Speakers: Gisele Fernades-Osterhold MFT, Bia Labate PhD

Learning Objectives

Gisele Fernandes-Osterhold

1. Provide an overview of the current landscape of research on psychedelics and mental health.

2. Discuss how the model of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy for mental health differs from pharmacotherapy only focused treatment.

3. Explore how the concept of the hungry ghost applies to how psychedelics are perceived in the US and Europe.

Bia Labate

1. Discuss indigenous approaches to psychedelic plant healing.

2. Compare and contrast the model of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy to how psychedelic plant medicine is utilized in indigenous cultures.

3. Discuss the impact of psychedelic tourism on indigenous communities.

Dr. Bia Labate (Beatriz Caiuby Labate) is an anthropologist, educator, author, speaker, and activist, committed to the protection of sacred plants while amplifying the voices of marginalized communities in the psychedelic science field. As a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco, she has been profoundly influenced by her experiences with ayahuasca since 1996. Dr. Labate has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil. Her work focuses on plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is the Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and serves as a Senior Advisor for Culture and Strategy at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Additionally, she is a Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and acts as advisor for around 15 organizations, among them the Heroic Hearts Project, Soltara Healing Center, Sacred Plant Alliance, and the Alaska Entheogenic Awareness Council. Dr. Labate is also a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and the editor of its site. She has authored, co-authored, and co-edited 29 books, three special-edition journals, and numerous peer-reviewed and online publications.

Gisele Fernandes-Osterhold is the director of facilitation for psychedelic therapy at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), a mentor at the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research at CIIS, and faculty at the certificate for psychedelic therapy at the CAMP (UFRN) and Instituto Alma Viva in Brazil. A practicing psychotherapist for over 25 years, Gisele specializes in the treatment of trauma, using an integrative approach rooted in Somatic, Humanistic-Existential and Transpersonal psychologies. She is dedicated to diversity and inclusion in her clinical, academic, and research engagements. Gisele sits on the Advisory Board of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines.