Psychedelics in palliative care has become an exciting new framework for people looking to ease anxiety and embrace spirituality, but the concept is not as simple as just providing a substance.

In this episode, Joe interviews Livi Joy: Director of Health and Safety, Existential Palliative Ministry Lead Facilitator, and more at Sacred Garden Community (SGC).

As she screens applicants for SGC (and Beckley Retreats), she talks a lot about the process and the safety measures that are absolutely necessary when using psychedelics in palliative care – especially under the framework of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Does the patient have at least one strong support person? Do they need to start or increase therapy? Does their home need to be rearranged due to possible fall risks? How will certain medications muffle their experience? Are they truly physically healthy enough to be able to handle a powerful journey? And also, is the sacrament always necessary?

She discusses:

• How preparation questions for a journey are often in line with preparation for death
• Why it’s important to provide these experiences for people far from the dying process itself
• What Sacred Garden’s core tenant that everyone can have an experience with the divine means to her
• Atheism and the complications that arise when discussing spirituality and consciousness: Who’s really in charge?
• How psychedelics can help with understanding and preparing for death, but our culture is too death-phobic too embrace it

and more! For links, head to the show notes page: 

In this episode, Joe interviews Erica Rex, MA: award-winning journalist, past guest, thought leader on psychedelic medicine, and participant in one of the first clinical trials using psilocybin to treat cancer-related depression.

She tells the story of her recent harrowing experience, brought on by 6 times the amount of Syrian rue that was recommended: from entities threatening her, to a sense of terror she was going to die, to finding her way out of it with time, and most importantly, context to process and a strong support system. She and Joe emphasize the reality that bad trips can happen at any time, with any dose, for any reason, and that – if you can make your way through the experience without being traumatized – you can learn a lot about yourself during those states.

She discusses:

• Methods to help others having a bad experience
• Her skepticism about psychedelic therapy being in a medical context at all
• Her thoughts on the recent ICER recommendation against approving MDMA and the multiple topics not addressed
• Possible complications from MDMA use nobody talks about, from cytotoxic effects to even sudden-onset psychosis
• The pathologizing of anything outside the ordinary, to the point that we’re trying to suppress natural human emotions and reactions

and more! 

Rex's book, “The Heroine’s Journey: A Woman’s Quest for Sanity in the Psychedelic Age” will be published by She Writes Press in the spring of 2026. For links, head to the show notes page.

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, Johanna interviews Monica Nieto: Vital graduate, psychedelic facilitator and integration coach, and founder of Holistic TherapeutiX, a retreat center offering cannabis and breathwork retreats; and Jordana Ma: past Vital instructor and psychological counselor who runs retreats in Peru following the Asháninkan tradition of traditional Amazonian medicine.

They discuss their similar paths to psychedelics and healing, the power of plant dietas and fully immersing yourself into nature, and learning to hear your true teacher: the inner healer. They highlight how we’ve lost the connection to the ecological consciousness within our bodies, and how the plants – perhaps in a self-serving way – have become allies, trying to teach us to heal the web we’re a part of and reconnect to nature and ourselves.

They discuss:

• The importance of combining traditional perspectives and Western psychotherapy into a spiritual practice
• The similarities between yoga and traditional Amazonian medicine
• Singing as a somatic (and breathwork) practice
• How things are meant to work in synergy, and the problem with science trying to extract compounds rather than respecting the power of the whole plant
• Their role models who have inspired them and informed their work

and more! The Vital Early Bird discount ($2000 off!) ends on July 22, so make sure to apply today! For links, head to the show notes page. 

In this episode, Joe interviews Jon Reiss: critically acclaimed filmmaker, author, and host of the Plantscendence podcast, which tells people’s psychedelic stories and is beginning its second season soon.

He talks about his early days of directing Nine Inch Nails and Type O Negative videos, and how Plantscendence was born after he realized that the conversations he was having with people about their most transformative experiences were perfect for a podcast. He discusses his first psychedelic experience with ayahuasca, how microdosing is helping him today, and his realization that people can get to these big experiences in many different ways.

He discusses:

• The two episodes of Plantscendence that stand out the most to him
• Using the term, ‘plant medicine’
• His 30 years of meditation practice and how it likely helped him to integrate his first psychedelic experiences
• The concept of plant intelligence and how plants can stop you from being a “consciousness tourist”
• Kabbalah, Kashmir Shaivism, non-duality, and his Shaktipat experience

and more! For links, head to the show notes page. 

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, David interviews Sara Reed: Vital instructor, lecturer, and lead psychedelic research therapist at Imperial College London; and Alex H. Robinson: Vital student, integration coach and psilocybin facilitator for Heroic Hearts Project, and distinguished Army SOF combat Veteran with a decade of active duty service.

Reed has worked with MAPS to make clinical trial populations more diverse and is creating culturally sensitive Clinical Research Forms for future research trials, and Robinson spearheaded her unit’s Cultural Support Team program and contributed to policy changes to help place women into traditionally male-centric Special Operations roles. Representing marginalized groups themselves, they’re both passionate about making psychedelic therapy more inclusive and representative of the general population, and getting more practitioners up to speed to be able to deliver culturally competent care.

They discuss:

• The importance of having difficult conversations and calling out bad behavior
• The fallacy of zero-sum thinking: Doing something special for a smaller community doesn’t take away from the main goal; it adds to it
• The benefit of being able to self-reflect and personalize content when most psychedelic education consists of one-sided lectures
• The challenge of getting people who don’t feel represented to enroll in clinical trials, and how personal stories go a long way

and more! For links, head to the show notes page.  Vitalpsychedelictraining.com

In this episode, Joe and REMAP Therapeutics Founder, Court Wing, host Lynn Watkins: medically retired USAF JAG & Ops Resource Mgmt Specialist; and C.J. Spotswood, PMHNP: principle psychiatric clinician at REMAP Therapeutics, and author of The Microdosing Guidebook: A Step-by-Step Manual to Improve Your Physical and Mental Health through Psychedelic Medicine.

Watkins tells her story of 20+ years of chronic pain: from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome brought on by a severed nerve to multiple foot surgeries, chest pains, cognitive issues, the inability to move her toes, burning mouth syndrome, and more, which unsurprisingly resulted in depression, anxiety, and being unable to work. Wing and Spotswood talk about their initial assessment, how they figured out how to work with her and her multitude of medications, and the incredible success they saw when combining practiced techniques, neuromodulation, and regular assessments with neuroplastic windows brought on by psilocybin.

They discuss:

• How much preparation was done before introducing psychedelics, and the importance of realizing that they were dealing with PTSD
• How often a history of chronic pain is related to a history of trauma, whether the patient realizes it or not
• Consequences and complications of medications, specifically Clonazepam in Watkins’ case
• The cascade of ailments and side effects that can happen from just one injury

and more! For links, head to the show notes page. 

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, David interviews Casey Paleos, MD: Vital instructor, researcher, psychiatrist with a private practice offering ketamine infusion therapy and KAP, and co-founder of Nautilus Sanctuary, a non-profit psychedelic research, education, and advocacy organization. 

Paleos talks about how stress creates trauma, and how the symptoms Western medicine tries to silence are actually signals – a quality assurance mechanism sending an alert that something is wrong, and that when symptoms are labeled as ‘treatment-resistant,’ is it actually a case of one’s own inner healing intelligence outsmarting a medication to make sure that that message is delivered?  

He discusses:

• MAPS’ recent advisory board ruling, past ethical violations, and how training should be done
• How consent in a therapeutic relationship is an ongoing process of checking in
• How psychedelic-assisted therapy (and maybe all therapy) is simply removing obstacles so one’s own inner healing intelligence can do its job
• The importance of a culture (and training) that celebrates all therapeutic modalities as complementary: There’s a lot of uniqueness in this world, so we should embrace that  

and more!

For links, head to the show notes page. 

In this episode, Kyle interviews Peter A. Levine, Ph.D.: developer of Somatic Experiencing®, educator, and author of several best-selling books on trauma.

His most recent book, An Autobiography of Trauma: A Healing Journey, is exactly that: a change from more scholarly writing into an extremely vulnerable telling of his early childhood trauma and how he has healed over the years. He talks about how his unconscious convinced him to write the book, how trauma can move into the body, and how he needed a student to identify how his trauma was affecting him. He believes that we all have wounding, but it's how we carry these wounds and tell our truth that matters. 

He discusses: 

• The need to allow space for both Indigenous traditions and evidence-based Western frameworks
• The power of having even just one distinct moment of feeling cared for and loved
• How Colin Turnbull saw healing differently after living with an African tribe for three years
• Why he suggests 15-20 sober experiences with non-ordinary states for each drug experience
• Why not having a community or empathetic other makes us more vulnerable to trauma

and more!

For links, head to the show notes page. 

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, Johanna interviews Erika Dyck: author, professor, historian, Vital instructor, and research chair in the History of Health & Social Justice at the University of Saskatchewan.

Dyck talks about the book she co-edited: Women and Psychedelics: Uncovering Invisible Voices, which was released in March as a Chacruna anthology, and collects pieces from several different authors highlighting the untold or lesser known stories from women throughout psychedelic history. Albert Hofmann was the first person to intentionally ingest LSD, but who was the first woman to do so? Who were the women assisting in research or sitting with experiencers in the early days who never got the credit for their contributions? Who were the women supporting some of the biggest psychedelic names in history?

She talks about:

• The contrast in societal attitudes towards psychedelic exploration based on stereotypical gender roles
• Some of her favorite stories from the book, including a woman diagnosed with manic depression becoming one of the first guides in LSD trials
• The use of psychedelics in pregnancy and birthing practices across other cultures
• Traditional gender attributes: Are women more wired to care for others? Is there something about the psychedelic experience that’s inherently feminine?
• The importance of moving past the gender binary and implementing more diversity in research – with the challenge of needing to universalize medicine at the same time

and more! For links, head to the show notes page.

In this episode, Joe interviews Lia Mix, LMFT, CPTR: founder and CEO of Delphi, a consulting firm dedicated to the healthy growth of the psychedelic movement.

After many years of working in community mental health and 15 years in the commercial health insurance industry (where she helped to establish coverage for autism), Mix was one of the first graduates of CIIS’s training program, and after a very distinct MDMA-assisted therapy session, she wondered: “How can I be of service?” She’s since helped to launch The Board of Psychedelic Medicines and Therapies, the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association, and Enthea, and is working every day toward a more unified and uniform psychedelic space, with healthcare frameworks, official boards and certifications, consumer protections, and a general consensus that this is our responsibility to manage – not some outside regulator’s. So how can we, as a scattered psychedelic community, come together?

She discusses:

• Her path to psychedelics and how nobody was talking about how to bring psychedelics into healthcare
• The need for a unified code of ethics for any practitioner of psychedelic therapy
• The FDA, Lykos Therapeutics, and how the recent advisory committee’s recommendations on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy were largely based on fear
• How there actually is a lot of financial possibility if we can all agree on what is absolutely essential right now

and more! For links, head to the show notes page.

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, David interviews Kaitlin Roberson: Vital graduate and co-founder and CEO of Cacti Therapeutics, a psychedelic biotech company developing novel therapies for chronic pain; and Dr. Michele Cox, DO: current Vital student, veteran, physician, and co-founder of LifeBloom, a brand new company focusing on bringing community and connection into women’s healthcare.

They talk about their work: Roberson’s research on trauma and chronic pain, and why she feels that working in the pharma industry is a calling; and Cox’s framework as an osteopath, the value she’s found in touch and connection, and how she explains to clients what to expect when undergoing ketamine treatment.

They discuss:

• Why psychedelics are such useful interventions
• The body’s ability to tell us what’s wrong, as long we’re listening
• The destabilization that can occur after a big experience: If you don’t have a good support system, is it really the right time?
• Self-care and our tendency to never feel like we’re good enough
• How there is energy in everything and we should all recognize that more

And, as Vital students, they talk about what they hoped to get out of Vital and how it delivered more than expected. If you’re just discovering Vital, be sure to check out the website and fill out an application. Secure your spot and take advantage of the Early Bird discount! For links, head to teh show notes page.