In July 2024, I was invited to Cambridge, Massachusetts to present at a “Bootcamp” at Harvard Law School’s Petrie-Flom Center. The Bootcamp was designed to help inform, educate, and build skills in psychedelic law for the next generation of thought leaders.

When Mason Marks, one of the organizers of the Bootcamp, called to offer me the gig, it was clear that my work to build collaboration among Oregon psilocybin licensees was what made me stand out. He also knew that I enjoy public speaking and had made good impressions on panels at the Horizons NW Conference and the Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Association’s Collaborence Conference.

Being invited to speak at Harvard was quite a trip!

The day before the Bootcamp started, my business and life partner, John Nelson, and I had some fun and adventure in Cambridge, including taking the Psychedelic Walking Tour of Harvard. Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Aldous Huxley, R. Gordon Wasson, and Albert Hoffman all had a part in kicking off the psychedelic movement of the 60's from Harvard.

What was it like to speak at Harvard?
It felt special to get paid to speak at Harvard Law School. I've been doing public speaking for a couple decades, mostly for employers. It was great to have an intimate knowledge of the Oregon system, with all its wonders and growing pains, and the skills to share that knowledge with a big group.

The 55 future-psychedelic-thought-leaders were so curious about what is happening in Oregon. They were amazing people working to make psychedelic therapy as safe and accessible as possible.

I served on a panel on “States’ Experimentation and Regulation,” which explored how the regulated environment in Oregon is working.

The panel also addressed the lack of acknowledgment of indigenous people’s contributions.

I was able to offer a unique perspective as the co-owner of Vital Reset, a licensed service center in Hood River, by telling attendees how Oregon’s regulated environment is working and evolving. Stories of clients who’ve been helped at Vital Reset were the highlight for them, and they kept asking for more. They loved hearing about clients receiving the healing they need. I shared the stories of two clients who found great relief when they used psilocybin at Vital Reset, one for Complex PTSD and depression, and the other for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Both clients have seen positive results and give much credit to the value of their psilocybin experiences.

There were a variety of opinions about whether Oregon's program is a good idea! Legislators from two states wanted to know what mistakes to avoid. We met the person who makes all the legal LSD in Canada. And we loved meeting three indigenous people who just wanted to be heard and acknowledged for the contributions of their ancestors. It was a real privilege to be among such a group. All in all, we made many interesting connections.

Attendees got a close-up view of the only legal, safe, accessible and regulated psilocybin service system in the world. “This event was so much better thanks to Heidi’s presence and willingness to share the good and the bad from the front lines,” according to law professor Mason Marks.

I am available to speak to your group about Oregon’s experiment, what a psilocybin journey is like, and what the science says psilocybin might do for you.