
Join us for a transformative conversation about plant medicines, addiction recovery, and the integration of healing across clinical, spiritual, and community contexts. This Community Forum brings together clinicians, practitioners, and recovered people to explore critical questions at the heart of psychedelic-assisted addiction treatment: How can plant medicine approaches reach those most affected by addiction, despite real barriers of cost, housing instability, and access? What role do trauma, stigma, and structural inequality play in shaping outcomes? And how might we honor Indigenous and traditional lineages while developing culturally responsive, ethically grounded models of care? We’ll examine the neurobiology and spirituality of addiction recovery together, exploring how ceremonial plant medicine work interrupts the isolation and disconnection that often characterize addiction, and what safeguards are essential to prevent spiritual bypass or subtle relapse patterns disguised as transformation. Speakers include Danielle Nova, Founder of Lumeria and Executive Director of the San Francisco Psychedelic Society; Ana Juliana Demme, holistic business coach, poet, and recovered addict practicing within the Santo Daime tradition; Nicky Mehtani, Assistant Professor at UCSF researching psychedelic therapies for addiction among medically and socially complex populations; and Danielle Herrera, licensed psychotherapist specializing in “full spectrum” drug use and psychedelic integration. Together, we’ll explore how plant medicines might heal not just individual brains, but fractured relationships to self, community, and spirit.