When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, it wasn’t clear if he would give up the substance abuse that caused it. My sister and I had spent much of our adult relationships with him urging, or bitter, or both. The familiar conversation emerged, would he quit drinking and smoking? Only this time, it wasn’t preventative. It was the prerequisite to his care plan: a risky surgery and a fight with chemotherapy. 

I told him about the impact psilocybin had had on my life, how it had helped me, and shaped me as a father, leader, and partner. I also told him about the research in its potential to help with smoking cessation and alcohol use disorder. I was surprised that he agreed to try it out. While his intentions were focused on his addictions, I believe he got something entirely different. After his first session, he stopped talking about treatment, about getting better. He seemed accepting. He chose to move into death courageously, in a way that aligned with who he was. Instead of hospital rooms, we spent his last days on the beach. We drank beers and listened to Pink Floyd. And I couldn’t be more grateful for that experience.

Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to sit with the medicine to grieve and learn how to complete the relationship I lost with my dad. I was also able to sit with my mom in her grief and repair the relationship we still have. 

It’s these types of transformational moments with my family, and the ones I hear about from so many others who wouldn’t have otherwise found the medicine, that motivate me to do this work. Althea is the best way I know to make a positive impact on humanity.

I’m a relative newcomer to the psychedelic scene, but have been interested in the science and research aspect for a long time. My previous work in the postpartum health space sparked my passion for mental health, so I’ve been excited to follow along the recent rise in psychedelic research and its potential to alleviate so many mental health conditions.

Then, a few years ago, I was in a traumatic car accident that left me with serious injuries and a lot of post-traumatic stress symptoms. I had a long recovery, with three separate surgeries, but even after I healed physically, I still struggled with lingering symptoms that had a dramatic effect on my quality of life. Familiar with the promising research about psychedelics and PTSD, I decided to give it a try.

The results were incredible. Not only was I able to get in a car without fear, but other areas of my life improved that I didn’t even realize were being affected. My connections with friends and family have deepened and I have been able to move on from the accident.

I believe that everyone deserves the chance to heal themselves in a way where they feel safe and confident, and through Althea we can help provide those opportunities to more and more people.

I have been a psychonaut since I saw Tool at Bonnaroo back when I was 17 years old. While that is a cherished adolescent memory, I took away something surprising: psychedelics transcend recreation. I didn’t just enjoy myself that evening, but I had a completely revelatory experience that impacted me profoundly. The medicine asked me to look inward, to question what I value, and to integrate the lessons I gathered back into my life afterward. Since then, I’ve taken great care with psychedelics and used them as a way to reset and give me insights for the road ahead.

In my career, I have worked at large healthcare organizations (Epic, Nordic) and started my own (100state). I believe in finding work that is meaningful and that helps people. At 100state, we helped people find community in Madison, WI, where people with big dreams and ideas wanted to solve problems. At Nordic, we created one of the best places to work in healthcare, with an excellent culture, and amazing career growth opportunities.

At Althea, we are paving the way to break the stigma around psychedelics. We are living in a mental health epidemic, and our modern way of living is only making life more daunting for more people. We need more options for people looking to get unstuck – to reset, connect with each other, and connect with the natural world.

Until recently, I knew next to nothing about psychedelics. The psychedelic world was a world apart from the one I lived in - one I thought was primarily for recreation. Recently, however, I learned about the tremendous amount of hope there is surrounding these medicines, specifically in the world of mental health, and that hope has infected me.
I have loved ones who struggle with mental health issues, and have for years, and most of these loved ones are not finding success through traditional treatment. They are desperate for help, and not sure where to turn.
Psychedelics may be a complete or partial solution. However, as a community we're still learning about the specifics of when, where, and how psychedelics can be most effective. For many people who don't have a background in psychedelics, "hope" is not enough for them to take the leap. They are looking for more data on outcomes and risks to build their understanding, and that data is not readily available.
This gap between "hope" and "understanding" is what drives me at Althea. How can we help the community operate safely and effectively while also learning in ways that will be compelling to those that may be more hesitant or skeptical. How can we make what feels to many like a leap of faith feel more like a small and deliberate step towards better overall health?

Lex is an east coaster who spontaneously made her way to Colorado after finding psychedelics on her own personal development path. With a background in marketing for the psychedelic wellness space and coaching in psychedelic integration, she specializes in microdosing psilocybin and guiding people toward emotional resilience, helping them cultivate a richer, more vibrant life.

Movement, particularly dance, is at the heart of her approach, an essential tool for processing and integrating experiences both during and after journeys. As someone who used to overanalyze her emotions, she’s found that movement offers a gateway to freedom and sovereignty, a philosophy she weaves into her work.

When she’s not supporting others, you can find her web designing and content creating for both herself and other coaches, wandering Denver’s streets with her dog, chasing her next travel adventure, writing poetry, or hosting intimate dinner gatherings filled with good food and deep conversation.

I am a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, arriving in 2022. I live in Genesee, Colorado, with my wife and our dog Molly, looking out at Mount Blue Sky when not hiking or skiing.

I received my B.S. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Stanford. I then spent nearly 10 years on the faculty of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, before joining the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1998. I remained in the Department of Physiology for 24 years, including 11 as Chair.

The mission of my laboratory is to discover the changes that occur in the brain in patients with
neuropsychiatric diseases so that we can identify better therapeutic treatments. This work has led to several patents for novel pharmacological approaches for treating depression. I am a co-founder of a biotech startup, ProNovo Therapeutics, dedicated to bringing these compounds from the laboratory to the clinic.

I believe that the promise of psychedelic therapy for many psychiatric diseases is the most exciting advancement in my career. As such, I am dedicated to finding novel approaches for increasing the utility and lowering the cost of using psychedelic compounds to improve mental health.

In addition to the lab, I am the Director of Novel Therapeutics for the Department of Psychiatry’s Brain and Behavior Innovation Center, and the Director of the Psychedelic Public Policy Partnership, a group dedicated to advising the State of Colorado as it implements the Natural Medicines Healing act, providing a legalized pathway for treating mental illness with psilocybin.