Maya Fern (She, Her)

Maya Fern is a queer, trans woman, and board-certified hypnotherapist living in Eugene, Oregon. She is SoundMind Institute’s Oregon Psilocybin Program Coordinator and Instructor in the SoundMind Psychedelic Facilitator Training Program. Throughout her life, psychedelics have played a profound role in deepening her understanding of her own identity, inspiring her to empower others in discovering how greatly the subconscious mind shapes our inner and outer worlds. She has a passion for understanding and working with marginalized communities in the psychedelic space and is dedicated to supporting their unique journey in a purposeful, intentional way.

Maya has helped build the SoundMind Identity Initiative, creating free content around the use of psychedelics to explore aspects of one’s gender and sexuality identity. Together with Dr. Hannah McLane, Maya co-authored “Trans-Affirming Care in the Psychedelic Space: A Guide for Therapists, Clinicians, Facilitators, and Healers”.

Hannah McLane, MD, MA, MPH (she, they)

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.

Chris Stauffer, MD (He, they)

Dr. Stauffer is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Physician-Scientist with the VA Portland Health Care System, and dual board-certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Stauffer is an OHSU medical school alum, completed Adult Psychiatry Residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and was an Advanced Neuroscience Research Fellow at the San Francisco VA prior to receiving a Veterans Affairs Clinical Science Career Development Award.

Dr. Stauffer serves as Supervisor for MAPS’ MDMA Therapy Training Program, mentor for the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research certificate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, core faculty for the Integrative Psychiatry Institute’s Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Training, course contributor for Psychedelic.Support's "Foundations in MDMA and Psilocybin Safety, Therapeutic Applications & Research", member of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board’s research subcommittee, and is part of the training team with Polaris Insight Center.

Emma Knighton, MA, LMHC, RYT (SHE, THEY)

Emma Knighton, MA, LMHC, is a white, queer, able-bodied femme. She is a somatic trauma therapist, psychedelic integration therapist, embodied organizer, and conscious leader. In their clinical work, Mx. Knighton works at the intersection of complex PTSD from childhood abuse, queer identity development, and consciousness exploration. Her clinical and leadership approach is grounded in queer, consent, feminist, and anti-oppression/pro-liberation theories. Mx. Knighton teaches courses on integrating trauma-informed consent practices into psychedelic-assisted therapy and strives to be in service to the psychedelic space with integrated mind, body, spirit, and community. Mx. Knighton holds a master's in counseling psychology from Bastyr University, a Certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy and Research from CIIS, and a master’s level Certificate in Holistic Health from St. Catherine University. A lifelong learner, she is in sacred relationship with their ancestors, tree elders, plant teachers, and the collective consciousness.

Mia Sarno, PsyD (She/They)

Mia Sarno is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the state of California. Mia is gender fluid, pan/queer, and uses she/they pronouns. She also goes by "Dr. Mimi." Her lifelong interest in consciousness inspired her to become a healer that is both scientifically and mystically informed. She completed her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant University, where she returned to teach as an Adjunct Professor. She completed the MAPS MDMA Therapy Training and is a study therapist for research with LSD, psilocybin and 5MeO-DMT. In addition to her private practice, she works with Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute serving clients with Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy.

Along with healing from complex trauma, Mia opened to her gender identity and sexuality through exploring plant medicine. She is passionate about self-expression and strives to create spaces for people to express themselves fully and colorfully.

Brad Wells

Spanning a career of over 30 years, Founder and CEO Brad Wells is a serial entrepreneur with business experience in Canada, the United States, and Central America. Brad began his plant medicine journey in 2017 which changed his life. A transformational shift occurred in his view of life and business, and a newfound sense of purpose emerged. His experience with medicine allowed him to see clearly his identity as a gay man. For him, in order to live authentically, he decided to come out. He made a dramatic life shift, concluding a 25-year marriage and exiting his company. Currently, he is creating a nonprofit plant medicine retreat center in Costa Rica leveraging the learning from his business career with the undertaking of providing opportunity and experiences for those who are seeking to create positive change in themselves and therefore creating change in the world. Brad currently serves on a number of Board of Directors that include a publicly-traded company listed on NASDAQ and the Toronto Stock Exchange. He is now in a committed relationship with a wonderful man and he splits his time between the US, Canada, and Costa Rica.