About Me
Who I Am​
First and foremost, I’m a devoted father and husband, an ancestor and a descendant; I am animated earth. I’m also an Ibogaine integration coach who believes that each person carries their own unique medicine—gifts the world urgently needs. My role is to help others reconnect with their inner wisdom and bring forth the healing, clarity, and direction already within them.
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My own journey has taken me through trauma, depression, and over a decade-long struggle with alcohol and substances. That path of transformation—through recovery, purpose, and family—now fuels my work with others. I support clients by drawing from depth psychology, addiction and harm reduction models, archetypal frameworks, Stoicism, and liberation psychology. Whether someone is emerging from a psychedelic journey, navigating grief, or seeking soul-deep change, I aim to meet them with the presence, tools, and perspective they need in that moment.
Ultimately, I help people return to lives that are aligned, soulful, and alive.
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Background & Credentials
I’m currently a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where I’m researching Ibogaine treatment for fentanyl use disorder. My academic background includes:
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Master of Public Health (MPH), Columbia University
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Master’s in Counseling Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute
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Bachelor’s in Medical Anthropology, UC San Diego
Professionally, I bring over a decade of experience in public and community mental health, including:
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Project Manager for San Diego County Behavioral Health Services
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Former Director of the Aware Project Psychedelic Society, San Diego
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Grief counselor for hospice clients
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Harm reductionist providing services on the street to people who inject drugs
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Mental health counselor in an inpatient residential psychiatric facility
When I’m not working, I’m exploring the natural world with my family, surfing at dawn, or cracking painfully corny dad jokes. It’s my honor to contribute to our collective liberation and remembrance—toward deeper connection with ourselves, each other, and the Earth.
About The Meaning Response
The Meaning Response is more than a name—it’s a stance. We’re a psychedelic community and coaching practice responding to one of the most urgent crises of our time: the erosion of meaning. In a world marked by fragmentation, disconnection, and spiritual flatness, we exist to help people and communities reclaim a sense of purpose, belonging, and soul.
Rooted in the understanding that meaning itself is a biological and psychological healing force, we draw on the power of entheogens, community ritual, integration work, and deep listening. The term “meaning response”—first coined by anthropologists as an evolution of the placebo concept—reminds us that it’s not just the substance that heals, but the meaning we assign to it. Meaning ignites our innate capacity to change.
Through in-person events in San Diego and integration coaching worldwide, we create spaces where people can metabolize their psychedelic experiences, anchor their insights, and live lives of greater alignment. Our work is part medicine, part myth, part movement—a commitment to helping people live into a deeper story.