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About Our Courses

ATMA Academy provides healthcare professionals with a comprehensive education in psychedelic-assisted therapy. We use the term “psychedelic” to refer to the classic and newer psychedelics (Psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, Iboga, Ayahuasca, Ketamine etc.). Globally renown leaders in the medical community have partnered with ATMA to develop our course content. This ensures students are equipped with the information they need to identify patients that could benefit from the treatment. The training program itself is rooted in contemporary medical and mental health research, and also provides the historical foundation from which psychedelic medicines developed. ATMA is also building a Therapist Services Network which will allow healthcare professionals to keep abreast of research and emerging best practices, as well as give them support to create consultation and referral opportunities.

Our Vision

We see healthcare professionals playing a crucial role in the evident renaissance of psychedelic-assisted treatment. Thereby, building a support system of services around them will be the most efficient way to encourage the ethical and safe practice of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

We recognize the lack of valuable time and resources at healthcare professionals’ disposal, and in partnership with Wayfound have developed a practicable turn-key solution for psychologists, doctors, social workers, nurses, and other healthcare professionals across Canada that facilitates the seamless integration of psychedelic-assisted therapy into clinics and independent practices.

Our Mission

The growing evidence of the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted therapy is becoming hard to ignore, especially when it could potentially help millions of Canadians coping with rising mental health issues or end of life distress. ATMA advocates for a clear process. We help regulated healthcare professionals incorporate psychedelic-assisted treatment into their practice. Assuming competency to offer novel interventions within one’s practice has been sought and continues to be developed, healthcare professionals will be able to provide psychedelic-assisted therapy to those who meet the criteria, and, as importantly, clients will be given access to psychedelic-assisted treatment.

© 2021 ATMA Academy. All Rights Reserved.

200, 1716 – 16 Avenue NW, Calgary, AB T2M 0L7

Jane Cooper has decades of experiences supporting people to wake up to the truth of who they are. All of Jane’s work is informed by her beliefs in the innate capacity of each person to heal and move towards wholeness. She is also a practitioner who believes in the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness especially when combined with the teachings of Internal Family Systems therapy and Stan Grof (one of the founders of Transpersonal Psychology and Holotropic Breathwork and one of the original psychonauts). Jane started her training with him in 1993 and continues to learn from him and his teachings daily.

As a professional Counsellor and Psychotherapist, a Clinical Hypnotherapist, Reiki Practitioner, and Holotropic Breathwork Facilitator, Jane brings a fresh blend of professional skills to all of her work. She is committed to being of service to humanity and does so in a clear, direct, honest, authentic, and compassionate way, while not supporting ongoing denial or deflection.

Bruce Sanguin has been a Clinical Fellow with the Canadian Association of Marriage and Family Therapists for 25 years. He currently lives in Victoria, BC where he practices as a psychotherapist. He is the author of seven books, the latest of which, Dismantled: How Love and Psychedelics Broke a Clergyman Apart and Put Him Back Together, describes his own healing journey using psychedelics in the context of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. As well as practicing psychotherapy, Bruce is a keynote speaker at psychedelic conferences, with an active interest in the integration of spirituality and psychology.
Dr. Christie is a clinical instructor with the UBC Department of Medicine and a family physician with a focused practice in Multidisciplinary Pain Management. She is a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor emphasizing Relational Somatic Therapy for trauma resolution and is trained to deliver both MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD (MAPS USA) and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, in a research setting. She is a recognized speaker and expert on the potential for incorporating psychedelic assisted therapies in an improved health care model for the future.
Dr. Anthony Bossis is a clinical psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. He is Director of Palliative Care Research, Co-Principal Investigator, and a session guide for the NYU Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Project, a FDA-approved clinical trial investigating the efficacy of a psilocybin-generated mystical experience upon existential and psycho-spiritual distress in persons with cancer.

Mike is an addiction and trauma therapist with 15 years of experience working in residential and outpatient treatment programs with both individuals and groups. His therapeutic ethos focuses on offering the development of evidence-based skills as well as support to integrate these skills so that his clients may realize a more fulfilling life. He practices a blend of approaches including motivational interviewing, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and existential therapy. Mike believes in the transformative power of psychedelic medicines to connect people with their inner healing intelligence and the embodied wisdom accessible to all. He recognizes the importance of a safe container being created (including preparation and integration), and values how this supports the development of psychological flexibility, potentially leading to profound and lasting improvements in the person’s quality of life via behavioural change.

Mike has been working with first responders for the past 2 years facilitating PTSD healing groups. His recent efforts have been focused on the development of Resilient Living Recovery (RLR), a 10 week online addiction treatment program for people with mild to moderate substance use problems. Since 2018, Mike has presented at the Spirit Plant Medicine Conference and has been training as a study therapist for clinical research led by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) on a clinical trial that will see the MAPS MDMA protocol for trauma applied to eating disorders. He has also been approved as a research therapist on a clinical trial with Numinous that will investigate the use of psilocybin for substance use disorders via motivational enhancement therapy. Mike has attended several psychedelic integration workshops and is a consultant for PsyGen Labs focusing on the therapeutic aspects pertaining to the development of psychedelic medicine clinical trials.

Trevor Millar is a social-entrepreneur who has played a key role in advancing the psychedelic movement for nearly a decade. He has the unique perspective of having operated a business where he legally administered psychedelics to over 200 people within Canada, mostly for substance use disorder. Since May 2018 he has been on the board of directors for the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Canada, where he acted as Chair of the Board for over two years. MAPS is a non-profit organization and a leader in supporting scientific research into psychedelics. He is also currently a board member and co-founder of the Canadian Psychedelic Association.

From 2012 to 2017, Trevor was active as the founder and President of Liberty Root Therapy Inc., a business dedicated to healing and transformation by legally providing the plant medicine ibogaine to people mostly with opiate use disorder. Trevor was featured in the award-winning documentary about using magic mushrooms and Iboga to treat addiction, anxiety and depression called DOSED, which was released in 2019. He is currently the Chief Psychedelic Officer of NeonMind Biosciences Inc., a corporation dedicated to developing and commercializing products that contain legal medicinal mushrooms and those that may contain psychedelic compounds. Trevor is also on the Advisory Board of Nature Spirit Labs Inc.

Dr. Erika Dyck is a Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, and a Canada Research Chair in the History of Medicine. She is the author of Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from Clinic to Campus (Johns Hopkins, 2008; University of Manitoba Press, 2011), Managing Madness: The Weyburn Mental Hospital and Transformations of Psychiatric Care in Canada (2017) and the co-editor of Culture’s Catalyst: Encounters with Peyote and the Native American Church in Canada (2016) and Psychedelic Prophets: The Letters of Aldous Huxley and Humphry Osmond (2018).
Dr. Saundra Jain is an Adjunct Clinical Affiliate, School of Nursing, at The University of Texas at Austin, and a psychotherapist in private practice. Dr. Jain is a co-creator of the WILD 5 Wellness Program and co-author of a well-received workbook written for those interested in improving their mental wellness – KickStart30: A Proven 30-Day Mental Wellness Program. She is co-creator of the Psychedelics and Wellness Survey (PAWS) exploring the intersect between psychedelics and wellness. She serves as a member of the Psych Congress Steering Committee providing direction regarding educational gaps/needs for mental health practitioners, and Sana Symposium providing psychedelics education for mental health and addiction professionals.
Dr. Megan McElheran is the CEO and Chief Clinical Psychologist of Wayfound Mental Health Group. Dr. McElheran completed graduate training at the PAU-Stanford University Clinical Psychology Consortium, during which she obtained specialized training in the treatment of PTSD through the National Center for PTSD in Menlo Park, CA. Dr. McElheran has been in practice in Calgary since 2008. She continues to focus on work with first responders, and her clinical practice involves work with active-duty members of the Canadian Forces, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, members of the Calgary Firefighter Department, medical personnel, and others who are directly or vicariously impacted by traumatic events. She routinely engages in teaching and supervisory activity to ensure the sound dissemination of empirically-grounded interventions for trauma. Dr. McElheran is regularly engaged in speaking events, both locally and internationally. She completed a TEDx speech in 2011 related to Trauma, Change, and Resilience and most recently completed a discussion for the Healing Project on trauma and PTSD.

Tarzie McLean is a therapist with a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology. She has been working in counselling/mental health, community development and systems transformation for about 20 years, including individual, couples and family support, group facilitation and training, program development, project management, and provincial health system work. She has always been very curious about what motivates us and what makes us who we are. She has been interested in helping and psychology and the human condition ever since she can remember. Even when she was a kid, she was very inquisitive about figuring out people and the different circumstances that wind together to create our realities.

Through her work, Tarzie is honoured to walk beside clients on their journeys to greater understanding and creating meaningful change. She finds great meaning in helping people make sense of factors that affect their ability to live a life that is desired. She is strongly committed to helping shape and improve clients’ understanding of their issues so they are better equipped to bring forth transformational shifts.

Tarzie’s educational background also includes training as a death doula / end-of-life care facilitator, as well as completion of an intensive clinical psychedelic psychotherapist training in 2016.

Natalie has a deep passion for creating spaces for people to feel safe and open for personal transformation. Her experiences as an on-air radio personality, years as an on-air television journalist producing and directing a weekly show as well as contributing to a daily live program for a national television station, allowed her to witness literally hundreds of peoples individual stories. In addition to these public roles, she managed multiple television station locations, designed and oversaw studio expansions, managed a program for artists and musicians with an international humanitarian organization, after which she started and ran her own successful company focused on personal health and wellness for 6 years.

David has worked full-time for the past 5 years in researching, advocating and moving the work of non-ordinary state therapy and psychedelic medicine forward in Canada. He co-founded and led Catalyst Presents, a Psychedelic Research Conference, and ATMA Journey Centers, a Canadian non-profit dedicated to bringing psychedelic-assisted therapy to Canadians which was successful in achieving one of Canada’s first modern legal exemptions to undertake psychedelic-assisted work. With a Master’s degree in religious studies and having been both a college professor and international humanitarian relief worker, David has always dedicated himself to the service of others. He brings a deep experience and reverence for psychedelic medicine and believes that it will play a key role in bringing healing to humanity.

Mark Haden is an Adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, School of Population and Public Health.

As the past Executive Director of MAPS Canada (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), he has published on the issue of drug control policy and psychedelics in the following Journals: Canadian Journal of Public Health, International Journal of Drug Policy, Encyclopaedia of Public Health, Harm Reduction Journal, Open Medicine, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Mark teaches in the UBC school of medicine (Population and Public Health), obtained an MSW from UBC and worked for the Addiction Services for 28 years in counselling and supervisory roles. He has provided public education on drugs and drug policy for over 30 years and works with the Health Officers Council of British Columbia on their position papers on the issue of a regulated market for all currently illegal drugs.

He has presented in conferences and training events in many countries and was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for drug policy reform work in 2013.