Thank you to our presenters, sponsors, committee members, and volunteers.

About Us

The Forum's History

Founded in 2014, the Psychedelic Psychotherapy Forum was launched in Vancouver Island (on traditional, unceded, ancestral territories of the Snuneymuxw)  – in a living room gathering of 12+ therapists interested to discuss the potential of psychedelic psychotherapy. Today, Psychedelic Psychotherapy Forum (PPF) is the longest running psychedelic conference of its kind in Canada, and is unique today in that it is crafted for and co-created with practitioners, supporting, working, and training, in the field of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

From 2015 to 2020, our events offered a typical conference format plus post-forum training workshops. In 2015, PPF was a sold-out conference, with 190+ attendees, with Dr. Gabor Maté as the keynote speaker at the UVIC Club. Keynote speakers in following sold-out conferences, with 220+ attendees, were Rick Doblin (2016), and Robin Carhart-Harris (2018), at the Westin Bear Mountain Resort, in Victoria, BC.

In 2020, PPF navigated the COVID protocols by organizing a challenging hybrid event – with in-person attendees limited to 50 registrants; and 400+ online attendees, with Dr. Claudia Ford as our keynote speaker. For PPF2020, we moved the conference to the location where it was originally founded – Nanaimo, BC.

PPF2022 will be held in the same location as the last forum, at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, Nanaimo, BC

Through the years, PPF has been part of the evolution of this challenging field, alongside practitioners working, supporting, and training in the field. We are proud to be here, rooted, present, and in service to our communities.

PPF is pleased to facilitate continued learning and training, inclusivity, and cohesion, through our platform. We provide an opportunity for everyone interested in the field of psychedelic-assisted therapy and psychotherapy — including health providers, advocates, researchers, students, body workers, traditional and/or holistic therapists — to come together to learn, network, and dialogue about this field. 

In 2022, PPF is organizing a new “unconference the conference” format on our Practitioner Forum Days (Sept 29 – 30), as well as a Public Forum Day (Oct 1) to service the wider community, with the intention to educate, empower, and resource folks about safe practices and treatment accessibility. In addition, this year PPF will feature its first Physician Lunch and Roundtable Workshop (Oct 1).

As of May 2022, PPF is now housed under Wisdom Circle Events Inc. — a BC benefit company which is committed to promoting public benefits including healthcare accessibility, education, and training. PPF’s organizing committee includes Pauline Goh, founding member of PPF, and clinical counsellor; Nick McInnis, digital product designer; Nora Donahue, holistic health practitioner; and Jorge Carrillo, hospitality and event coordinator.

PPF is supported by a network of professionals, advocates, and volunteers in the community who contribute towards programming/visioning, scholarship initiatives, continuing education efforts, and more.

Our intention for our upcoming conference – the 2022 Psychedelic Psychotherapy Forum – is to co-create spaces for deep listening, dialogue, learning, relationship building and visioning.  PPF2022 intends to visibly “shake the tree” to open up possibilities for transforming health (especially mental health), and related professions. Through developing active, inclusive and cohesive communities with shared vision and practices, we can create positive changes and solutions. 

Meet the team

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