Meet our Advisors and Partners
Our Advisors and Partners
We are grateful for our many advisors and community partners whose collaboration and input have influenced our approach to responsible, ethical psychedelic retreat program design and delivery.
Kwasi Adusei
Dr. Kwasi Adusei is a service-oriented, curious Ghanaian native passionate about the intersections of community, wellbeing, and technology. He is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, is a co-founder of the Psychedelic Society of Western New York, and led the development of a grassroots psychedelic harm reduction organization called the Sanctuary Project.
| As an educator and community organizer, he is informed by his experience with the war on drugs and community mental health, both as a patient and a clinician. He serves on the boards of Reconsider, the Source Research Foundation, the Psychedelic Medicine Association, and the Psychedelic Research And Training Institute, and is part of the Diversity Working Group for MAPS and an adjunct at the California Institute of Integral Studies. |
Advisor
Collaborator
Grace Blest-Hopley
Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley is a Neuroscientist with a focus on cannabinoids and psychedelics, backed by over 10 years of research experience. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience from King’s College London and is currently the Chief Scientific Officer at NWPharma Tech.
| Dr. Blest-Hopley directs research at the Heroic Hearts Project, a charity supporting combat veterans with mental health challenges from trauma. She is also the founder of Hystelica, a company advancing and advocating for understanding of safe and effective psychedelic use for women. |
Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicine
Chacruna’s vision is to co-create a world where plant medicines and other psychedelics are understood, protected, honored, and valued as part of our cultural identity, and integrated into our social, legal and health care systems in ways that are equitable and just.
| The mission of the Institute is to promote reciprocity in the psychedelic community, and support the protection of sacred plants and cultural traditions. We advance psychedelic justice through curating critical conversations and uplifting the voices of women, queer people, Indigenous peoples, people of color, and the Global South in the field of psychedelic science. |
Community Partner
Advisor
Jesse Gould
Jesse, a former Army Ranger, was plagued by severe PTSD after he returned home from combat. After quitting his job as an investment banker, selling all of his possessions, and wandering the world, he found himself in an ayahuasca retreat in the jungles of Peru.
| To his surprise, Jesse found that his symptoms of PTSD disappeared after the retreat, and his life was forever changed. He started HHP in April of 2017 “because I wanted to give my fellow veterans a way to heal their PTSD that had worked for me.” Since then, Heroic Hearts Project has helped hundreds of veterans overcome their suffering from PTSD by providing them not only with access to psychedelic programs, but with professional coaching, peer support, and other resources to empower them along their healing journeys. While HHP’s number one priority is always the direct care of veterans, we’re also working tirelessly to support research and advocacy efforts to improve access to psychedelics, offer programs for veteran spouses to better nurture the entire veteran family, and foster a community in which veterans can grow and give back to others who are suffering. |
Heroic Hearts
Heroic Hearts is a veteran organization with a mission to help as many US veterans as possible overcome PTSD and other military trauma by building a community that provides them with safe and supervised access to psychedelic programs, professional coaching, and ongoing community support.
| Since its founding in 2017, the Heroic Hearts Project has helped hundreds of veterans overcome their suffering from PTSD by providing them not only with access to psychedelic programs, but with professional coaching, peer support, and other resources to empower them along their healing journeys. While HHP’s number one priority is always the direct care of veterans, we’re also working tirelessly to support research and advocacy efforts to improve access to psychedelics, offer programs for veteran spouses to better nurture the entire veteran family, and foster a community in which veterans can grow and give back to others who are suffering. |
Community Partner
Community Partner
Hystelica
Hystelica is a community built to understand women’s biology for safe and effective psychedelic use. They believe it is crucial that the specific needs of women are considered in the future as psychedelic medicines are developed and used in clinical and retreat settings.
| Hystelica is a leading force in the field of female-specific psychedelic use. Their team is led by psychedelic researchers, Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley and Dr Zahira Cohen. Hystelica is a network of scientists, advocates and inspiring women. |
Imperial College London Centre for Psychedelic Research
The Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research and the CIPPRes Clinic are leading psychedelic research in the United Kingdom, building on over a decade of pioneering work in this area carried out at Imperial College London, including a clinical trial that has kick-started global efforts to develop psilocybin therapy into a licensed treatment for depression.
| Led by Dr David Nutt and Dr David Erritzoe, the Centre focuses on two main research themes: the use of psychedelics in mental health care; and as tools to probe the brain’s basis of consciousness. After promising results in the treatment of depression, the Centre is now focusing on anorexia, chronic pain and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The CIPPRes (CNWL-Imperial Psychopharmacology & Psychedelic Research) Clinic, a collaboration between Imperial College London and CNWL, is a ground-breaking research initiative led by Dr. David Erritzoe that aims to unlock new therapies for mental health and neuroscience. Launched in 2021 at St Charles’ Hospital, the clinic is focused on experimental psychopharmacology, specifically investigating the effects of classic psychedelics and ketamine in healthy and psychiatric populations. By using cutting-edge imaging methods such as PET, MRI, and EEG, the researchers hope to uncover the compounds’ therapeutic potential and mechanisms, including brain plasticity and psychological flexibility. |
Community Partner
Advisor
Hannes Kettner
Hannes Kettner is a PhD candidate at the Imperial College Centre for Psychedelic Research and Research Specialist within Robin Carhart-Harris’ Psychedelics Division at UC San Francisco. With more than eight years of research experience in lab-based and naturalistic settings of psychedelic use, his main interest are the impact of set and setting and specifically, psychosocial factors in psychedelic use.
| Working closely with psychedelic practitioners in retreat settings, Hannes became interested in the question how we can learn from real-world and ceremonial use to improve the clinical and non-clinical benefits of psychedelic substances. His work on environmental and psychosocial factors involved in the effects of psychedelics has been published in several peer-reviewed journals and has featured in major media outlets. Hannes holds a MSc in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience from Maastricht University. |
Hanifa Nayo Washington
Hanifa Nayo Washington is a dynamic leader and transformational healer, with 25 years of values based leadership. Her unique interdisciplinary roles as a healing justice practitioner, communications strategist, digital creative, and sacred ritualist distinguish her in the realm of social change.
| Her life’s work merges the practices of mindfulness, healing, placemaking, and social justice, with cultivating organizations, gatherings, spaces, and experiences rooted in the principles of beloved community. A burgeoning thought leader in the field of psychedelics on matters of equity, access, and affinity justice, Hanifa has addressed many different audiences from conferences and trainings, to top rated podcasts and publications. She has been featured in an ever growing number of articles from Essence to Business Insider. Hanifa is invested in actively shaping the infrastructure for equitable access to legal, safe, and effective psychedelic-assisted healing and wellness for marginalized communities in the US. Hanifa is the Co-Lead Investigator for the national Psychedelic Health Equity Initiative. In Oregon, she is the lead facilitator of the Psilocybin Equity Project with Oregon Psilocybin Services under the Oregon Health Authority and serves on the Community Advisory Council of the Oregon Psilocybin Evaluation Nexus. Adding to her 15+ years as a transformational healer, Hanifa is currently studying with InnerTrek to secure her psilocybin facilitator license in Oregon and is developing psilocybin-assisted healing and wellness experiences for BILAPOC communities. Hanifa, is Founding Team Emerita of Fireside Project, a nonprofit that is creating systemic change in the field of psychedelics in three key domains: safety, diversity, and equitable access. Through supporting the launch of Fireside Project’s Psychedelic Peer Support Line, Hanifa has played a pivotal role in establishing a nationwide safety net, significantly reducing emergency calls and hospitalizations while providing free, high-quality care. Since its launch in April 2021, the support line has received over 20,000 calls. |
Collaborator and Advisor
Advisor
Rebecca Nicholson
Rebecca Nicholson has spent many years in the health and wellness industry as a practitioner, facilitator, CEO, investor and founder. She has extensive experience working with top international companies, CEOs and founders including Ātman- Costa Rica, Dimensions Retreats, Holos, Kuya, Othership and Beckley Retreats.
| She is dedicated to supporting company growth, business development, vision execution and a healthy corporate culture. She specializes in fostering strong partnerships, relationships and strategic operating plans. Rebecca is a sought-after public speaker, panelist and moderator. As a bridge-builder, she connects diverse perspectives to drive positive change in transformative industries. As a founding member of ‘Celebrating Women in Psychedelics’, she exemplifies commitment to both advancing her field and promoting impact, ethics, diversity and opportunities for women. Rebecca’s website offers more information about her. |
Holiday Phillips
Holiday Phillips is an organizational culture and leadership expert, coach, consultant, speaker and writer. Her work is devoted to discovering and developing the stories, skills and structures for the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
| Holiday has spent 15 years working in leadership development, organizational culture, community building, and diversity equity & inclusion, helping major companies like Google, Apple, LinkedIn and Visa as well as startups, public service, charities, and community groups. She currently resides on the magical island of Ibiza with her husband, two children, dog and cat. |
Advisor
Advisor
Kan Yan
As a certified professional coach, Kan helps purpose-driven leaders and organizations realize their visions through cultivating wisdom and effectiveness. Prior to his coaching career, Kan worked as an international humanitarian for the United Nations, a lawyer for the US Federal Courts, and a management consultant for McKinsey & Company where he consulted Fortune 500 clients across numerous industries with a focus on organizational health and leadership development.
| Kan has spent more than two decades cultivating wisdom and mindfulness practices. A certified meditation teacher certification and a participant in Spirit Rock’s Advanced Practitioner Program, Kan has taught mindfulness at work to numerous organizations and currently teaches Buddhist meditation and philosophy in a number of communities. He developed the global mindfulness community at McKinsey which created an internal network of mindfulness champions to provide mindfulness-at-work seminars to hundreds of consultants. He convened McKinsey’s Mindfulness Leaders Gatherings which brought together mindfulness-at-work champions from dozens of corporations to share best practices. He also designed and facilitated the Inner Wisdom Retreat which convened CXOs from some of the largest organizations in the world to learn about mindful leadership. In addition to his coaching practice, Kan is also a strategist in the emerging field of psychedelic medicine. |
