Psychedelic Professionals Meet: DENVER

Psychedelic Professionals Meetup Groups are happening!  Let's keep Colorado on the leading edge of psychedelic medicine work by coming together in community to learn, share, and grow. Each Psychedelic Professionals Meetup Group starts with an informative topic relevant to research, practice, policy, or activism around psychedelic medicines, followed by open discussion and an opportunity to connect with like-minded others. 

October Panel Discussion

Psilocybin Mushrooms as Medicines: Stories of Patients Facing Incurable Illness

In this very special Psychedelic Professionals gathering, we are privileged to welcome two Coloradoans, Erin and Chris, who will share with us their personal experiences with facing incurable illness, their journeys toward psilocybin mushrooms as part of their care, and the impacts psilocybin has had on their lives. We will also use this conversation as an entry point to consider policy and advocacy implications for expanding access to psilocybin, particularly in the context of psilocybin decriminalization in the city of Denver and Right To Try advocacy efforts nationwide. Erin and Chris have incredible stories to share, and we are grateful to them for their vulnerability and willingness to speak out about their experiences. This gathering is meant for palliative care, healthcare, mental health, and other professionals, and policy makers and advocates, to listen deeply and honor the stories of persons who are actively encountering life with incurable illness. We invite you to join us with open hearts and minds as we consider the value of psilocybin mushrooms as medicines!

Erin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in trauma treatment. She was diagnosed with incurable cancer in 2019. She is the mother to two young daughters. Erin feels as both a mental health professional and cancer patient that psychedelic medicines should be legal, accessible and studied for their therapeutic value.

Chris was a Corporate Executive in the marketing industry when he developed inoperable spinal tumors and was given a prognosis of two years to live. Chris is also diagnosed with chronic pain and advanced peripheral neuropathy, complex PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, and end of life anxiety. After his doctors recognized that standard pharmaceuticals were not addressing all of these struggles, they pursued using the Right To Try law to allow access to psilocybin mushrooms. Since 2018, and through a lot of trial-and-error, Chris has developed a regimen of micro-dosing that has been highly successful in eliminating his depression, mitigating the effects of complex PTSD, and radically reducing his opioid and benzodiazepine intake, which has included Fentanyl, Oxycodone, Dilaudid, and Valium.