Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research Alumni Panel

Ask our alumni!

Discover the benefits of the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research training at CIIS and hear real-life career outcomes. 

Join our alumni panel to meet several accomplished graduates of the certificate to learn about their work in the field after earning the certificate. This event is open to everyone.

Meet our Panelists

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Arlene Samen, APRN, is Founder and Chief Visionary Office of One Heart Worldwide. In 1997, after 35 years as a nurse practitioner specializing in maternal and fetal medicine, Arlene was asked by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to save the lives of mothers and their newborns in Tibet, where one in ten newborns were dying of preventable causes. In 2004, she left her clinical practice to found One Heart Worldwide. While working in Tibet, Arlene developed the “Network of Safety” model, which brings lifesaving care to the expectant mothers and infants where the need is the greatest. In 2009, One Heart World extended the model to remote villages in Nepal and the Copper Canyon of Mexico. In 2015, Arlene attended CIIS as one of the first Cohorts in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy. She has been a TA and mentor over the past three years and is now studying Palliative Care and volunteering at Novamind in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

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Vilmarie Fraguada Narloch, PsyD. is a licensed clinical psychologist focusing on integrated treatment of co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders and psychedelic-assisted therapy. She is an activist working to end the War on Drugs and advocates for science and reality-based drug education and harm reduction approaches for all. She approaches her work from a harm reductionist and humanistic lens, focusing on the individual needs of the person, group, or community. She received a certificate in psychedelic therapies and research from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2018. She is the director of Drug Education at Students for Sensible Drug Policy and co-founder and director at Sana Healing Collective.

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Miriam Rubino, M.A., LMFT, is a South American bilingual Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, working with adult and children in community mental health settings and in private practice in the Bay Area, CA with a focus on BIPOC and underserved communities. Miriam is a trauma therapist, 2022 graduate of the CPTR program and a 2023 graduate of the Psychedelic Somatic Institute apprenticeship in Denver, Colorado. As an Expressive Arts Therapist and EMDR therapist, Miriam’s work focuses on trauma resolution and embodiment through Relational, Somatic, and Harm Reduction approaches. Miriam’s current focus is in supporting clients in their integration process through the Expressive Arts.

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Demeko Freeman, LPC, MT-BC, has transformed a love of group therapy, wilderness environments, music, and plants into a fruitful career during the past 15 years as a licensed professional counselor and music therapist. As a Wilderness First Responder and counselor to adjudicated teenage boys in the Northern Georgia Wilderness, he explored the healing power of nature and the drum. After witnessing glimpses of the drum’s ability to affect positive change, he pursued a Masters in Music Therapy and deepened his study of the drum through diverse teachers of Manding, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, and Native American cultures. Demeko has been in service to others in diverse settings including schools, hospice agencies, senior living, psychiatric hospitals, traditional therapy settings, and the Zendo Project. Demeko’s interests are found at the trail heads of live music in psychedelic assisted therapy, cultivating participant centered music in psychedelic sessions, group work, and remote wilderness therapy centers that both build and sustain diverse communities.

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