TEAM

Adam is a professional with extensive experience in harm reduction and drug policy, with a focus on ‘recreational’ drug taking. His work spans project management, training, policy development, media and communications, and consultancy, with a focus on reducing drug related harm from ‘club drugs’, such as MDMA, ketamine and psychedelics.

Adam began volunteering with PsyCare UK in 2017, before becoming a member of the senior management team from 2019-2024, where he coordinated welfare & harm reduction services at around 30 UK festivals. Over that time PsyCare provided support to thousands of people having challenging experiences on psychedelics & other drugs. He also worked behind the scenes on many areas of the charity’s development.

Adam volunteered at The Loop Drug Checking Service from 2018 as a member of their harm reduction team, and then also became a freelance drug trainer. He became employed part-time as the charity’s training coordinator, where he manages their training programme. Adam delivers training on subjects such as harm reduction; drug use in the night-time economy or at music festivals; drugs such as MDMA, ketamine & psychedelics; amongst other areas. Adam has also worked in the development of The Loop’s drug alerts & harm reduction messaging; media & communications; and auditing, consultancy & report writing projects.

Adam has further experience in project management, engagements at academic and non-academic conferences, consultancy for music festivals, supporting journalists on media pieces, and speaking on panel discussions, amongst other areas. Adam has also supported several peer-led harm reduction initiatives over the past 8 years.

Prior to working in harm reduction, Adam studied a Ba (hons) in Philosophy, Politics & Economics from Oxford University and an MSc in Criminology & Criminal Justice with distinction from Durham University where his dissertation studied psychedelic harm reduction.

Anya Oleksiuk is a documentary filmmaker, event organiser, and educator. She co-founded PsyAware, shaping organisational strategy and support systems with a strong emphasis on ethics and community involvement.

From June 2018 to June 2024, she served as co-director of the Psychedelic Society UK, spearheading psychedelic education, harm reduction initiatives, and overseeing strategic planning, administration, and finances. As a safeguarding officer, she played a crucial role in handling reports and establishing safe practice guidelines. Anya has frequently hosted renowned figures like Gabor Maté, Dave Nichols, Amanda Feilding, Camille Barton, Dr Rosalind Watts or Leonard Pickard, curated talks on psychedelic research, therapy, drug policy, and ethics, and organised numerous large-scale events such as the Ayahuasca Symposium (2018) and Psilocybin Symposium (2021) and Drug Policy Symposium (2022).

From 2019 to 2022, she curated the educational programme for Anthropos Festival, and she also serves as a consultant for the Polish Psychedelic Society and an advisor to Global Psychedelic Society.

In her filmmaking, Anya explores themes of psychedelics, mental health, drug advocacy, social justice, and regenerative living. She has collaborated with organisations such as ACER Integration, Beckley Foundation, Small Pharma, King's College Psychedelic Trial Team, The Hemp Trading Company and BDS Movement. Her latest project, The Psychedelic Chronicles, captures the resurgence of the psychedelic movement in the West, highlighting the intersection of indigenous practices, the mental health crisis, and Western capitalism.

As the Director and Finance Lead at PsyAware, Wiktor brings a wealth of expertise and a deep commitment to fostering sustainable, community-focused initiatives. With a background as a fully qualified accountant and nearly a decade of running his own modern accounting practice, his experience is instrumental in driving the financial integrity and operational efficiency of PsyAware.

Over the past five years, Wiktor has focused on working with sustainable and community impact organisations and businesses, a journey that aligns perfectly with PsyAware’s mission and vision. Over the last two and a half years, he also worked as Finance Manager for Symbiota Collective, the organisation behind The Psychedelic Society in the UK - a role that saw him significantly enhance budgeting and financial processes. His insight ensured the organisation operated on a sustainable business model while integrating automation to streamline operations.

Wiktor’s expertise in financial management and commitment to ethical, sustainable practices help build strong, legally compliant processes that are both trustworthy and professional. Wiktor's modern approach ensures that these processes remain approachable and aligned with the organisation's forward-thinking vision.

Jasmine Virdi (she/her) is a writer, educator, poet, activist, and harm reduction practitioner based in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her writing centers on psychedelics, spirituality, and deep ecology and has been featured in DoubleBlind Magazine, Open Democracy, Psychedelics Today, Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, Psychedelic Press, Synthesis Institute and Lucid News. Jasmine has an MSc in Transpersonal Psychology and offers private coaching and mentorship to clients. She is an advocate for decolonizing healing practices, and integrates earth-based wisdom, trauma-informed, and somatic approaches into her work.

Since 2018, she has collaborated with the independent publisher Synergetic Press, where her passions for ethnobotany, consciousness, and regeneration converge. Additionally, she volunteers for Fireside Project’s psychedelic peer-support line, aligned with their mission to provide compassionate, accessible, and culturally responsive support to all. Often breaking away into the wilderness, Jasmine can be found wherever there are birds singing. You can follow her work and find out about her offerings here.

Hattie Wells is a psychedelic therapy guide, ethnobotanist and drug policy reform advocate with over twenty years of experience researching and working with psychedelics. Her experience with clinical research includes LSD, ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT Phase I trials and she is currently working on Beckley Psytech's 5-MeO-DMT Phase II trials, both as a therapy guide and global advisor. She started working with 5-MeO-DMT in the early 2000s, carrying out independent research with the compound. At this time, she was also facilitating ibogaine treatments for addiction interruption, and has continued to support research into ibogaine’s therapeutic potential, most recently working on the Demerx Phase I ibogaine trial in London. Over the last decade, she has worked with non-profit organisations such as the Beckley Foundation, Transform Drug Policy Foundation and ICEERS, in an effort to support psychedelic science initiatives, challenge the needless criminalisation of people who use certain drugs, and chart an equitable path forward that minimises the risks and maximises the benefits of psychedelic drug use. Hattie is also an executive director of Breaking Convention, Europe’s largest conference on psychedelic consciousness.

Kayla is a PhD candidate, researching the use of touch, informed consent and the epistemological orientations of psychedelic and MDMA-assisted therapy. Kayla is a committee member of the Australian Psychological Society’s interest group on Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy and the research committee of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Kayla is the lead author of a comprehensive review of the TGA rescheduling decision and co-author on a taxonomy of regulatory considerations for the medicalisation of. psychedelics and MDMA therapies. Prior to starting a PhD, Kayla worked in domestic violence and sexual assault crisis intervention services, providing expert advice to police, courts, and child protection services on coercive control.