All upcoming and past interviews can be found (in chronological order) 
on our youtube channel

Amanda Vogel, PMHNP was born & raised in NYC. She worked for 17 years in the trenches of acute inpatient and emergency psychiatry at NY Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical Center. In early 2019 she was asked by the unit director to initiate, design and operate a new ketamine infusion service for acutely depressed and suicidal psychiatric inpatients. Coincidentally, when this project was presented to her, she had just recently begun her own personal foray into therapeutic non-ordinary states of consciousness. Inspired by her own experiences, and by the potential of ketamine to catalyze deep healing, she became motivated to make this medicine her primary focus and so left her hospital job in January 2024. She is currently employed as the ketamine provider and clinic director of Stella Center NY.

Wendy Johnson is  a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City, Utah with 17 years of psychiatric experience on top of 13 years of ICU nursing.  A graduate of the Certificate in Psychedelic Therapy and Research from the California Institute of Integral Studies, she has used this expertise to testify in front of the Utah Legislature in favor of SB266, which will allow for limited use of MDMA and psilocybin for mental health treatment in that state.  She is passionate about exploring innovative therapeutic modalities and committed to pushing the boundaries of mental health treatment. As a believer in the potential of psychedelic medicine as a tool for healing and transformation she has been an advocate for psychedelic medicine education and harm reduction, demonstrating how she leans into every opportunity to help destigmatize psychedelic substances and promote their responsible and evidence-based use.

We'll be sitting down with Josiah Laughlin, RN, a Portland, OR based psychiatric nurse and founder of the Psychedelic Information Community Organization (PICO).

Chris Pateros, MA, RN was called to existential work with psychedelics in 2011 through her own death experience in psychedelic ceremony in the Amazon jungle. Chris brings over three decades of experience in clinical health care, research, and teaching to her work and since training with Ketamine Training Center in 2019, she has been guiding clients both privately and in groups with ketamine-assisted treatment and integration honoring connection to the sacred and interconnection of self, nature, spirit, and the mystery that is beyond what our minds know. Chris earned her Transpersonal Ecopsychology MA from Naropa University, is a graduate of the Light Body School of The Four Winds Society, and is an initiate of the Qero indigenous mystics of the Andes. She is a PRATI co-founding member, core lead faculty and course director of the End of Life/ Existential Distress KAP and PAT Training. Chris lives in Denver and works with clients in Denver, Boulder and Chicago and distance globally.

Melanie King Kawashima Velez is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) in a community mental health agency in Eugene, Oregon serving: addiction medicine, court-mandated adult sexual behavior problems, perinatal, and general psychiatry programs. Her post-doctoral work focused on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy primarily with ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA. Currently she is one of only a few practitioners offering ketamine-assisted psychotherapy to individuals served by Medicaid in the United States. Dr. Kawashima Velez is a graduate of the California Institute of Integral Studies Center for Psychedelic Therapies & Research program (2022) and is an instructor with the Subtle Winds Psilocybin Facilitator Training Program focusing on community-supported wellness and harm reduction. Melanie received psychedelic/ketamine assisted psychotherapy training from CIIS, Temenos Center, and Polaris Insight Center. For the past two decades she has offered volunteer psychedelic harm reduction support and now also offers integration services, ketamine assisted psychotherapy, and ketamine therapy apprenticeships in her private practice at Velez Psychiatric Services. Melanie also works at the Center for Family Development offering psychiatric medication management and therapy for adult & child psychiatry, addiction medicine, and the perinatal psychiatry programs. She is the founder of the Oregon Psychiatric Round table consultation group, co-lead of her local consultation circle for BIPOC-identifying individuals, and works with many Oregon entities to reduce risks of legal psilocybin and ketamine psychedelic experiences in the state.

About Dr. Belser Dr. Alex Belser is a psychedelic researcher and licensed psychologist. For the last 20 years, he has been a leader in the psychedelic clinical community, having served as an investigator on a number of clinical trials of psilocybin and MDMA to treat depression, anxiety, substance use, OCD, PTSD, and end-of-life distress. He is the founding President of Nautilus Sanctuary, the first non-profit center for psychedelic medicine on the east coast. He serves as the Chief Clinical Officer of Cybin. Dr. Belser’s research has been featured on the front page of the New York Times, in the Atlantic, the New Yorker, The Guardian, and in Michael Pollan's book, How to Change Your Mind. Dr. Belser has authored over a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters and has given over fifty lectures, presentations, and Grand Rounds about psychedelic medicine. At Yale, Dr. Belser is investigating psychedelic treatments for OCD. He worked as a therapist on studies of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of severe PTSD. He previously served on the Board of Advisors to Compass Pathways, then a non-profit organization. He is a member of Chacruna Institute’s Women, Gender Diversity, and Sexual Minorities Working Group, where he works on issues affecting LGBTQI+ people.

Bryce (He/They) is a Queer/Non-Binary Nurse Practitioner with a spread of experiences; ranging from emergency medicine, public health, substance use management, and mass gathering event management. He is currently the Day Health Nurse Practitioner for the Dr. Peter Centre in Vancouver where he provides support for people who use substances, including psychedelic support. He also has a private practice where he provides medical consulting services for registered and non-registered providers who want to use psychedelics to treat their clients. He is also one of the Charge nurses for Shambhala Music Festival, which is Canada’s largest psychedelic/harm reduction-focused music festival.

Dr. Rodriguez* is a Two-Spirt, Afro-Indigenous scholar whose scholarly inquiry encompasses 2SLGBTQIA+ healthcare with a specialization in gender-affirming care, Native & Indigenous healthcare, innovative technologies within healthcare simulation, intersectional stigma, entheogens and consciousness, as well as advocating for the importance of religion and spirituality within healthcare settings. She serves as an Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean of Simulation & Clinical Innovation at Yale School of Nursing and is an Affiliate Faculty for The Yale Institute for Global Health. *Indigenous Name: Katikaniki (Taino for Strong Heart - given by Kasike (Principal Chief) Atunwa Baracutay of the Higuayagua Yukayeke)

Zach (he/him) is a psychologist, and primary therapist with the Social Neuroscience and Psychotherapy (SNaP) Lab at the Portland VA, supporting trials of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for methamphetamine use disorder and MDMA-assisted group psychotherapy for PTSD. He acts as the resident psychologist for Heroic Hearts Project, supporting wellness retreats for veterans and spouses with ayahuasca and psilocybin. Zach also continues his work as a therapist for The Mission Within, serving US Special Forces communities with a regiment of ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT. As an educator with UC Berkeley's Center of the Science of Psychedelics, and the California Institute of Integral Studies, his focus aligns military and veteran culture with traditional medicine practice. In conversation with Andrew Penn, MS, PMHNP