ABOUT
The Changa Institute story began in 2016 on the campus of Columbia University, where our founder Lisa, met her best friend, who brought about transformative changes to her life and perspectives. While broadening her horizons, the friendship also opened Lisa’s eyes to the trials, tribulations, and battles that people suffering from mental health and eating disorders face on a daily basis.
Around the same time, Lisa experienced her first psilocybin therapy, where she discovered the healing power of plant medicine. The experience and a substantial body of evidence from recently-published clinical research studies inspired Lisa to launch Changa Institute and drive tangible change in the mental health space.
Today, the Changa Institute is a leading educational and research center focused on developing psychedelic therapies for treating eating disorders, rising above traumas, and empowering mental health.
Inspired by her friend and emboldened by personal experiences, Lisa and her team work tirelessly to evangelize the healing power of psilocybin and help clients confront and resolve the barriers holding them back.
CHANGA FACULTY
Changa is committed to the success of every student. With that in mind, we have built a strong team of trauma-informed psychedelic therapists, industry researchers, and lead educators who represent a variety of disciplines, backgrounds, and perspectives.
During the program, we will host panel talks with top industry experts from around the world, where they will share their insides, fundamental discoveries and will be able to answer the questions of our students.
MEET THE TEAM
We are committed to developing evidence-based, time-honored best practices for training practitioners to safely, ethically, and effectively support people on a journey for healing using ethically sourced psilocybin mushrooms.
-
Founder | Chief Visionary Officer
Lisa has a degree in Architecture and extended studies in psychology from Columbia University.
She became an exclusive experience curator focusing on psychedelic therapy and somatic practices for treating trauma, eating disorders, and relationships.
Lisa is driven to help individuals build a solid educational foundation and become professionally trained psilocybin therapists to transform the world, starting one person at a time.
-
Program Director
Julia Rose Schatten is a dedicated educator with almost two decades of experience. She earned her Masters of Science in Education from Bank Street College of Education and has taught in numerous private schools across diverse settings in Hong Kong, South Korea, New York City, and Los Angeles. Julia's teaching philosophy focuses on developing customized curriculums that cater to individual interests, empowering learners, and fostering comprehensive understanding and skill development. She advocates for an interactive, hands-on approach that not only meets program requirements but also promotes engagement and meaningful learning experiences.
-
Educator
Samantha is a spiritual care practitioner trained in spiritual healing and interfaith chaplaincy.
She has worked at the NYU Center for Psychedelic Medicine on clinical trials exploring the treatment potential of psychedelic medicines. Her focus has been on trials of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of alcohol dependence and upcoming research on psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of existential distress in individuals with a cancer diagnosis. She offers spiritual healing and meditation through Atman Spiritual Healing, working with individuals who require healing preparation and integration support.
Samantha has completed graduate training from Columbia University in Spiritual Psychology, along with Interfaith Chaplaincy training from the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. Her contemplative training includes Vedanta yogic meditation lineage, Indo-Tibetan Dzogchen meditation, and both spiritual healing and constellation therapy. She is interested in integrating spiritual care and traditional healing practices into the facilitation process for psychedelic medicine work.
-
Instructor
Matthew is a licensed psilocybin facilitator actively supporting clients since co-facilitating the second session under Measure 109.
Matthew is an alum of the Changa Institute's first cohort and holds a Post-Graduate diploma in Teaching and Learning from the University of Canterbury College of Education, along with a Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology from the Evergreen State College. As a facilitator, he actively engages in ongoing professional development, recently completing an End-of-Life Doula certification from the End-of-Life Psychedelic Care training program. Matthew values the sharing of experiences through leading practicums and classes for facilitator training programs, participating in panel discussions at symposiums, being an active member of several facilitator support networks, and preparing and supporting clients through every stage of their personal journey with psilocybin.
With six years of experience as a youth crisis interventionist and program supervisor for at-risk young adults, he possesses a robust background in employing a trauma-informed approach to assist others through challenging situations and personal development. As a trained educator and experienced teacher, Matthew ensures his clients are well-prepared for their psilocybin journey, and he extends this commitment to the training of future facilitators. His decade-long dedication to endangered species recovery projects allowed him to work hands-on with a variety of wildlife honing his skills in relating to various forms of consciousness and nonverbal communication. Matthew's passion for entheogens has been cultivated over the course of 25 years and he is deeply grateful for the opportunity to utilize his range of skills and experiences in support of his community in the purposeful use of psilocybin and in training future facilitators.
-
Educator
Kylea Taylor, M.S., LMFT (CA MFC #34901) developed and now teaches InnerEthics®, a self-reflective, self-compassionate approach to ethical relationships for therapists and practitioners. She wrote The Ethics of Caring: Finding Right Relationship with Clients and has been writing and teaching about ethics for three decades.
In ordinary coaching or therapy, it is relatively easy to remember ethical guidelines, codes and laws. Yet when we are sitting for people who are experiencing extra-ordinary states of consciousness, the intensity often requires the additional ethical alertness of self-inquiry.
InnerEthics® Awareness Tools help us gently identify motivations, fears, biases, conflicts of interest, and ethically precarious relational situations before these result in behaviors that might compromise a client’s healing or expansion.
-
Educator
Research Assistant Professor, NYU Psychedelic Research Training Program Fellowship Recipient 2020-2023
B.S., M.A., PhD. Arizona State University
Research Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
-
Educator
Dr. Manesh Girn is a postdoctoral neuroscientist specializing in psychedelic drugs. Working closely with Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, he conducts functional neuroimaging research on the neural mechanisms underlying the psychedelic experience and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
He has been lead or co-author of over 20 peer-reviewed publications to date on topics spanning psychedelics, the default mode network, and related aspects of consciousness and cognition.
Manesh also serves as the Chief Research Officer at EntheoTech Bioscience, a pioneering Canadian bioscience company focused on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and multidisciplinary mental health solutions.
Beyond academia and industry, he runs a popular digital platform on YouTube and Instagram called "The Psychedelic Scientist”, where he disseminates the latest findings and developments in psychedelic science in a layperson friendly manner.
-
Senior Advisor
Dr. Richard Louis Miller, MA, PhD, has been a clinical psychologist for more than 50 years and is the founder of the internationally renowned Health Sanctuary at Wilbur Hot Springs. He hosts the syndicated talk radio show Mind Body Health & Politics. The founder of the nationally acclaimed Cokenders Alcohol and Drug Program, he has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan and Stanford University, an advisor on the President's Commission on Mental Health, a founding board member of the Gestalt Institute of San Francisco, and a member of the national board of directors for the Marijuana Policy Project.
In 2017, Inner Traditions published Psychedelic Medicine, an edited compilation of Miller's most popular radio interviews on the medicinal uses of psychedelics. The interviewees include Rick Doblin, Stanislav Grof, James Fadiman, Julie Holland, and Dennis McKenna.
In 2022, Inner Traditions published Psychedelic Wisdom. Dr. Richard Louis Miller shares stories of psychedelic transformation, insight, and wisdom from his conversations with 19 scientists, doctors, therapists, and teachers, each of whom has been self-experimenting with psychedelic medicines, sub rosa, for decades.
In 2022, Routledge published Integral Psychedelic Therapy, which Dr. Miller co-ed and edited with Drs. Jason Butler and Genesee Herzberg.
In 2023, InnerTraditions is publishing Freeing Sexuality, which looks at the stigmas of sex work, recovering from sexual trauma, sexual identification, gender fluidity, polyamory, and porn as a mirror for society.
In 2024, InnerTraditions will publish Graceful Dying: End of Life Transitions with Psychedelics, which looks at the benefits, especially for anxiety and depression, and the challenges of using psychedelic medicines as we transition to whatever comes next.
In 2025, InnerTraditions will publish Psychedelics: Adverse Effects. Breaking with the big pharma tradition of sanitizing Unwanted Complications of Medicine (UCM) by calling them "side effects" as if they are on the side and thus trivial, this book transparently reveals what is presently known by science regarding the unwanted complications of psychedelics.
-
Educator
Kaycie López Jones (she/they/ella/elle) is a transformational coach, consultant, and facilitator. With 15 years of experience as an intercultural educator and 8 years of experience as an equity facilitator, Kaycie has worked with youth and adults from diverse backgrounds. Initially, her vocational focus was within the field of education (ECE, K12, and Higher Ed) and the nonprofit sector. However, Kaycie has expanded her reach to work with various organizations dedicated to shifting their culture to create more equitable outcomes. She has trained, taught, and coached at both postsecondary and professional levels.
Kaycie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Analysis: Human Behavior and an inter-collegiate Master of Arts in International Development and Service with a focus on Intercultural Communication and Intercultural Education. She is the founder of transformational coaching, consulting, and facilitation practice focused on transforming and transmuting the energy of racialized intergenerational and historical trauma. She is currently studying to become a psychedelic-assisted somatic therapist and guide to deepen this practice.
Kaycie’s lifelong study is to explore the evolution of (human) consciousness, and all of her endeavors are guided by this North Star. Along this path, Kaycie has procured the support of several entheogenic plants and psychedelic medicines and is incredibly grateful for the wisdom and healing they facilitate. She is passionate about rediscovering and relearning the ancient ancestral ceremonial uses of plant medicines. While simultaneously shining a light on the culturally imperialistic agendas and tactics used to create false narratives and render Earth’s sacred medicine illicit in our modern-day society.
Kaycie employs equity, liberatory, and healing-centered lenses in her approach; and strives to impact those around her in ways that inspire critical reflection, self-actualization, and heartful collaboration.
-
Educator
Tracey is a clinical herbalist and holistic health consultant who has helped countless people overcome acute and chronic ailments that conventional medicine could not resolve. She has worked in informal settings, wellness departments, and health clinics. Her love of natural medicine started early, foraging for mushrooms with her dad, a serious mycophile.
She earned her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from San Francisco State University. During that time, she attended several workshops at the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, including "The way of Shaman" with Michael Harner and "Shamanism in Medicine" with Don Alberto Taxo. In 2003, Tracey attended The Spirit Vine retreat center in Manaus, Brazil, participating in multiple Ayahuasca ceremonies, awakening her gift of intuitive healing with entheogens. Then a fortuitous meeting with herbalist Juliette De Bairacli Levy led Tracey to study Traditional Western Herbalism at Vital Ways Institute.
Becoming an herbalist was key in Tracey healing herself. She became a Santo Daime member to further help her diagnose a mysterious illness that had been ailing her for years. After a year of ayahuasca ceremonies, it was revealed what plant medicine she needed to cure herself of a nearly fatal infection.
She's spent the last decade deepening her knowledge of natural medicine. She went with her husband to visit Paul Stamets for a medicinal mushroom cultivation seminar, which would later prove helpful for growing psilocybe cubensis. Her favorite mushroom for new growers, as well as beginner psychonauts, is Golden Teacher.
INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR TEAM?
Fill out the below form.