Tuesday, August 24th, 7:00–9:00pm PST
Join the Portland Psychedelic Society on August 24th to learn about the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance, a policy initiative building off of the progress of Measure 109 and 110 that passed here in Oregon last year.
The Plant Medicine Healing Alliance’s mission is to Decriminalize fungi and plant medicines in quantities adequate for home growing, group healing, and ceremonial and religious purposes. Working initially in Portland, in partnership with indigenous stakeholders among others, they aim to enact this policy while promoting sustainable sourcing and honoring, in mutual reciprocity of care, the human, plant and animal ecologies where the medicines grow.
There will be over 15 professionals speaking at this seminar with a wide array of knowledge to offer perspective on questions about sacred plant medicines, decriminalization, and many more topics relating to their mission.
If you are interested in attending, please visit: https://www.meetup.com/portland-psychedelic-society/events/279648370/
Speakers
Alissa Bazinet is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Portland, OR. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology from the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, and has a background working in the Veterans Affairs hospital system, where she provided therapeutic services for Veterans with co-occurring PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and substance use disorders. She is a trained therapist in MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD, a longtime volunteer for the Zendo Project, an organization that provides peer support to individuals undergoing challenging psychedelic experiences at festivals and events, and a member of Oregon’s Governor appointed Oregon Psilocybin Advisory board which is the result of Oregon Ballot Measure 109 passed by voters in 2020.
David Bronner is the CEO (Cosmic Engagement Officer) of Dr. Bronner’s, the family-owned top-selling natural brand of soap in North America. David along with other family execs cap their compensation at 5 times the lowest paid warehouse position, and donate all profits not needed for business development to the causes and charities they believe in. David graduated with a degree in Biology from Harvard in’95, and by end of that year graduated with a real degree from the school of psychedelic medicine in Amsterdam, heart and mind blown wide open, and dedicated his life to responsible integration of cannabis and entheogens into American and global culture. He joined the board of MAPS in 2015. He also serves on the board of the Regenerative Organic Alliance, which promotes regenerative organic agriculture and ethical dietary choice, to support a more humane, sustainable and fair farming system worldwide (www.regenorganic.org).
Angela Carter is a licensed Naturopathic physician practicing in the Portland Area and a member of Oregon’s Governor appointed Oregon Psilocybin Advisory board. They are the founder and clinical director of the Marie Equi Institute, a non-profit health care organization focused on promoting the health and well being of the LGBTQI community of the Pacific Northwest. They also chair the Meaningful Care Conference, a biannual integrative LGBTQI medical conference in Portland, Oregon.
Marca Cassity is a therapist in private practice in Portland, Oregon. They are a researcher in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy at OHSU, and the Portland VA Hospital, and sit on the advisory board on diversity for the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Marca has over twenty years of experience in the healing arts, working with renowned therapists, spiritual teachers, artists, academics, and medicine people from around the world. After completing a BSN at the University of Oklahoma they worked as an ER and ICU nurse for many years, including being a first responder at the Oklahoma City bombing. Marca’s journey as a therapist began by working to overcome their own lived experience of trauma, and cultivating resilience as a two spirit, queer, mixed-race Native American who grew up on the Osage reservation of Oklahoma.
Claudia Cuentas is a Peruvian marriage and family therapist I, a researcher and an educator, specializing in the treatment of healing trauma, trauma recovery, cultural identity and decolonization of healing. She is trained in Drama Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and Trauma Inform Care. She also has extensive studies in Indigenous healing, from her native Aymara and Quechua lineages of South America.
Karin Gagnon is a member of the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance’s Board of Advisors.
Jesse Gould is Founder and President of the Heroic Hearts Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit pioneering psychedelic therapies for military veterans. After being deployed as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan three times, he founded the Heroic Hearts Project in 2017 to spearhead the acceptance and use of ayahuasca therapy as a means of addressing the current mental health crisis among veterans. The Heroic Hearts Project has raised over $350,000 in scholarships from donors including Dr. Bronner’s and partnered with the world’s leading ayahuasca treatment centers, as well as sponsoring psychiatric applications with the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Georgia.
Pilar Hernandez-Wolfe has a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Professional Counselor, and approved clinical supervisor. She has been involved in academia for the past 21 years. She has taught, written and conducted research in national and international contexts including her native Colombia and Mexico. She pioneered the concept of vicarious resilience in the context of torture survivor treatment and mental health services addressing politically based violence. She has authored numerous peer reviewed articles and chapters in mental health, and in the training of clinicians, including the book “A Borderland’s view of Latinos, Latin Americans and Decolonization, Rethinking Mental Health. Her latest co-authored book on vicarious resilience was recently published in Spanish by the Javeriana University in Colombia. Her current interests involve traumatic stress, resilience in the context of decolonization, ecoinformed therapies and systems thinking and the animal human bond. She has a private practice in Portland.
Nathan Howard is serving as the Facilitator for the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance. Previously he was an advisor to Oregon’s ballot Measure 109 (Psilocybin Therapy Initiative), helped with ballot Measure 110, and was a founding member of the Craft Cannabis Alliance and the campaign to create interstate adult-use cannabis commerce by the end of 2021. Along with his brother Aaron, Nathan founded East Fork Cultivars in 2015. He also serves on the Oregon Cannabis Association’s Board of Directors as its Vice Chair and the Co-Chair of its Political Action Committee. He is a leader in Oregon’s political community and served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
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 (https://chacruna.net, https://chacruna-iri.org, https://chacruna-la.org). She serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She is also Diversity, Culture, and Ethics Advisor at the Synthesis Institute. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-four books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (https://bialabate.net).
Mike Maki is an environmental activist and entrepreneur in agriculture and forestry with forty plus years of experience in Earth repair. He is a co-founder at Agroforestry Associates, a founding member of the Tilth Association, and the CEO of Viviendo Soil Solutions. Tilth is the Pacific Northwest’s regional organic agriculture association, alive and well after 40 years. Ecological forest management and product development. Climate controlled growing environments utilizing local resources to grow edible and other mushrooms. Appropriate biotech meets farming and forestry!
Rebeca Martinez is a queer, Xicana writer, educator, and community organizer based in Portland. She served as Volunteer Coordinator on the Measure 109 campaign and is co-founder of Fruiting Bodies Collective, a mission-based podcast, resource hub and online platform serving the growing psychedelic healing community. Fruiting Bodies exists to bridge the gap between industry insiders and the eager-to-learn general public, with a focus on uplifting marginalized communities toward liberation for all.
Rebeca Rocha is a mixed race Brazilian-born cisgender woman with her LCSW and PhD in Clinical Psychology and Culture from Universidade de Brasília, Brazil. Considering the impact of oppression and trauma, she offers social justice-oriented, trauma-focused, and culturally sensitive psychotherapy services at her private practice in Portland, OR (asecounselingservices.com). Her PhD dissertation dedicated to the long-term ritualistic use of ayahuasca and its relationship with substance use patterns. Rebeca is also a trainee of MAPS’s MDMA assisted psychotherapy.
Bob Otis Life-changing early experiences led Bob Otis to engage a lifetime of education and practice with sacred plants. Bob has been passionately driven for over 35 years to openly explore traditional healing and entheogenic work with his father and family, independently, and with mentoring teachers and colleagues. Journeys in Guatemala, Brazil, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Jamaica and other areas were dedicated to healing practice and learning. Personal and group work with sacred plants and traditions guide his passion for careful, respectful and appreciative relationship with what he believes to be soul healing Sacraments.
Miriam Volat is a researcher, educator, organizer, facilitator and ecologist with a passion for soils and nutrient cycles. She has served the IPCI Board of Directors as the organization’s Executive Director since November of 2017 to ensure the conservation of sacred Peyote medicine and the Indigenous way of life. Miriam Volat works personally and professionally to promote health in all systems. She works as a facilitator, researcher, educator, and community organizer to increase broad-based community and ecological resiliency, especially in native communities. Her work focuses on the intersection of biological and socio-cultural diversity. Miriam has never stopped exploring nutrient cycles and soil ecology, the emphasis of her M.S. work in the UC Davis Vegetable Crops Dept. She also has degrees in political science and environmental studies.
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