tNikiya is a guide, artist and mother of two with twin passions in the creative and healing arts. She has a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies weaving Eastern Religion, Sociology & Ecology and is a certified Skills for Change coach, a Holy Fire Reiki practitioner, has studied Hakomi, the Rosen method, Relational Somatic Healing (RSH) and Buddhist meditation. She is also an interior sylist  and lover of sculptural architecture, perenially exploring the relationships between people and the spaces they inhabit. She lives on unceeded Nisenan land in the foothills of Northern California.

Danielle M. Herrera, LMFT has spent her lifetime understanding the depth of the human experience in the realm of drug use, addiction recovery, and harm reduction. She was among the first generation of clinicians to train in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Now, she is the founder and director of her group private practice, Tender Hearts Healing Arts, where she provided psychedelic psychotherapy (ketamine-assisted) and integration, faith-based psychotherapy, spiritual emergence integration, and couples/relationship, family, and friendship therapy. She is a course facilitator with Beckley Academy, a supervisor and clinical consultant for Alchemy Community Therapy, and serves on the Board of Directors for DanceSafe National. 

tayla shanaye MA, PhD (she/they) is a biculturally Black living body engaged in somatic decolonial Black feminist scholarship, education and coaching. tayla has a master’s in somatic counseling psychology and a doctorate in women’s spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies. tayla is the founder of Embody the Revolution which provides somatically-oriented therapeutic coaching for private clients, somatic education for adults and university students, and somatic mentorship. tayla is also the Co-Founder of retreat center We the Earth located in Northern Michigan and is co-director and facilitator at Weaving Earth.

tayla’s work weaves together the wisdom of the body with the spiritual significance of animate matter to guide individuals and groups toward a deeper understanding of existence as both a guide, teacher, and author.

For over 10 years, Alisha has offered support to people on their journey towards inner awakening and collective transformation. After receiving her Master’s Degree in Holistic Health Education, she began working alongside spiritual teachers like Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Eckhart Tolle, and A.H. Almaas to design and implement courses, in-depth trainings, online summits, local events, international retreats and conferences. Alisha currently lives in Woodacre, California on unceded Coast Miwok territory.

Dimple Pajwani is the Managing Director of Client Services at Mind Share Partners. She leads its workplace mental health strategic advising, culture transformation and training services, helping organizations to create mentally healthy cultures where everyone thrives. 

Dimple is drawn to helping people and organizations flourish. She has over 15 years of experience leading strategy, operations, and innovation at nonprofit and for-profit organizations. In her roles as an executive, she has led organizational development, culture change, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work. Prior to Mind Share Partners, she served as the Deputy Director at SupplyBank.Org and as the Chief Operating Officer at SPUR. As a management consultant at PwC, she built two innovative practices — HR Analytics and Healthcare Modeling. At Blue Shield of California and Stanford Children’s Health, she built portfolios of innovation programs that advanced patient outcomes in novel ways.

Previously, Dimple served as an independent consultant for the John Burton Foundation, the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, the United Nations, and the UK Department for International Development, where she advised on national and international policy matters. Dimple started her career as a software engineer and brings the engineering problem-solving mindset to her work. 

Dimple is a restorative practitioner and non-violent communication (NVC) coach. Since 2010, she has mediated community cases, led restorative processes, built restorative programs and systems for organizations, and trained and coached groups and individuals on restorative skills and NVC. She recently served as the Chair of the Board of Directors for SEEDS, a conflict transformation nonprofit, and as a strategic advisor for the Transformative Justice Institute, a restorative justice nonprofit.

Dimple holds an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, an M.P.P. from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School, an M.Sc. in Operations Research from Strathclyde University, and a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Houston.

Dr.sc.hum. Dipl.-Psych Anja Loizaga-Velder, is a German-Mexican clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, with humanistic orientation. Parallel to her psychological practice Anja has been learning from and collaborating with Indigenous entheogenic healing specialists for over 30 years.  She also has extensive experience in supporting preparation and integration processes with psychedelics in individual and group settings.

She is Co-founder and director of research and clinical services at the Nierika Institute for Intercultural Medicine, in Mexico, a NGO dedicated to the preservation of indigenous traditions with sacred plant medicines and research around their therapeutic applications for mental health and personal growth.  She has published several research articles and book chapters that explore the therapeutic potential of entheogens for the treatment of mental health challenges and has presented her work as speaker in many conferences. Anja teaches in diverse psychedelic therapy training programs. She also collaborates as board member of the  International Society for Substance Assisted Psychotherapy.

Originally from Brazil and based in the Netherlands, Jessika is a trauma-informed plant medicine facilitator, microdosing coach, educator, and Women On Psychedelics co-founder. Jess’ work is focused on the creation of spaces that amplify avenues for self-expression, self-acceptance, and self-awareness. 

Women on Psychedelics is an educational platform and event organizer committed to connection and community, fostering a culture of holistic healing and authentic self-expression for empowered female autonomy. Its mission is centered around ensuring access to psychedelic education, harm reduction, and safe spaces for women globally.  

All of Jessika’s work is informed by taking action in a way that serves the Earth and our human collective, in hopes of mobilizing inner healing towards outer action.

Frederica Helmiere is a complexity enthusiast and an aficionado of transformational learning experiences. Fascinated by the ways that consciousness, worldviews and discourses change and expand, she has spent the past twenty years exploring the tools available to respond to civilizational crises, especially the modern West’s loss of the sacred. Frederica currently serves as Head of Workshops and Programs at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. Prior to this, she served as Director of Psychedelic Practitioner Training at The Synthesis Institute.  Frederica holds masters degrees in ethics from Yale Divinity School and in the eco-justice movement from the Yale School of the Environment. She has served as a Peace Corps volunteer, taught at the University of Washington and Seattle University, and worked as a global interfaith peacebuilder at the United Religions Initiative. A first generation American, child of Belgian immigrants, she lives in Seattle with her partner and two daughters.

Bennet researches, teaches, and advises on regenerative economics, psychedelics, and leadership. Current projects include ongoing work on the Pollination Approach – a regenerative economic approach to delivering mental health treatment ­– and research on the effects of psychedelic-assisted, consciousness-expanding experiences on decision-making by organizational leaders.

Bennet serves as Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He also serves as a director or advisory board member for Usona Institute, Nautilus Psychedelic Medicine Institute, Brooklyn Psychedelic Society, and the Intercollegiate Psychedelic Network.

Bennet is a frequent keynote speaker, conference panelist, and podcast guest. Links to talks and writings can be found on his LinkedIn page.

“In my role as advisor to Gather Well I support the development of regenerative practices for delivering psychedelic-assisted mental healthcare. This role aligns with my personal mission to foster the emergence of a regenerative economic system.”

Damon works with individuals and organizations to help them identify their fundamental vision and purpose, articulate their culture and values, and develop a strategy for manifesting their potential.  His distinctive approach combines elements from the  humanities, technology innovation design, and mindful somatic psychology.

As a professor, Damon teaches courses in philosophy and  related areas at Columbia, Stanford, U. Penn., NYU, and San Quentin State Prison (now Mt. Tamalpais College). He has a special interest in leading “Great Books” seminars to bring the history of Western thought to life for contemporary students.

As a technologist, Damon has co-founded three successful startup companies — including the social search engine Aardvark, where he was CTO — and led teams at each through acquisition. He was the first “In-house Philosopher” at Google, where he was also a Director of Engineering leading a breakthrough cross-company AI research initiative.  He now consults with mission-driven companies on strategy, with a particular specialty in AI and ethics.

Damon has extensive experience in public speaking at venues ranging from TED to academic conferences to large corporate events.  He has semi-professional experience in theatre (as a director) and music (as a classical pianist).  He earned a BA from Columbia, a MS in Artificial Intelligence from MIT, and a PhD in Philosophy and Cognitive Science from Stanford.  He has also completed comprehensive training in Hakomi Experiential Psychotherapy, which he integrates into his advising and coaching work.  Damon has served on the Board of Directors for several arts and humanities non-profits, ranging from the Del Sol String Quartet to California Humanities.

“In my experience advising Gather Well over the past few years, I have been impressed by the sincerity and thoughtfulness. Through an extended process of deep reflection, the team has managed to preserve the invaluable elements of their lineage, while also effecting a transformation into a new and vital organization that responds to learnings from the past and is designed to meet the specific challenges of our time. I believe that there is great potential for this evolving project, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to its development.”