01/22/2026
I just returned from Washington, DC, where I had the privilege of attending a social work research conference. I centered my focus on the future of psychedelic science and the timing couldnโt have been more powerful.
I stood at the MLK Parade, honoring a legacy that reminds us that justice, courage, and collective action are not optional, theyโre required and silence isnโt an option.
I connected with researchers, clinicians, and scholars who have helped shape the academic psychedelic space over the past 20+ years. These are people doing the slow, rigorous, ethical work.
I canโt explain the feeling of walking into a room and the speaker read my name tag and said she had heard so much about me and was hoping our paths would cross ๐ช
Social workers are everywhere in this movement. We are advocating at the policy level, grounding the science in ethics, centering communities, and pushing for access that doesnโt replicate the same systems of harm.
Psychedelic work is not just about molecules, itโs about people, power, history, and healing. ๐ชฌ๐ฌ๏ธ๐ชถโ๏ธ๐ชท
There is real momentum right now. Government buy-in. Public funding. Serious conversations happening in rooms that used to be closed.
Social workers belong in those rooms. This is what macro practice looks like. This is what evidence-based advocacy looks like. This is what it means to carry forward MLKโs call for justice into modern healing spaces.
The work continues rooted in research, guided by ethics, and driven by the belief that healing is both personal and political. ๐คโจ๐ค๐ผ
