Projects

IPN has strong leadership behind it, and students show genuine excitement about its potential. However, it lacks infrastructure that encourages member engagement, leading to an absence of community.

I'm working with the leadership team to build a unified member portal, which will pull all disparate engagement streams into one platform. The final product is currently being vibe-coded with Claude Code.

1. I'm continually building my vibe-coding proficiency and efficiency with each commit.
2. As my first collaborative code project, I've learnt the value of formalized review processes, like PR reviews.

Psilocybin has been available to access in Oregon since 2023 and has demonstrated incredible promise through outcomes data. At the same time, Oregon Psilocybin Services is doubling licensing fees, making those outcomes less and less accessible. Now is our chance to reframe the discussion around Oregon Psilocybin Services.

I'm currently co-authoring a report about the behavioral health crisis in Oregon and the void psilocybin is filling as an incredibly cost-effective intervention for treatment-resistant depression. This report will make the case that OPS ought to receive state funding that treats psilocybin like other behavioral health interventions.

1. Don't rebuild policies from the ground up. Instead, find creative ways for current infrastructure to achieve new goals.
2. Convene stakeholders and experts early. Let them gut-check your work and shape its momentum.

A number of podcasts cover the psychedelic space, but their focuses are scattered. While all explore the transition of psychedelics into mental health treatments, none have taken the deep dive into what's going on in Oregon. We saw Ground Game as a way to dissect the Oregon program and build our own vision for its future.

I've worked behind the scenes on each epiosde, creating thumbnails, descriptions, social media posts, and building a content schedule for each episode. Riverside and Canva have been my primary tools for this work.

1. The need to create promotional content never slows down.
2. Podcasts can be a bridge towards building a coalition, both with guests and the audience.

Early-stage organizations in the psychedelic space face a unique communications challenge: building credibility in a field that still carries significant stigma, while speaking authentically to audiences who are often both skeptical and genuinely curious.

More detail coming soon.

1. More detail coming soon.

Psilonautica was contacted by a Colorado-approved facilitator training program to provide a 1-hour lecture on the legal side of natural medicne facilitation in Colorado.

I took the lead on this project, researching the regulations surrounding natural medicine facilitation. The final deliverable on my end was a polished presentation with explanations of the path from training to licensure, clear descriptions of legally-required facilitation procedures, and guidance on new regulatory updates.

1. LLMs are far from great at legal research. Everything needs to be triple-checked.
2. Humans are only slightly better at legal research. Contradictory interpretations of the law are never-ending.

Hemp is poorly understood, particularly when it comes to its positive environmental impact. This report laid out the policy case for both private sector investment and the easing of red tape to decarbonize the built environment with hemp.

In writing this report, I synthesized domestic and international regulations, scientific research, and case studies to build the case for hemp's place in the UK government's Net Zero agenda. This report was primarily tailored to Members of Parliament, particularly those with little knowledge about hemp.

1. Coming into this project knowing almost nothing about hemp, the research I undertook crafted my understanding of the plant's potential.
2. Creative opportunities can fix real policy problems. The framing of hemp as a green alternative can bring about necessary licensing changes.

UK medical cannabis patients often don't know their rights when traveling with a prescription. This has led to an abundance of confusion and avoidable conflict with transit staff and police.

I co-authored a guide to traveling with medical cannabis, which explains existing regulations, both domestically and internationally. This involved researching laws in a number of countries and clearly detailing what patients need to know and do before they travel.

1. Many countries have ambiguous and confusing public-facing information on entry with medical cannabis, which sets patients up for failure.
2. The end user should shape everything about the deliverable. The guide's format, wording, and emphasis on caution were a direct result of its audience: patients seeking clear, accurate information.

The UK cannabis industry, spanning medical cannabis, consumer CBD, and industrial hemp, is much more complex than people realize. The CIC's suggestion of building a podcast was the kind of project I wanted to take on, as it helped me deepen my own awareness of the industry in a rewarding way.

I built the podcast from scratch: reaching out to interviewees, recording on Zoom, editing in Audacity, and distributing through Spotify for Creators. I tried my best to use the podcast as a way to highlight the variety of work happening in the industry.

1. Interviewing is a skill. It takes time and experience to get more comfortable talking with guests.
2. Everyone has a story to tell. In any situation, try to find it.

Programs like P4C have shown real efficacy in cultivating positive social skills. This raises the question of whether such skills can increase democratic thinking and civic behavior, a question that holds special importance for post-conflict communities.

I completed a literature review on existing research, before co-conducting a thematic analysis of 200+ student surveys from the pilot. Our findings were published in the Journal of Philosophy in Schools.

1. There's something uniquely universal about philosophy, and kids bring creative perspectives to old philosophical problems.
2. Academic research in philosophy can be practical and grounded, holding real-life implications beyond academia.