Theme: Gender Issues
Friday, October 18th
Current debates about the standing of LGBTQIA+ persons have raised new awareness around gender and sexuality. People whose sexual attractions and gender identities cannot be contained within hetero-normative (and binary/cisgender) culture have always existed, but oppression, discrimination, and violence against them have long been the norm and continue. In the U.S. transgender people have been especially singled out for targeted abuse. We must re-envision a radically inclusive society that gives full permission to individual sexualities and identities. This session will look at the systemic oppression of gender and sexual minorities in the context of intersectionality and explore how to achieve the full inclusion of all genders to help bring humanity to its full potential. With: Erica Anderson, Ph.D., President of USPATH, the newly created affiliate of WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health; Fresh “Lev” White, CEO of Affirmative Acts Consulting; Salgu Wissmath, a nonbinary photographer whose work explores the intersections of mental health, queer identity, ethnicity, and faith.
October 18th | 2:45 pm to 4:15 pm | Women's Tent
Panelists
Erica Anderson
President-Elect | USPATH - World Professional Association for Transgender Health
Erica E. Anderson, Ph.D., an eminent clinical psychologist, academic administrator, healthcare executive and professor (currently at UCSF Benioff), as well as a consultant to major companies, has had an illustrious four-decade long career in public health, clinical psychology, healthcare management and pediatrics. A leading expert in transgender and gender nonconforming health issues, she is the President-Elect of USPATH, the newly created affiliate of WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
Fresh “Lev” White
CEO | Affirmative Acts Consulting
Fresh “Lev” White, CEO of Affirmative Acts Consulting, is a Bay Area-based certified coach, diversity trainer, mindfulness meditation teacher, speaker, and writer. Lev is also the founder of the Trans and GQ Mindfulness Sangha and a contributor to several collections and anthologies, including Real World Mindfulness for Beginners, Trans Buddhist Anthology, and Trans Bodies/Trans Selves.
Salgu Wissmath
Photographer
Salgu Wissmath, a nonbinary, Sacramento-based photographer whose work explores the intersections of mental health, queer identity, faith, and stories by and for people of color and the queer community, currently freelances for editorial publications and nonprofits in Northern California. Salgu's past editorial work has been published in a wide range of leading media, including The New York Times, Guardian, and NPR.
While women’s movements are foundational in the struggle to create a far more just, equitable and compassionate world, we will never solve the whole problem unless we transform the outmoded but dominant toxic ideas of what a “real man” is. Join leading figures in the quest to forge a new form of Sacred Manhood who have worked in very challenging environments to help at-risk boys and men transition to far healthier and more productive ways of inhabiting their bodies, minds, communities, and the planet. With: Jerry Tello, co-founder of the Healing Generations Institute, NCN; Jewel Love Jr., psychotherapist and CEO of Black Executive Men; Hector Sanchez-Flores, Executive Director of the National Compadres Network (NCN). Hosted by Will Scott, co-founder of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education.
October 18th | 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm | Showcase Theater
Panelists
Jerry Tello
| Sacred Circles Center
Jerry Tello of Mexican, Texan and Coahuiltecan ancestry, raised in South Central Los Angeles, has worked for 40+ years as a leading expert in transformational healing for men and boys of color; racial justice; peaceful community mobilization; and providing domestic violence awareness, healing and support services to war veterans and their spouses.
Jewel Love
CEO | Black Executive Men
Jewel Love is a licensed psychotherapist, CEO of Black Executive Men, and Creative Director for Urban Healers. All three of his ventures seek to help men heal, establish healthier relationships, and launch their unique purposes in life.
Will Scott
Co-Founder | Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education
Will Scott is a co-founder and member of the teaching team at the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education. He co-creates nature-based, relationally-focused educational initiatives that reside at the intersections of ecological health, human development, social justice, and emergent response.
Hector Sanchez-Flores
Executive Director | National Compadres Network
Héctor Sánchez-Flores is the Executive Director of the National Compadres Network (NCN), an organization that develops and supports culturally centered programs for boys and men of color, Latino and Indigenous youth, and families. NCN draws from the ancestral wisdom and resilience of communities affected by trauma and racism to promote deep healing and transformative, equitable change.
Saturday, October 19th
4:30 pm: Women, Diversity, and Sexual Minorities in the Psychedelic Community
Hosted by The Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines
Although the enormous growth of interest in and research on psychedelic substances’ potential for psychological healing and consciousness expansion is exciting, there are shadow sides of the psychedelic community that require attention. Women’s contributions to the field have too often been downplayed, and the abuse of women in some psychedelic underground circles has been a serious problem. Also, people of color, LGBTQ and other minority communities have been under-represented in psychedelic conclaves. A stellar panel of figures at the cutting-edge of inclusivity advocacy in the psychedelic community will share their perspectives on how to remedy these problems. Hosted by Bia Labate, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute, on the faculty of The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), and Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). With: Emily Sinclair, leader of the Ayahuasca Community Guide for the Awareness of Sexual Abuse initiative; Sarah Scheld, a coordinator of MAPS’ MDMA Therapy Training Program; Monnica T. Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut; Sara Reed, MS, MFT, a study therapist in the Psilocybin-assisted Psychotherapy for Major Depression initiative at Yale University.
October 19th | 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm | Larkspur Room
Panelists
Bia Labate
Executive Director | Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines
Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Ph.D. (in social anthropology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil, is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. She is also Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). She has published twenty books.
Emily Sinclair
Anthropologist | Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Medicines
Emily Sinclair is an anthropologist whose research focuses on the globalization of ayahuasca and its impacts, especially in the Iquitos region of Peru where she was based between 2014 and 2018. She is a member of the Ayahuasca Community Committee of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Medicines, and a leader of the Ayahuasca Community Guide for the Awareness of Sexual Abuse initiative.
Sarah Scheld
Training and Supervision Associate | Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
Sarah Scheld, a Training and Supervision Associate for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Public Benefit Corporation, helps coordinate and develop curriculum for their MDMA Therapy Training Program. She recently collaborated on a Code of Ethics for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy providers. Her work focuses on trauma awareness, somatics, and the ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help heal people, communities, culture and the environment.
Monnica Williams
Chair of the Board | Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines
Monnica T. Williams, Ph.D., is a board-certified licensed clinical psychologist, an Associate Professor in the University of Connecticut's Department of Psychological Sciences, and Clinical Director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinic in Tolland, Connecticut. Her work is focused on improving cultural competence in the delivery of mental health care services and reducing barriers to care. She sits on the Advisory Board of the Chacruna Institute.
Sara Reed
Marriage and Family Therapist | Behavioral Wellness Clinic
Sara Reed, MS, MFT, is a Marriage and Family Therapist at the Behavioral Wellness Clinic in Tolland, Connecticut and a Study Therapist for the Psilocybin-assisted Psychotherapy for Major Depression initiative at Yale University. A member of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Advisory Board, Sara also served as a Sub-Investigator and Study Coordinator for MAPS' Phase 2 MDMA Clinical Study of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
What would a queer ecological future feel like, sound like, taste like? Join us for a prideful celebration as we step into that future together. Through an evening of visionary music, art, performance, and community conversation, we will celebrate the biological exuberance of this queer earth, honor the legacies of survival and resilience of our LGBTQ history, explore the impact of climate change on our communities, and dream-up together how we build that queer ecological future where all beings survive and thrive. There will be music, art and refreshments. This will be a safer space for LGBTQ+ members of our Bioneers community to meet and celebrate our identities and our diverse and symbiotic work for justice and sustainability. Allies are welcome. Facilitated by Vanessa Raditz, Orion Camero, Kyle Lemle.
October 19th | 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm | Youth Unity Center
Panelists
Vanessa Raditz
Co-founder | Queer Ecojustice Project
Vanessa Raditz, MPH, a queer farmer, environmental educator, and culture-shifter with an academic background in Environmental Health Sciences, is dedicated to transformative youth programming that supports community healing, opens access to land and resources, and fosters a thriving local culture and economy based on human and ecological resilience. Vanessa co-founded the Queer Ecojustice Project collective, which educates and organizes at the intersection of ecological justice and queer liberation.
Orion Camero
Visual Storytelling Educator
Orion Camero, a queer visual storytelling educator, coalition-builder and community organizer, works at the nexus of social, ecological, and economic issues to advance intersectional justice. A Filipinx two-spirit with roots in California’s Central Valley, Orion is one of the stewards of the California Allegory poster project of the Beehive Design Collective, a global arts activist collective that translates movement stories into pen-and-ink fable murals.
Kyle Lemle
Founder | Lead to Life
Kyle Lemle, an organizer, facilitator and musician, works to catalyze the impact of organizations working at the intersections of environmental justice, forest restoration, and spiritual ecology around the world. A former leader of CA RISE for Climate and SustainUS UN Climate Talks delegate, he is currently Director of Distributed Organizing with GreenFaith. Kyle is also the founder and Co-director of Lead to Life, and the renowned Thrive Choir vocal group.
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