Shannon Dames

Shannon (she/her) is a third-generation immigrant with British, Norwegian and German Heritage. She is a mother of two tweens and a life partner of 20 years. She served as the spearheading founder and current team member of the Roots to Thrive program, Vancouver Island University’s (VIUs) Psychedelic-assisted Therapy Graduate Certificate education program, and VIUs Naut sa Mawt Centre for Psychedelic Research. She is a published author with expertise in nursing practice, resilience development, and psychedelic-assisted therapy service delivery, research, and education. She holds a doctorate in education, a master’s in public health, and is a registered nurse. She works across agencies and disciplines to develop collaborative service delivery, education and research in psychedelic medicine. Her current work focuses on the development of research infrastructure that supports psychedelic service delivery and education development with Vancouver Island University, and promoting resiliency and reconciliation through a relational approach, working across cultures and silos. Her work acknowledges multiple ways of knowing, with a specific interest in collaborating to understand how Western and Indigenous ways of knowing might be shared for the healing benefit of all.