or your propensity for psychedelic-triggered mental health issues? Providing information on 5 key genetic variants, HaluGen Life Sciences is a direct to consumer test and an educational tool to help us all understand the various factors that impact the psychedelic experience.

On today’s show I speak with Tim Ko and John Lem from Entheon, the company behind HaluGen. On the show, we review each of the biomarkers they test for including three biomarkers for general mental health risks, a variant that causes slower Ketamine metabolization, and a variant that increases the density of serotonin 2A receptors. We discuss the potential actionability of this data and how Entheon sees the tool developing over time.

Timothy Ko has a broad background of leading private ventures in the Service Sector, Investor Relations, Retail and Technology. Timothy’s passion for the psychedelic space is shaped by firsthand knowledge of the shortcomings of the current mental health system, and through his exposure to psychedelics which he credits with saving his life. John Lem is the co-founder of Spartan Bioscience and Lobo Genetics with 15 years experience in life sciences, medical devices and capital markets.

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What if a therapist could peer inside the black box of a patient’s psychedelic experience?

Adam Gazzaley and his Neuroscape team at UCSF are using multimodal biosensing research to make that dream a reality.

On the show, Adam explains the concept of experiential medicine and how the brain modifies itself in response to different experiences. He shares his previous work creating a video game that is also a class two medical device for ADHD. He relates his long inquiry with shamans and therapists to understand how to design set and setting research studies. We explore the future of psychedelic therapy with a data-rich AI assistant and the potential concerns therapists might have about being replaced by innovative technology. Finally, Adam shares a powerful message to psychedelic healers and those who aspire to be.

Adam Gazzaley is an American neuroscientist, author, photographer, entrepreneur and inventor. He is the founder and executive director of Neuroscape and the David Dolby Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Physiology, and Psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco. The new Neuroscape Psychedelics Division will be lead by Robin Carhart-Harris is dedicated to advancing the field of psychedelic science and medicine through multi-level research covering basic to translational to clinical science.

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As the Psychedelic Renaissance blossoms, many healers and business leaders are rightly looking at environmental conservation and reciprocity with Indigenous wisdom keepers. Joseph Mays is Program Director for the Chacruna's new Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative (IRI). On the podcast, he shares some powerful ways for the psychedelic community to cultivate a healthy relationship with Indigenous people in the Americas.

On the show, we discuss the Indigenous worldview as it pertains to psychedelic healing. We learn about Chacruna’s Ayahuasca Community Committee on which Joe sits and consider what well-meaning people might get wrong about reciprocity. Joseph explains the details of the Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative and its successes so far. Finally we discuss what it means to use interest in psychedelics to raise funds for effective altruism.

Joseph Mays is an Ethnobotanist, a researcher and a writer. He is the program director of Chacruna’s Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative where he conducts research and builds connections with small Indigenous communities throughout the Americas to support Chacruna’s mission of increasing cultural reciprocity in the psychedelic space.

If you’d like to go deeper on this subject, join us for Maya's first collaborative event to raise awareness and funding for IRI on Wednesday, September 22. Donate by registering for the event.

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Today’s episode is a repost from my personal podcast, Life is a Festival, where I interview cultural pioneers about living a more openhearted life. Today’s guest, Sutton King, lives a life full of joy and service and she is also the Head of Impact at Journey Colab a major psychedelic drug development company. Journey Colab just raised 12 million and Sutton’s important work in reciprocity is a major part of the company’s appeal to value-aligned investors. In fact, she has a lot to teach all of us about the lessons of reciprocity from her people, which is why I chose to share this podcast with you today.

On the show, we explore Sutton’s commitment to healing and service from her early days dancing jingle dress, to her work with the Urban Indigenous Collective in New York. Sutton explains her perspective on kinship and the Seven Generations Principle. We discuss Journey Colab, the psychedelic startup that is developing mescaline for treating alcoholism. Finally, we review the responsibilities of psychedelic entrepreneurs as well as individual psychonauts to be in right relation with the honorable harvest.

A descendant of the Menominee and Oneida Nations of Wisconsin, Sutton King is a nationally recognized indigenous heath advocate, researcher, and social entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and President of Urban Indigenous Collective, a nonprofit advocating on the behalf of Urban Natives in the tri-state area, she is Head of Impact at Journey Colab, a start-up led by Sam Altman and Jeeshan Chowdhury developing psychedelic treatments for mental health, and she is the Co-Founder of ShockTalk, a culturally tailored telemental health platform that facilitates culturally appropriate patient-provider relationships.

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Named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people of 2021, Robin Carhart-Harris conducts some of the most impactful psychedelic research in the world.

On the podcast, we review Robin’s early research with MDMA and his involvement with the first fMRI and MEG studies of LSD. We talk about his 2016 study of psilocybin’s efficacy with treatment-resistant depression and his most recent head-to-head comparison of the psychedelic with the SSRI Escitalopram (Lexapro). The outcome of that study calling into question a generation of psychiatric scales. 

As the former Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris is now moving to the Neuroscape Psychedelic Division at UCSF. For 15 years, his research has focused on how drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, DMT and MDMA work in the brain, and how they may be useful in treating disorders such as depression.‍ Robin is also an advisor to Maya, the measurement-based care platform that makes this show possible.

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