About Us
The Portland Psychedelic Society is a project of PEERS 501c3 – a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding and legitimization of modalities of consciousness. PPS hosts and participates in informational, educational, social and advocacy events to facilitate an informed and conscious community.
Portland Psychedelic Society is a community of people who come together to foster evolutionary work on ourselves and help others integrate their experiences and foster their self-work. We emphasize creating an atmosphere of safety and mutual guidance and support, honor, trust, and integrity.
We are a gathering of spiritual seekers and curious intellectuals looking for physical, psychological, or emotional healing, or to offer help to those who do. Everyone has a role that gives meaning and relevance to the group as a whole.
Portland Psychedelic Society is an educational group, providing accurate and factual information on the spiritual and scientific aspects of entheogens and their use. We are an advocacy group, creating greater public awareness and less social stigma around the subject of entheogens.
Portland Psychedelic Society participates in and hosts events that support research, freedom to worship, and decriminalization efforts. Portland Psychedelic Society is a social outreach group to provide social support, within the expectations of our knowledge and training and within legally acceptable boundaries (i.e., we are not medical professionals and cannot give medical advice or treatment).
Portland Psychedelic Society is an informational, educational, social, and advocacy group. We are NOT the place to buy or sell drugs or ask where to obtain drugs.
Our Team
Kayci Marie Mitchell
President
Kayci is a certified transformational life coach and gifted intuitive healer with many years of experience in helping individuals transcend a wide range of negative states health on all levels. She has over 37 years in the field of addiction recovery. She is a certified transformational life coach with training through Being True To coaching organization, a mastermind group facilitator, licensed massage therapist, Reiki master, nutrition consultant, and certified in numerous other healing modalities. She has worked on site with several Ibogaine detox treatment clinics and aftercare centers in Baja Mexico as an onsite coach as well as business development consultant.
Kayci became aware of treatment models integrating psychedelics 7 years ago. She began to see the expanded options that people had for treatments for a wide variety of conditions and the amazing recovery results. She was introduced to the sacred plant medicine Ibogaine being utilized for addiction treatment and began working with numerous Ibogaine treatment clinics and aftercare facilities. This expanded into a knowledge and use of a variety of sacred plant medicines for personal and spiritual growth, mental health conditions and addiction recovery treatment.
Kayci integrates these treatment models into her transformational coaching practice, educational workshops and support circles. As part of this process, Kayci became active with the Portland Psychedelic Society several years ago. She works with the organization speaking and facilitating integration circles and workshops to provide educational opportunities for the general public and advocating the work.
Kayci is committed to forging a solid foundation for PPS and sees the importance of unity and stability on the Board, in addition to an expanding professionalism. She champions the importance of working together and is especially eager to work toward an organization that is inclusive and eliminates the stigma associated with psychedelics.
Jayson Harris
Event and Media Chair
After consuming Terence McKenna lectures on YouTube daily for over a year, Jayson became obsessed with finding out what the psychedelic experience could be, he decided to try the heroic dose. Jayson had his first psychedelic experience when he was 35. Jayson had an intense experience, the outcome of which was a radically new perspective on his life. One of the important elements of his trip was about communications and the pursuit of elements of his life in a different manner. In particular, instead of viewing video presentations, he realized that he wanted to create videos. He wanted to film people like Mckenna and propagate their messages and make them accessible to everyone.
Jayson was a founding member of the board of the PPS. He has served as a video volunteer for the organization, as well as creating and managing the PPS videos on YouTube. He served as multimedia production manager of both the 2018 and 2019 Portland Psychedelic Conferences. He continues to serve on the board in a variety of roles in social media, events and organization.
Joe Eaton
Professional Chair
His career in the mental health arena started in 1966 with his first job as a Psychiatric Technician at St. Vincent’s Hospital in NYC. His first LSD trip inspired his dream to become a Psychedelic counselor. Nixon’s War on Drugs interrupted that dream. After receiving his Masters in Counseling from U of O he worked at White Bird Clinic for several years doing harm reduction at Grateful Dead and other rock concerts. He worked 8 years in three different Psychiatric Hospitals, 10 years as case manager at Lane County Mental Health and 17 years in a psychiatric urgent walk-in clinic in Portland.
Upon retirement amid the recent resurgence of psychedelic research, Joe decided to work assisting people with their decision to explore psychedelic states. He is profoundly grateful to have lived long enough to be part of this amazing revitalization in the psychedelic revolution. He is living his 19-year-old dream. It is even more profoundly rewarding than he imagined.
He believes that we have a powerful PPS board that is supporting and creating a community; sharing real information, discovering truths, supporting researchers and education, helping those who want to use psychedelics to explore the nature of existence and supporting those who are curing themselves of debilitating mental and physical conditions. Joe is a willing leader to provide the setting we can all discover truth and wisdom in the wonderful chaos of our profound journey together and he wisely advises us: ‘Don’t forget to dance.’
Nathan Cooper
Art Director
Nathan has autism and was diagnosed with Complex PTSD from childhood. He feels that psychedelics have changed his life and art in profound ways. From LSD he has learned to appreciate himself and, for the first time, experience significant reductions in persistent anxiety and depressive thoughts. MDMA has helped him to accept and move beyond some early childhood traumatic experiences. Psilocybin has revealed a connection that binds us all and his DMT experience flooded him with creative inspiration, unlocking visions and the ability to create art.
As the Art Director and designer for PPS Nathan he hopes to raise awareness for our organization and be an advocate for psychedelics for both healing and exploring the nature of consciousness. As someone with autism, Nathan is sharing his experience and helping to increase awareness for others who may find psychedelic experiences beneficial for them.
Evan Segura
Volunteer Coordinator, Secretary
Born and raised in Chicago, his passion and experience in social awareness and service began in high school when he helped manage and organize an animal shelter for abused pit bulls. After graduation from high school, Evan traveled extensively for 2 years through the United States, Mexico and eventually SE Asia where he lived and taught English to young monks in a Buddhist monastery. When he returned to the states he hitchhiked from Chicago to Portland, where he attended a Paul Stamets conference hosted by PPS and was introduced to an underground psychedelic therapist. Fascinated by the reality of this kind of work, Evan decided to move to Portland and devote his skills towards expanding awareness of psychedelic harm reduction and helping strengthen the psychedelic community of Portland.
Peggy Parks
Board Member
After moving to Portland and discovering PPS – and with the realization that so many other people had similar experiences with psychedelics and also the realization of the deceit in the decades of misinformation promulgated by the government, Peggy began to explore psychedelics once again through microdosing. In particular, she is interested how psychedelics may influence and facilitate creativity and she is Co-facilitator of the ongoing Creativity and Psychedelics PPS meetings.
Peggy’s personal mission is to bring more love, joy and play into the world in creative and imaginative ways. She believes that the conscious use of psychedelics can help create a more compassionate and joyful world through an appreciation of the unity and interconnectedness of all things.
Aaron Eisen
Educational Chair
Aaron’s interest in psychedelics pertains to researching how psychedelics influence various psychological and physiological factors that may have a therapeutic potential in the treatment of various mental disorders and other health conditions. He believes that research on psychedelics, in the context of treatment modalities, will help to reduce the social stigma associated with psychedelics and promote their acceptance in healthcare settings.
Aaron believes that through his involvement with the PPS Board, he can provide educational resources to members of our community. He believes providing free education on psychedelics is one of the most powerful ways to promote change in our society. Aaron also has a keen interest in supporting students interested in pursuing a psychedelic career path through networking and career development opportunities within PPS.
History
The Portland Psychedelic Society (PPS) used to be called PEERS. PEERS is now a 501c3 to fund educational events to raise awareness about psychedelic science. PPS is one of many psychedelic societies worldwide that create community and raise awareness around psychedelic science.
In summer of 2014 a friend invited Helen Daring to the Psychedelic Shamanism Meetup group, run by Kara, in Vancouver, WA. She loved the group but was unable to attend due to schedule and distance.
In December of 2014 she started a similar group in Portland named for the excellent 2013 documentary Neurons to Nirvana. The group grew quickly, was renamed to PEERS, and received a custom logo from Janet.
During the 2017 MAPS Psychedelic Science 2017 conference in Oakland, PEERS joined the Global Psychedelic Network and is now the Portland Psychedelic Society (PPS). PEERS became a 501c3 to support education and awareness related to the psychedelic science renaissance. We continue to experiment with how to run meetings as attendance grows and welcome input and participation!
Portland Psychedelic Society is an educational group, providing accurate and factual information on the spiritual and scientific aspects of entheogens and their use. We are an advocacy group, creating greater public awareness and less social stigma around the subject of entheogens.
Portland Psychedelic Society participates in and hosts events that support research, freedom to worship, and decriminalization efforts. Portland Psychedelic Society is a social outreach group to provide social support, within the expectations of our knowledge and training and within legally acceptable boundaries (i.e., we are not medical professionals and cannot give medical advice or treatment).
Portland Psychedelic Society is an informational, educational, social, and advocacy group. We are NOT the place to buy or sell drugs or ask where to obtain drugs.