Walking with others through their healing journey is a calling, a pull from somewhere deep inside that you were meant for this path. Like many roads in life, the path is winding and obstacle filled, full of grief and joy. As I reflect on what led me to psychedelic healing, I am met with memories of sitting with my longtime patients suffering from treatment resistant depression, PTSD, severe anxiety, profound grief and disconnection. As a primary care physician, I knew we had to do better than this. I wanted to offer better treatment options than what I could provide in a 15-minute appointment, which was antidepressants and referrals for counseling. We were just scratching the surface of their pain, and they deserved so much more. We all deserve so much more.
My scientific mind led me to pore over research studies on psychedelics and pursue training in Psilocybin Facilitation and Ketamine Assisted Therapy. The studies are just too good to ignore, and I feel hopeful in a way that I haven’t in medicine in years. But there is so much more to this story than data and research studies. Through my own experiences with psychedelics, I addressed traumas that were long buried, I reconnected with my own humanity and began the process of healing my own grief through meaning making and exploring the subconscious. Scientists are still trying to figure out why psychedelics work, and the answer isn’t easily quantifiable. Every individual’s experience is different so every answer is different. The privilege of facilitation is to create a space where others are free to explore their inner landscape to uncover what is ready for healing. I am in awe of the transformative potential, and I am in awe that my calling has led me here.
Through life experience, I have cultivated a special interest in working with clients who struggle with mental health, loss and grief, healthcare provider burnout, postpartum depression, cancer (I am a breast cancer survivor), and end of life anxiety.
Though I have since given up my work in primary care, I am a Board Certified Family Medicine/Obstetrics Physician and have worked in the Salem/Silverton, OR area for 13 years. It was a beautiful career with the most amazing patients and colleagues, but my work with psychedelics and my cancer diagnosis gave me the clarity that it was time to take these experiences and bring them into the work of REbirth and transformation. I am a Licensed Oregon Psilocybin Facilitator and graduated from the Innertrek program in 12/2023. I opened Medicinal Innovations, my Ketamine Assisted Therapy practice, in 4/2023. I also serve on the board of Inanna Rising, a collective of psychedelic clinicians and therapists dedicated to ushering in a new era of mental health and well-being. I also facilitate extended integration journeys in the Oregon and Washington wilderness in the summer months with Evolve Wild. I am thrilled to be a part of Gather and this offering to our community. My hope is that you find it to be a place where your inner healing, renewal and growth can flourish.
