SoundMind BIPOC Psychedelic Leadership Program
This program is 10 months in length and features monthly groups to learn leadership skills, make connections and network, and create a core group of first cohort BIPOC leaders to conceptualize decolonizing psychedelics from the inside out. We meet monthly with 5 core facilitators.
This fellowship is majority BIPOC-only with some additional networking opportunities outside the BIPOC space. We meet on Wednesdays at 6PM PT.
WHAT: 15 fellows will be chosen, see the link below for the application form
WHO: BIPOC future-leaders in the psychedelic space
WHERE: Online Zoom, with a goal to meet in person as cohort grows together
COST: This is free for fellows/participants
HOW APPLICANTS ARE SELECTED: The selection committee looks at merit, identity (aiming for diverse voices in the BIPOC space) and potential for growth and need for support in endeavors. We are looking for artists, activists, facilitators, community leaders, writers, and so many other options for potential leadership. If you don’t know your exact medium or direction, that is fine too!
We are creating this space to help you find your voice and create a community-oriented new direction within the psychedelic space that is affirming and supportive of BIPOC individuals and with a goal to have many more cohorts into the future to grow this space. We also put our fellows on the SoundMind website so organizations can easily find them in order to invite them for speaking or other engagements. Excited to read your applications!
Program Facilitators:
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.