Psychedelic Professionals Meet: Denver

Let's keep Colorado on the leading edge of psychedelic medicine work by coming together in community to learn, share, and grow. Each Psychedelic Professionals Meetup Group starts with an informative topic relevant to research, practice, policy, or activism around psychedelic medicines, followed by open discussion and an opportunity to connect with like-minded others. 

For our August gathering, we are excited to welcome a stellar panel of women to speak to Global Perspectives on the Psychedelic Renaissance. Our panel is moderated by Lucia Terpak and includes panelists Karla Gonzales Garcia, Dr. Caroline Conzelman, and Andrea Valeska Arnold -- all of whom have rich and varied international backgrounds to inform a lively discussion regarding the global impact of the psychedelic resurgance we're seeing here in the U.S. Please plan to join us!

We are meeting in-person on the second floor of the Mercury Cafe. We will livestream this panel discussion on Facebook. The Mercury Cafe will have tables spaced apart for social distancing, so seating is limited. Please confirm your space by purchasing a $5 ticket for the event. Masks are required for socializing and mingling when not seated at your table with food or drink. 

SPEAKER BIOS:

Dr. Caroline Conzelman is a cultural anthropologist and Senior Instructor with the Global Studies Residential Academic Program and the International Affairs Program. She directs a Study Abroad seminar in Bolivia and teaches courses on democracy, drug policy, globalization, sustainability, Latin America, and community engagement. She is Faculty Adviser for CU's Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) chapter and the Psychedelic Club. Since 2014, she has organized—together with students and colleagues—an all-day Cannabis and Psychedelic Symposium to promote public education on ancient uses of these medicinal and ceremonial plants and their modern political, economic, and therapeutic relevance. She is also president of the international Board of Directors for the Andean Information Network out of Cochabamba, Bolivia, which focuses primarily on researching the impacts of drug prohibition policies and innovative nonviolent reforms.

Andrea Valeska Arnold is from Chile. She has been an activist of Natural alternatives for healing since 2015 when she, for the first time, discovered psychedelics in the search of help for her brothers. She was involved in Psychedelic society of Brooklyn and co-launched Psychedelic  society of Nashville. She volunteered as one of the co-creators of Decriminalize Denver's initiative, not being able to be a sponsor nor collecting signatures for not being an American Citizen. Now she is supporting Latin America’s initiatives since the growth of Decriminalize Nature Chile. Andrea works as an Integration Coach with women in the path of self-empowering and vibrational alignment. She believes everyone deserves healing and one of her goal is to help Chileans integrate the trauma of the military coup.

Karla Gonzales Garcia is the policy director for the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR). Since moving to the U.S from Peru, Karla has focused on outreach and engagement with immigrant communities, advocacy for and with survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, education and advocacy for sexual and reproductive health, and advancing reproductive justice policy. Karla was recently appointed to the Colorado’s Governor “Health Care Cost Analysis Task Force” where she will be working towards equitable access to health care for the most vulnerable. Karla earned her MA in Ethnic Studies with Women and Gender Studies in 2016 from Colorado State University where she developed a strong foundation in research, skills and knowledge to advance a decolonial, multiracial, transnational feminist, and human rights centered framework.

Moderator: Originally from the Washington D.C. area, Lucia Marie Terpak holds a B.A. in Religious Studies with a minor in Psychology from Wake Forest University and an M.A. in Medical Anthropology from CU Denver. For her master’s thesis, Lucia used qualitative methods to understand the experiences of Americans who travel to Mexico to detox from opioids using ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic and "addiction disrupter" which is designated as Schedule 1 in the U.S.. She will be presenting the results of her study this fall at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research. Lucia currently works as the Program Manager for the Program for Injury Prevention, Education, and Research at the University of Colorado Anschutz. Lucia's academic/ research interest areas include social determinants of health, medical tourism, substance use and addiction, harm reduction, psychedelic medicine and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, ritual theory, and collaborative research methodologies.