Wednesday, July 5th, 2023 from 12:00-1:30pm PST

BIPOC folks face a number of challenges to achieve the radical healing promised via psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, such as barriers to access, criminalization of psychedelic use, and lack of diversity within the field. In order for BIPOC folks to feel safe and supported before, during, and after these experiences, there needs to be awareness and preparation on the part of the therapist or guide themselves. Preparation includes things such as: self-disclosure, prep sessions, harm reduction, having a therapeutic relationship, looking at psychedelics through a cultural lens, making room for discourse, confidentiality, integration and having a clear understanding of cultural competence. Integration is a major part of any psychedelic experience, as it helps folks process all of the things they experienced during those intense journeys, as well as helps them find ways to put into practice things that they have learned and/or would like to continue working on moving forward. Given that BIPOC folks historically carry so much intergenerational trauma, integration is a very important part of psychedelic assisted therapy, and therapists must take into consideration all of the things listed above in order to fully help their patients work through their experiences in the most meaningful and inclusive way. Join this forum with speakers Candace Oglesby, who is the program director for Fluence’s ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) certificate program, Gillian Scott-Ward who is an internationally-known Clinical Psychologist, filmmaker and advocate for social justice, Stephanie Stewart who is a holistic psychiatrist based in Vancouver BC and practicing in California, and Hanif Akinyemi who is a trained Shaman, certified Holistic/ Psychedelic Therapist and Holistic Health Practitioner with a background in Nursing and Social Work/Therapy.

Gillian Scott-Ward, PhD is an internationally-known Clinical Psychologist, filmmaker and advocate for social justice. She specializes in healing through the mind-body-soul connection, integrating a variety of clinical tools such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Energy Psychology, EFT/Meridian Tapping, Somatic Therapy and is a certified EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapist. She is a recent graduate of the Certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies and Research program at the California Institute of Integral Studies and currently practices Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) with individuals within her private practice. She recently held her first KAP group for Clinicians of Color in New York City. She is passionate about the power of sounds, music, smell and touch to shift us into altered states of consciousness. She is currently exploring ways to weave Strength-Based EMDR resourcing into integration work to support journeyers ability to shift into healthier, embodied, ways of being.

Candace Oglesby is the program director for Fluence’s ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) certificate program and a licensed professional counselor (LCPC) in the state of Maryland. Candace began her career as a psychedelic assisted therapist in 2020, when she sat on her first study as a clinical trial therapist, which studied the effects of psilocybin with cancer patients who had TRD. Since then, she has gained training in Ketamine, MDMA, and 5- MeO- DMT assisted therapies.

Stephanie Stewart is a holistic psychiatrist based in Vancouver BC and practicing in California. She did her medical training at Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta Georgia. Her psychiatric residency training was at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles CA. She developed the West Central Mental Health and Wellness Center in south central Los Angeles working with mental health and wellbeing for people of color. She later developed Worldwide Wellness Inc. an adventure travel and telepsychiatry company using travel and adventure as a therapeutic process. She has a private practice based in San Francisco and serves as a psychedelic advisor to Supermind Platforms. She completed the MAPS MDMA for PTSD Training in 2016 and is currently a CIIS Psychedelic Research and Therapies Certificate Candidate.

Hanif Akinyemi is a trained Shaman , certified Holistic/ Psychedelic Therapist and Holistic Health Practitioner with a background in Nursing and Social Work/Therapy. He earned his Bachelor’s in Nursing from Florida A&M University in 2009. He later went on to earn his Master’s of Social Work from the University of Memphis in 2019. He is the current CEO and Co-founder of Integrative Healing Clinic LLC. Which is a company that provides alternative holistic mental health services to children ,adults and families! He is also a MAPS trained Psychedelic-Assisted Therapist with a focus on cultural healing practices.

Preparation and Integration of Psychedelic Experiences for BIPOC folks