Town Hall Seattle and April Pride present
Psychedelic Salon: Psychedelics in Recovery
A New Fellowship
EVENT NOTES
Doors for this event will open at 6:30 PM. Town Hall events are approximately 75 minutes long.
For decades, 12-step communities did not support the use of psychedelics for substance use recovery, but that’s rapidly changing. Grassroots, community-based recovery groups have begun organically emerging as a direct result of people finding deep, practical usefulness in psychedelic experience as an aid to the recovery process. This has occurred at roughly the same time that clinical research has increasingly revealed the compelling potential of ibogaine, psilocybin, Ayahuasca, and ketamine in treating alcohol use disorder, opioid dependence, and beyond.
A growing movement of people in long-term recovery are turning to psychedelics and plant medicines—not as a replacement for their recovery practice, but as a complement to it. For some, psychedelic experiences are the initial catalysts for change. For others already in recovery, they may augment sobriety or help resolve persistent issues. Many have found that ibogaine interrupts compulsive cycles with a force that nothing else has matched. Others are discovering that ayahuasca reaches roots that traditional therapy can’t access. Still others are approaching micro-dosing as a spiritual tool within their program.
This Salon holds space for the full complexity of the evolving recovery landscape, including the emergence of the international 12-step organization Psychedelics in Recovery (PiR).
Dr. Nathan Sackett, addiction psychiatrist and Founding Director of the UW Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry, helps break down the science of psychedelic-assisted recovery and the role community plays in making it stick. After a fateful first Ayahuasca experience, Todd Youngs has been in continuous recovery since 2009 and went on to co-found Psychedelics in Recovery. Todd currently lives in Port Townsend, WA, where he leads weekly PiR meetings at the Recovery Cafe, and with over 17 years working with ayahuasca, he has a deep practice of helping others build meaningful, sustainable sobriety.
Together, they represent a conversation at the bleeding edge of psychedelics’ potential in ongoing recovery and integration.
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About the Speakers
Nathan Sackett, MD, MS is an addiction psychiatrist and Founding Director of the UW Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry. His research explores how psychedelics can enhance psychotherapy and support lasting behavioral change. He trained at UCSF, UC Berkeley, and the University of Washington, where he is now faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Todd Youngs has been in continuous recovery from severe addiction and alcoholism since 2009. He is the co-founder of Psychedelics in Recovery, a 501(c)(3) fellowship of people from 12-step and other recovery paths who are integrating plant medicines into their healing. He also serves as Spiritual Director at Joy of Sober Living and Community Advisor to the UW NTAP. His approach draws from 12-step, CBT, motivational interviewing, and mindfulness — informed by over 17 years of working with ayahuasca across communal and personalized settings. Todd also founded Recovery Nexus, a start-up non-profit with an innovative recovery residence model that houses the best practices of traditional sober-living homes, the insights of contemporary neuroscience, and education and integration support for those who have engaged with psychedelic experiences.
For more than a decade, April Pride has created brands and convened conversations at the intersection of women’s health, gray-zone medicine, and harm-reduction education. She launched the Psychedelic Salon in 2023, looking to move beyond the isolation of podcasting and connect in person with the psychedelic curious in Seattle, one of the first U.S. cities to decriminalize entheogens. Today, she hosts the Salon in partnership with Town Hall Seattle, where six times a year, a growing community of patients, practitioners, and curious newcomers gathers to hear local and national experts on the law, aging, grief, integration, and more. April’s work has been featured in New York Magazine, Forbes, Vice, and The Guardian.
Visit aprilpride.com for more information on April’s work, including her podcast, Substack, psychedelic events, and more.
Presented by Town Hall Seattle and April Pride.
Events are offered for informational, entertainment, and educational purposes only. Read Town Hall’s Program Content Policy.
Program Note
This event is offered for informational, entertainment, and educational purposes only and should not be construed as medical, legal, or other professional advice. Read more here.
This is part of the Psychedelic Salon Series
