Animations for Access Project

Creative Directors:

Hannah McLane, MD, MA, MPH

Dr. Hannah McLane is a physician, psychoanalyst, and entrepreneur. She is the Founder of SoundMind, a Philadelphia and Oregon-based psychedelic facilitator training and research initiative aimed at bringing ethics, equity, and innovation to the psychedelic ecosystem. Dr. McLane identifies as queer, white, able-bodied, and neurodiverse. She grew up in rural New Hampshire and spent several years in South America and East Asia.

Dr. McLane conducts research on cognitive diversity, psychedelic science, ethics, PTSD, and emerging alternative therapies for mental health issues. She is the clinical director of the SoundMind Center, the first psychedelic therapy center in the Philadelphia region, and training director for retreat offerings in Philadelphia, Oregon, and Costa Rica.

She attended McGill University and holds graduate degrees from Temple University (MA, Communication Sciences, Spanish Language), Brown University (MD, Doctor of Medicine, Contemplative Studies Concentration), and Harvard School of Public Health (MPH, Global health and Bioethics). She attended residencies in neurology and Occupational and Environmental medicine (University of Pennsylvania) and completed a fellowship in Patient Safety at the VA Hospital in Philadelphia. She also completed a 5-year psychoanalytic training program and considers herself a relational psychoanalyst.

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 Psychotherapy 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. He can be reached at drjmccowan@gmail.com

OUR GOALS

We have formed a committee of psychedelic practitioners, animators, and others, in which our goal is to create more accessible mental health, wellness, and psychedelic medicine information to a broader audience. 

Our specific aims for this project are to:

• Create accessible information and lower the threshold of accessibility to address the stigma of mental health in many communities who most need this information.

• Provide information about psychedelic medicine in accessible formats to increase enrollment of patients who identify as BIPOC and other marginalized groups.

• Provide information to mental health practitioners who identify as BIPOC to increase interest in this area as a professional option.

• Open a dialogue between groups that are more likely to be represented in psychedelic communities - which is often overwhelmingly white - and those who are less represented - primarily BIPOC - about what is needed to create a more diverse community now and into the future.

• Create accessible wellness and psychedelic information for cognitively diverse populations in the form of visual media

Psychiatrist and SoundMind Advisor, Dr. Nicole Christian-Brathwaite discusses the role of meditation and mindfulness in Black communities and the compounding affects that racial microaggressions have on the wellness of Black people and People of Color.

Support:

Kwasi Adusei

Kwasi Adusei is a psychiatric doctor of nursing practice and the founder of the Psychedelic Society of Western New York. While managing the Psychedelic Society, he led the development of the Sanctuary Project, a grassroots psychedelic harm reduction program modeled after the Zendo Project. Additionally, he organized events like the Global Psychedelic Month of Service and the Global Psychedelic Earth Day Cleanup. He is also on the Psychedelics Today advisory board and a trainee in the MAPS MDMA-assisted psychotherapy training for people of color.

SoundMind Animation Interns:

ISABELLA WACHSLER | ANIMATION ARTIST

Isabella is currently working toward a BFA in Illustration. She is interested in exploring and bringing to life a wide array of topics through illustration, animation, and printmaking.

SALLY CHEN | ANIMATION ARTIST

Sally Chen is currently studying for an Illustration BFA and a minor in Psychology. She is deeply interested in  projects that further social justice and mental health work, and wishes to help uplift marginalized voices through poetry, children’s books, and animations.