2018 Grant Recipient Update-Roundup
Lucia Terpak, 2018 awardee, continues to conduct exploratory interviews with ibogaine providers, after-care providers, and others in the world of ibogaine-assisted addiction therapy. Her fieldwork is set to begin by April at an ibogaine detox clinic in Cancun, Mexico. We are excited to be supporting part of Lucia’s journey and cannot wait to hear about her results! Has began requesting funds from her grant for software and travel for her fieldwork in Mexico.
Brandon Weiss, 2018 awardee, has continued to recruit for his project. He has also began recruiting from a second retreat center, Soltara Healing Center in Costa Rica. Soltara Healing Center’s Public Relations representative is currently drafting a press release detailing the general design and aims of his project, as well as Soltara Healing Center’s involvement with this project. Brandon is doing wonderful, much needed longitudinal research examining the ceremonial use of Ayahuasca and its effects on personality.
Olivia Marcus, 2018 awardee, is finishing up the last two months of her fieldwork, which involves the investigation of Ayahuasca-assisted therapies for mental health in the Peruvian amazon. In January, she was invited to conduct a workshop at PsycheForum Aya 2019, a mental health-oriented forum related to the World Ayahuasca Conference in Girona, Spain. She will travel to Spain for both of these events. She has also presented/will be presenting at the following at workshops and conferences. She also attended the American Anthropological Association conference in San Jose CA. Congratulations on all of your presentations! Has used her proposed funding to attend both conferences where she presented.
Marcus O., 2018 awardee’s ‘Integrating ayahuasca experiences into western paradigms of mental health: Questions from the field’; paper presented at 2017 workshop, ‘Neuroscientific and Socio-Cultural Approaches to Hallucinogenic Experience’;, Stanford University, California.
Gabby Agin-Liebes, 2018 awardee, is conducting a long-term follow-up examination of outcomes associated with psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy on anxiety and psychosocial distress in cancer patients. She is currently preparing to submit a manuscript for publication from her findings. We are excited for Gabby’s progress and will hopefully be hearing about her results soon!