Psychedelics have had a profound impact on my life. But if you’re reading this, that’s probably why you’re here too. Since diving deeper into this world, I’ve heard hundreds of similar stories. We’re here because we believe in the massive potential of these medicines to heal each other.
I come from the traditional healthcare world. I was a healthcare economist and worked at Epic, the software backbone for most large healthcare delivery systems. In 2014 I left to co-found Redox, a software company that helps liberate healthcare data so it can be used to improve patient care, access, and affordability.
Over my decade with Redox we were able to scale the company nationwide, eventually touching over 30 million patient records each day, hiring more than 300 employees, and spending more than $100 million to do so. I had a front-row seat to how healthcare delivery was evolving, how technology was being adopted, and how slow and broken our healthcare system is.
Last year, I left for a sabbatical that I didn’t know I needed. I didn’t know I was frustrated and burnt out. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t leading in the ways I wanted to anymore. Over much of my adulthood, I had periodically turned to psilocybin to help me sort out my world. This time they showed me that Redox didn’t need me anymore and maybe I didn’t need Redox.
It was around this time that my father learned of his terminal cancer diagnosis of which I wrote a bit more about here. What I didn’t mention in that article was the role that psilocybin had at the end of his life. I was able to sit with him for two sessions where he grappled with his diagnosis, his life, his future. I believe he was able to move into his death with peace because of these journeys. At the very least, this was true for me.
I never went back to work at Redox. Instead, I wanted to see how I could apply my skill set in helping psychedelic medicine reach more of the people who need it most. That’s why I founded Althea.
Althea is the goddess of healing in Greek mythology. Althea the organization, is a public benefit company devoted to furthering humanity’s understanding of the impact of psychedelic programs on human health and consciousness.
We’re building tools to directly support psychedelic practitioners and journeyers while also contributing to the insight necessary to understand where they’re most appropriately used and when they might be dangerous. Our hope is that we can move the needle in the safe and responsible adoption of these medicines, contributing to research, public policy, and patient access.
I teamed up with my fellow journeyers and friends, Sara Bates and Andrew Conley to co-found Althea back in March along with our partners at CU Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. We’re based in Boulder, CO and Portland, OR and are excited to be already working with practitioners in the personal use space, healing and service centers, educators, regulators, and researchers.
If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a few places to start:
- I recently appeared on Outcomes Rocket Podcast (Spotify, Apple) to sharing more of the story and our approach.
- If you’re interested in seeing some of the tools in action, check out our revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ). This is a standard way of evaluating psychedelic experiences, however we’ll provide an extensive report to help you better analyze your results. Practitioners have told us that this is immensely helpful with integration work.
- Or if you just want to set up a call. Feel free to reach out and we’ll follow up as soon as we can.
Here’s to the journey,
<3 Niko
