BIPOC Psychedelic Leadership Program

SoundMind is committed to access, inclusion, and
support of BIPOC-affinity spaces

 

SoundMind’s BIPOC Psychedelic Leadership Program is dedicated to decolonizing the psychedelic space, empowering BIPOC leaders through mentorship, education, and a vibrant community network.

 

The first cohort of SoundMind’s innovative BIPOC Leadership Program launched in March 2023 and completed in October 2024.

This program is led by the incredible mentors and teachers listed below, and participants were an incredible group of BIPOC leaders coming together to create community and grow the affinity space.

For this inaugural program, SoundMind selected a core group of BIPOC fellows and leaders with the mission to conceptualize decolonizing psychedelics from the inside out, network, and teach core leadership skills. Our goal is to have more cohorts in the future to grow and cultivate this safe space.

We are committed to creating spaces to support the decolonization of psychedelics, and it is our hope that this program pushes other Training Institutes to launch similar accessible programs and support spaces. This program was launched and supported by SoundMind’s internal financial resources, and no grant was received to support this program. We are considering what grants may be available into the future to offer more trainings like this one.

Features of the BIPOC leadership program:

  • 10 month leadership program, meeting bi-monthly

  • BIPOC Affinity Space

  • Free for all participants, and all mentors and teachers were paid speaker-fees

  • Supported and platformed exceptional BIPOC leaders in the psychedelic space

  • 15 outstanding BIPOC Fellows were chosen for the cohort

  • Developed a growing network of mentorship and community

  • Learned core leadership skills to increase BIPOC representation in the space

BIPOC Training Student Maria Reyes on her SoundMind Experience

BIPOC Psychedelic Leadership

Jonathan (Quest) Brown

Jonathan “Quest” Brown is a conscious alchemist, plant medicine practitioner, and integration coach and is based in Pittsburgh, PA. Following the passing of his mother in 2018, he turned to yoga and psychedelics for healing, becoming a certified yoga teacher and reiki master. Today, Quest acts as a conduit, combining shamanic practices and indigenous technologies with modern tools to share his unique blend of creativity and wellness. He helps others remember that they hold the power to their own healing.

Joseph McCowan, PsyD

Joseph McCowan, PsyD is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, currently working in Los Angeles as a co-therapist in the MAPS sponsored phase 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. He is an alumni of MAPS August 2019 MDMA Therapy Training for Communities of Color. Joseph is deeply passionate about furthering education and awareness of the healing benefits of psychedelics for communities of color and in working to improve mental health outcomes for historically underserved communities.

Johanna Verley

Johanna is a Certified Sound Healing Practitioner, Yoga Nidra Practitioner, Breathwork Facilitator, and Reiki Master. She is first generation Jamaican-American and grew up in Harlem, New York. She uses various healing modalities to create a container for the individual to explore their self-discovery, to encourage their optimal well-being and to empower them with the tools to strengthen their own innate ability to heal. She is excited to help lead the SoundMind BIPOC Psychedelic Leadership Program and has a passion to support other BIPOC individuals through their psychedelic healing journeys. She has a particular interest in using psychedelics to heal from race-based trauma and gun violence, and believes the peer support model is the way to create more cultural sensitivity and support.

Favianna Rodriguez, PhD

Favianna Rodriguez is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and activist based in Oakland, California. Her work and collaborative initiatives address migration, economic inequality, gender justice, and ecology. She is the founder and president of The Center for Cultural Power, a national arts organization that empowers artists to disrupt the status quo and envision a truly just world rooted in justice. She has received the Robert Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Fellowship, the Atlantic Fellowship for Racial Equity and the SOROS Racial Equity Fellowship. She is interested in expanding her learning around indigenous practices and earth-based tools to help hold space for BIPOC social justice leaders to heal from racial trauma. She is also working on a short film about her own healing journey with psychedelics and plant-based food.

Dr Kwasi Adusei

Dr. Kwasi Adusei is a service-oriented, curious Ghanaian native passionate about the intersections of community, wellbeing, and technology. He is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, co-founder of the Psychedelic Society of Western New York, and led the development of a grassroots psychedelic harm reduction organization called the Sanctuary Project. As an educator and community organizer, he is informed by his experience with the war on drugs and community mental health, both as a patient and a clinician. He serves on the boards of Reconsider, the Source Research Foundation, the Psychedelic Medicine Association, and the Psychedelic Research And Training Institute, and is part of the Diversity Working Group for MAPS and an adjunct at the California Institute of Integral Studies.