InnerTrek Team:
InnerTrek offers an all-star team of administrators, educators, and advisors who represent a variety of disciplines, backgrounds, and perspectives. Esteemed guest instructors also join from around the world in support of the Oregon effort.
Meet our staff
Tal Sharabi, MA
Lead Educator
Tal Sharabi is an experienced psychotherapist skilled in somatic and transpersonal models. Tal trained in psychedelic psychotherapy and research at the California Institute of Integral Studies, in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy through the Polaris Insight Center, and in MDMA-assisted therapy through her completion of Parts A-D of MAPS-Certified training. Tal is experienced in and enjoys designing and implementing therapeutic programs, mentoring new practitioners, and leading plant medicine retreats in different areas of the world.
Simon Yugler, MA, LPC
Lead Educator
With a masters in depth counseling psychology, Simon is a psychedelic therapist, educator, and the author of the forthcoming book, Depth Medicine: A Mythic Guide to Psychedelic Healing. For a year and a half he served as a retreat leader and therapist with MycoMeditations, a leading legal psilocybin therapy retreat center based in Jamaica. Weaving together Jungian psychology, mythology, IFS therapy, and psychedelic integration, Simon also draws on his diverse experience learning from Indigenous cultures across the world, including the Shipibo Ayahuasca tradition and the Native American Church. With a background in anthropology and experiential education, he has led international journeys for groups of young adults across 10 countries. Simon is passionate about helping his clients navigate the liminal wilds of the soul
Jason Foster, MA
Lead Educator
Jason is a seasoned therapist in private practice in Seattle, where he incorporates a deeply humanistic and psychospiritual outlook, informed by a strong core of ethics. Jason has served as lead supervisor with the Zendo Project and has over 10 years of experience in psychedelic facilitation and education in a variety of capacities. He trained in Core Energetics and has a second degree black belt in Aikido.
Jill Golden, PhD
Educator & Practicum Director
Jill Golden, PhD is an OR Licensed Psychologist and longtime entheophile. She brings experience in small business creation and management, event production, managing communities, psychedelic harm reduction services and the creation and holding of intentional containers. Jill has trained in various programs including the Polaris Insight Center. She continues to participate in ongoing training and education in trauma informed care, the use of psychedelic medicines for treatment resistant mental health disorders, psychedelic integration, IFS parts work, Polyvagal Theory, and sound healing techniques. She is committed to bringing evidence based best practice, ethics, and diversity, equity and inclusion to the psychedelic field.
Mario Alonso Martínez Cordero
Educator
Mario (also known as ‘Oneiros Speculum', The Dream Mirror), born and raised in Mexico, is an author and therapist. An expert in the field of Dreams and Visions, Mario holds significant experience in supporting sacred plants ceremonies and guiding psychedelic integration. With a master's degree in Philosophy of Religion, and complementary training in Transpersonal Psychology, he’s collaborated in several of Mexico’s educational and research projects on Psychonautics and Expanded States of Consciousness such as MINDSURF (Psychonautic Education), Via SYNAPSIS (Mexico’s Academic Congresses), NIDO (Psychedelic Care in Festivals) and NIERIKA (Entheogenic Research and Intercultural Therapy). Mario has engaged in fieldwork with the Mazatec people of Oaxaca, Mexico, and completed research on traditional mushroom ceremonies and indigenous perspectives on healing and entheogenic cosmology.
Erica Zelfand, ND
Distinguished Educator
Dr. Erica Zelfand is a licensed family doctor, ketamine provider, and psychedelic facilitator. Specializing in functional medicine and integrative mental health, she is well versed in pharmaceutical, nutritional, botanical, somatic counseling-oriented, and psychedelic approaches to healing. She has written extensively on the topic of psychedelics, offers seminars and courses for professionals, and regularly presents at conferences and medical school grand rounds. Erica also served as medical supervisor for the Zendo Project, supporting psychedelic safety and harm reduction.
Gina Gratza, MA
Distinguished Educator
Gina is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice with Looking Glass Counseling, specializing in somatic practices for the treatment of trauma, eating disorders, and relationships. She is trained in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD through the MAPS, Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy through The Polaris Insight Center, and is currently working with the OHSU-Portland VA as a study therapist on upcoming psilocybin-enhanced and MDMA-assisted therapy research with Veterans. Gina believes in the power of healing through compassion and connection.
Tom Eckert, MS
Program Director
Tom, a seasoned psychotherapist, is Founder and Director of InnerTrek’s Facilitator Training Program, and co-founder, with his wife Rachel, of InnerTrek’s Center for Psilocybin Services. Tom was the architect of Oregon’s Measure 109 and led the campaign to establish Oregon’s statewide Psilocybin Services Program. He served as the Chair of Oregon's Governor-appointed Psilocybin Advisory Board during its pivotal first year, and established the Sheri Eckert Foundation, the leading philanthropic provider of access to psilocybin training and services across the state of Oregon through scholarships and other supportive programs.
Val Adell
Community Manager
Val Adell began her career as a healing practitioner and community builder, working as a massage therapist, doula, apprentice homebirth midwife, herbal medicine maker, and music maker. She also has a deep background in small business and nonprofit administration, management, and training, with strengths in operations, finance, project and database management, event production, systems optimization, and client and customer relations. Val has been in longtime private practice providing one-on-one mentoring, both as a small business consultant and in support of clients navigating life's transitions and depths. She is a graduate of InnerTrek's first cohort of trained psilocybin facilitators.
Lisa Snyder
Director of Marketing
& Digital Operations
Lisa Snyder is a community developer, feminist, and seasoned digital artist with over 20 years experience in digital strategy and relationship management. She is deeply committed to women’s liberation through the self-healing revolution, with a focus in the queer, cannabis and psychedelic movements. Throughout her career, Lisa has developed local, national and international organizations, has produced over 500 interactive women-centered events, was a passionate advocate on PSI 2020 signature efforts in addition to voter pamphlet testimonials for Measure 109. She is an InnerTrek graduate and a state licensed psilocybin facilitator with a dedication to fostering meaningful connections and experiences.
Nate Howard
Director of Operations
Nate was an advisor to Oregon’s Ballot Measure 109 (Psilocybin Services Initiative), helped with Ballot Measure 110, and was a founding member of the Craft Cannabis Alliance and the campaign to create interstate adult-use cannabis commerce to accelerate the end of the drug war. He currently facilitates the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance. Along with his brother Aaron, Nathan founded East Fork Cultivars in 2015. He also serves on the Oregon Cannabis Association’s Board of Directors as its Vice Chair and the Co-Chair of its Political Action Committee. He is a leader in Oregon’s political community and served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Mayor.
Dan Self
Creative Director
Dan is an experienced creative director who shapes narratives to connect and capture hearts. He is adept in storytelling and likes to blur the lines between artistry and strategy, evoking profound experiences. From multimedia projects to thought-provoking campaigns, his work pushes boundaries and engages audiences, creating curiosity and conversations. Dan has deep experience across many channels including film, advertising, B2B and B2C marketing, and with diverse clients from Fortune 100 to startups and non-profits. He has a passion for the psychedelic space and is a graduate of the Inner Trek facilitator program.
Meet our advisors
Our Advisors are leading experts in their respective fields that help guide InnerTrek's mission.
Bia Labate, Ph.D. - Curriculum Advisor
Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). She is also Visiting Scholar at Naropa University’s Center for Psychedelic Studies and Advisor at the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition and at InnerTrek. Dr. Labate is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-six books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles.
Hannah McLane, MD, MA, MPH - Program Advisor
Dr. Hannah McLane is a physician, psychoanalyst, and entrepreneur. She is the Founder of SoundMind Institute, a Philadelphia and Oregon-based psychedelic facilitator training and research initiative aimed at bringing ethics, equity, and innovation to the psychedelic ecosystem. She is the clinical director of the SoundMind Center, the first psychedelic therapy center in the Philadelphia region, and training director for retreat offerings in Philadelphia, Oregon and Costa Rica. She attended McGill University and holds graduate degrees from Temple University (MA, Communication Sciences, Spanish Concentration), Brown University (MD, Doctor of Medicine, Contemplative Studies Concentration), and Harvard School of Public Health (MPH, Global health and Bioethics). She conducts research on cognitive diversity, psychedelic science, ethics, PTSD, and emerging alternative therapies for mental health issues.
Robin Carhart-Harris, Ph.D - Science Advisor
Robin Carhart-Harris is the Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at UCSF and a founding Director of UCSF’s Neuroscape Psychedelics Division. He is a pioneer of psychedelic science who, while heading the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, designed groundbreaking functional brain imaging studies with psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, and DMT and completed multiple clinical trials using psilocybin to treat depression. Robin has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is one of the most cited researchers in the field. He holds a PhD in Psychopharmacology from the University of Bristol.
Heather Robinson, Ph.D. - Education Technology Advisor
Heather Robinson is an online learning consultant who started her career in technology in 1995. In 2010 her passion for teaching inspired a transition into education, where she started teaching and developing courses in Moodle. She presently teaches courses in the areas of computer science, information systems, and learning technologies. She earned a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies from the University of North Texas in 2016. Heather researches online collaborative learning, critical pedagogy, and care ethics in online learning. She enjoys spending time hiking in the mountains and learned to sail last summer.
Lauren Foss Goodman, MFA, M.Ed.
Lauren has always worked in education, as a teacher and consultant in China and Japan and more recently as a public higher education administrator and adjunct faculty member in the U.S. She is committed to open education and equity-minded online course design, and loves helping others learn how to use Moodle to achieve their individual goals. Lauren has an MFA in Fiction Writing, an M.Ed. in Learning, Media, and Technology, and is currently completing a PhD in Instructional Technologies at UMass Amherst. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Yuchao, and two children and loves playing games of all kinds, cooking and eating, making things, and traveling to Taiwan to spend time with family and friends.
Some of the InnerTrek Team members hanging out at the Horizons Northwest conference in September 2022 at the Portland Art Museum
Join The Team
Interested in joining the InnerTrek Team? Fill out the below form