Washington State BIPOC Psilocybin Educational Forum

The study and use of psilocybin-containing mushrooms continues to move into the forefront of the public eye as states like Oregon and Colorado have legalized service centers for therapuetic use. Washington State is not far behind.

The Washington State BIPOC Psilocybin Speakers Forum will broadly educate the general public on topics from (please see agenda) history of and ethical use, to current legislation.

Please join us.

MLK FAME Community Center

3201 E Republican St, Seattle, WA 98112

Attendance is limited to 150 participants. Please register in advance to assure your spot.

Tickets are needed for in person attendance only.

Agenda:

9:00-9:15 Welcome

Dr. Lisa A. Price

9:15-10:00 History of Psilocybin Use and Ethical Considerations

Hailey Maria Salazar

10:00- 10:45 Mechanism of Action/Science and Safety

Dr. Tavasi Silvas

10:45-11:30 Clinical Research/Medical Indication/Research Gaps

Dr. Lisa A. Price

11:30-12:15 Legislative Update

Tatiana Luz

12:15-1:00 Legislative Round Table and Catered Lunch (Native Soul Cuisine)

Hosted

1:00-1:45 Western Use/Service Center Models

Ric Escobedo

1:45-2:30 BIPOC Acces to Psilocybin

Dr. Sunil Aggarwal

2:30- 3:15 Practical Use

Lauren Feringa

3:15-3:30 University of Washington Clinical Trail Update

Dr. Nathan Sackett

Bios of speakers:

Hailey Maria Salazar

Hailey Maria Salazar (she/ella/aapo) belongs to the Yoeme people as an enrolled member of the Yaquis of Southern California and is a descendant of the Sierra Madre peoples of Chihuahua. As the medicine carrier of her maternal lineage and scholar, she is grounded and engaging in research as a process of reclamation, revitalization, and regeneration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Her areas of interest include Indigenous traditional ecological and cultural knowledge, ethnobotany, ethnomusicology, archives, liberation theory, and data sovereignty. She serves as Assistant Professor at Portland State University, and Native Pathways Program Faculty at The Evergreen State College. Hailey Maria is a board director and cofounder at Copyleft Cultivars, a nonprofit working to preserve and protect vulnerable plants using copyleft, education, and genetics research. Hailey Maria holds a Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Studies with the focus on Indigenous medicine and music from The Evergreen State College and a Master of Arts in Indigenous Education from Arizona State University.

Dr. Tavasi Silvas

Dr. Tavasi Silvas, founder of Tavasi Labs, specializes in medicinal and culinary mushroom cultivation consulting and holistic health coaching. With a background in biochemistry and biomedical science, Dr. Silvas has shifted from pharmaceutical R&D to educating and advocating for psychedelic medicine and medicinal sovereignty. They conduct workshops locally and internationally, including queer/BIPOC-centered sessions, and are a former member of the Psilocybin Working Group for Washington's Health Care Authority, co-founder of its equity sub-group, and currently training as a Psilocybin Facilitator at Naropa University.

Dr. Lisa A. Price

Dr. Lisa Price is a licensed Naturopathic Physician in the State of Washington, and a research scientist. She has been involved in the clinical and basic science research of fungi/mushrooms for over 30 years. She is a founding member of the WA BIPOC Psilocybin Collective, and also a former member of the Psilocybin Working Group for Washington's Health CAre Authority, and co-founder of its equity sub-group. She is the organizer of the speaker's forum. BIPOC access to legilative decisions is a focus of hers.

Tatiana Luz

Tatiana Luz has been a community organizer and drug policy advocate in Seattle, WA since 2020. She helped lead the effort to pass a resolution in Seattle deprioritizing arrests related to psychedelics in 2021. She continues to lead and mentor other advocates in WA state as co-Director of the Psychedelic Medicine Alliance of Washington and is leading a statewide psychedelic ballot initiative with REACH WA. She is passionate about equitable access, safer use and ethical community based care with psychedelics.

Ric Escobedo

Ric Escobedo is descendant of the Wixárika people from the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains in what is today known as Mexico. He is a Climate Change and Environmental Justice advocate living on p’squosa –Wenatchi Ancestral Lands.

Ric is a Strategy Consultant with a special focus on innovative behavior health programs and Indigenous-lead Conservation. By training, he is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice with a focus on healing intergenerational trauma, complex trauma, and addictions. His service is community-centered with migrant agricultural workers, tribal communities, and combat veterans.

Ric holds certifications in Individual and Group Crisis, Psychedelic Therapies and Research and Climate Action Planning. He serves as a mentor with the Berkley Center for Science and Psychedelics and was a member of the WA HCA Psilocybin Task Group.

He is co-founder of KIERI Healing Sanctuary. The sanctuary offers traditional ways of healing, Ecotherapy and earth-based healing practices integrating sustainable conservation.

Dr. Sunil Aggarwal

Sunil Aggarwal is a South Asian American physician and medical geographer based in Seattle, WA who hails from Muskogee, Oklahoma. He is a Board-Certified Fellow of both the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, where he was named a Top 20 Emerging Leader. He is Past Chair of the Integrative Medicine Special Interest Group and an inaugural member and chair-elect of the Safe Use in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies Forum at the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is a former Voluntary Clinical Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at the UW School of Medicine, an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Geography in the UW College of Arts and Sciences, and an Affiliate Clinical Faculty Member at Bastyr University School of Naturopathic Medicine. He maintains a clinical practice at AIMS Institute where he is Co-Founder and Co-Director and serves as a Hospice Physician and On-Call Palliative Physician for a Puget Sound-based healthcare system. He has been qualified as an expert in cannabis and psilocybin medical and religious use in county, state, and federal courts. He is petitioning for Right to Try access to psilocybin for patients.

Lauren Feringa

Lauren is the Director of Hippie and a Veteran Foundation. An organization dedicated to spreading awareness, education and access to alternative, culturally and individually appropriate PTSD treatments & therapies for Veterans. A former Army Combat Medic, they are a Medical Access Activist and Advocate that advises on Suicide Prevention in Veteran & marginalized communities at the local, state and federal level.

Dr. Nathan Sackett

Nathan Sackett, MD, MS is trained as an addiction psychiatrist, focusing on the intersection between substance use and psychiatric disorders. He attended medical school and nursing school at UCSF, graduate school at UC Berkeley and completed his adult psychiatry residency and addiction psychiatry fellowship at the University of Washington. He is now a junior faculty at the University of Washington in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences where he splits his time between seeing patients and research. Clinically, he works primarily outpatient seeing a range of patients with primary psychiatric issues and substance use disorders. His research focuses on the use of psychedelics to treat substance use disorders with a particular interest in how psychedelics can augment the psychotherapeutic process and facilitate behavioral change.

Host or Publisher WA BIPOC Psilocybin Collective