Please Note the Start Time of 12:00PM PT/3:00PM ET

Long before the word psychedelic existed, the plants were already ancient. They were not medicine in the clinical sense. They were not compounds to be isolated, studied, or administered. They were — and remain — living masters: teachers of profound depth, carriers of lineage, and guides along a path that asks something very specific of those who wish to walk it.

In the next gathering of our Wisdom Keepers Series, PAC Founding Board Member Gillian Maxwell sits down with Jhaimy Alvarez-Acosta — Traditional Curandero from Cusco, Peru, lineage holder of Apu Huachuma, and co-founder of Children of the Seven Rays — for a conversation that invites us to look honestly at how we understand and engage with master plants in today's world.

Jhaimy has walked this path for over 30 years, apprenticing within the ancient cosmologies of the Andes and taught by Indigenous Wisdom Keepers whose knowledge is held in land, in lineage, and in lived experience. His is not a perspective shaped by clinical research or contemporary healing frameworks — it is rooted in tradition itself.

Together, they will explore something the modern psychedelic conversation rarely pauses to ask:
‍What is the difference between a psychedelic and a master plant? And what does it mean to approach these beings not as medicine, but as the teachers they have always been — with the reverence, humility, and right-relationship that tradition asks of us?

This is not a lecture. It is not a webinar. It is an elder in conversation. Come with your heart open.

Please note: This event has been postponed until September 10th

“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness” -Peter Levine I

n this era of trauma informed care and psychedelic healing, the trinity of mindfulness, somatic embodiment, and psychedelic journeys serve as three powerful and often essential pillars for healing.

In this fireside chat, Salimeh Tabrizi, founding member of the PAC, plant medicine facilitator and clinical counselor and David Field, somatic experiencing and trauma integration therapist discuss and explore the ways in which somatic experiencing and psychedelic-assisted therapy work, as well as near death experiences, together help individuals and couples access deeper healing, connection and resilience; the kind that is embodied and fully felt in the body and spirit as well as the mind.

Join us for an honest, grounded conversation about somatic experiencing, trauma integration healing and specific practices for individuals, couples and communities.

The webinar includes a structured Q&A session, at the end, to deepen the discussion.

Please note the early start time of 10:00am PT/1:00pm ET

*Please note this is a live event in Victoria, BC. Purchase tickets through the RSVP button

Join us for the Victoria screening of The Next Chapter, a deeply human documentary about psilocybin-assisted therapy and the courage it takes to seek healing in the second half of life. This special screening is followed by a live panel Q&A with filmmaker Scott Paul Wright and a remarkable group of voices at the intersection of mental health, medicine, and lived experience.

About the Film

The Next Chapter follows a group of people navigating the second half of life who refused to accept that their best days were behind them. Carrying the weight of depression, anxiety, grief, and long-unresolved pain, they stepped into the world of psilocybin-assisted therapy in search of something they had nearly stopped believing in: the possibility of healing. This is not a film about a treatment. It is a deeply personal story about courage, vulnerability, and what it means to begin again.

The Evening

🎬 Doors open: 6:00pm
📽️ Screening: 7:00pm (~45 minutes)
🎤 Panel Q&A: immediately following
📍 The Vic Theatre, 808 Douglas St, Victoria

Check out the teaser reel here

Meet the Panelists

Scott Paul Wright — Filmmaker, The Next Chapter
Scott Paul Wright is a filmmaker, writer, and producer whose work has consistently explored the human story behind larger subjects. With The Next Chapter, the subject is also personal — Wright came to psilocybin through his own experience at 68, reflecting the life stage of many of the people featured in the film. He joins us live for this Vancouver premiere.

Kenneth Tupper — Kenneth Tupper, Ph.D., is a public health policy consultant, scholar, educator, and host of the podcast Intonicated. An Adjunct Professor with both the University of British Columbia and University of Victoria, as well as former senior leader with the BC Ministry of Health, his work explores how psychedelics can foster learning, healing, and human flourishing across the lifespan. Drawing on decades of policy experience and his research on entheogenic education, Kenneth offers a thoughtful voice on why many older adults are turning to psychedelics to heal long-held childhood trauma, family conditioning, and patterns that no longer serve them. He recently co-authored a paper examining the emerging intersection of psychedelics and longevity science. More information about Kenneth is available at https://kennethtupper.ca/

TBA

Presented by the Psychedelic Association of Canada in partnership with MAPS Canada, Roots to Thrive, Qi Integrated Health, Therapsil & The Flying Sage