Wednesday, March 16th, 2022 from 12:00-2:00pm PST

As psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy becomes more mainstream with the legislative changes and clinical trials taking place, understanding the structure of these healing practices becomes essential and timely. There has been a huge hype and a lot of enthusiasm about the therapeutic potentials of psychedelic assisted therapies, however very little conversation about the “therapy” dimension. What does this “therapy” consist of? Who is qualified to conduct this therapy? What kinds of training are in place? How is this different from traditional therapy? Is a non-directive approach preferable? The speakers in this forum will strive to answer these questions and more, covering topics such as psychological approaches and frameworks, mindfulness, trauma-specific skills, trauma healing, and neurobiological aspects. They will also discuss training and certification programs that are available, attempts to scale these therapies, the sticky points of trying to insert these therapies into an investment performance model, as well as ethical considerations. Please join us in this important discussion with Dr. Bia Labate, Dr. Dominique Morisano, Dr. Jamie Beachy, Dr. Alissa Bazinet and Dr. Devon Christie.

This community forum is a joint collaboration between the Chacruna Institute and the Naropa University’s Center for Psychedelic Studies.

📷Dominique Morisano, PhD, CPsych is a clinical psychologist, professor, and researcher. She holds academic appointments at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Collaborator Scientist), University of Ottawa/University of Toronto (Adjunct Professor), and Erasmus University Rotterdam (Visiting Scholar). She has completed extensive training in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies including the CIIS Certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies and Research, as well as training from MAPS (MDMA) and the Ketamine Training Center. She is a Special Advisor at Field Trip Health, where she was previously Chief Psychologist (USA) and VP of Therapeutic Growth and Innovation (in succession). She currently runs a trauma/addiction focused private practice in Toronto and NYC and is a consultant for several companies in the psychedelic-therapies industry. She is a primary organizer of the upcoming conference “From Research to Reality: Global Summit on Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Medicine” (2022). She is interested in the use of psychedelic-assisted therapies to reduce human suffering.

📷Jamie Beachy PhD, MDiv, is assistant faculty in Wisdom Traditions and co-director of Naropa University’s Center for Psychedelic Studies. Jamie is an ordained christian minister and buddhist practitioner committed to earth-based and contemplative approaches to professional spiritual care. After completing her clinical chaplaincy training at the University of Washington Medical Center, Jamie served as a chaplain, ACPE educator, and ethics consultant in hospice, palliative care, and trauma contexts in Washington and Colorado. Jamie is certified as a teacher of Cognitively-based Compassion Training through Emory University’s Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion Based Ethics, and currently serves as a therapist with the MAPS MDMA-assisted therapy study site in Boulder, Colorado. Jamie aspires to work with the plant elders to help heal the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.

📷Alissa Bazinet, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in Portland, OR. Her professional background includes over 10 years as a clinician and researcher in the Veterans Affairs Hospital system and 5 years as a private practice psychologist. In her private practice, she specializes in co-occurring trauma and addiction, mindfulness-based and somatic interventions, and psychedelic integration. She is trained by MAPS in MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD and Polaris Insight Center in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, and is a longtime lead volunteer for the Zendo Project. She is a co-founder of the Sequoia Center nonprofit, which offers low-cost sliding scale psychedelic-assisted services to members of historically underrepresented communities, as well as training for new practitioners. She serves on the training subcommittee of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board and is a faculty member for Lewis & Clark University’s upcoming psilocybin facilitator training program. She is passionate about creating community infrastructure for safe and accessible psychedelic therapies.

📷Dr. Devon Christie is a medical doctor and registered counsellor with a focused practice in chronic pain and trauma. She is trained to deliver both MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, and she serves as Senior Lead of Psychedelic Programs with Numinus Wellness. Devon is also a certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher, Functional Medicine practitioner, and clinical instructor with UBC Family Medicine. She is currently Co-Investigator and study therapist for a Canadian MAPS-sponsored trial investigating MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, and co-investigator on a pilot study investigating MDMA-assisted therapy for fibromyalgia. Devon is passionate about educating future psychedelic therapists on trauma-informed, relational somatic skills. She also teaches for the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Certificate Program in Psychedelic Therapy and Research, the Integrative Psychiatry Institute Certificate Program in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy, and the ONCA Foundation Psychedelic Therapy program.

📷Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines (http://chacruna.net, https://chacruna-iri.org, https://chacruna-la.org) and serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). She is also Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and Visiting Scholar at Naropa University’s Center for Psychedelic Studies. Additionally, she member of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board’s Research Subcommittee, and Advisor at the Synthesis Institute. Dr. Labate is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site since. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-four books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (https://bialabate.net).

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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