Core Faculty
Core Faculty at the IJPA are senior clinicians, scholars, and practitioners who shape the intellectual and experiential backbone of our training programs. They come from Jungian analysis as well as related disciplines, including depth psychology, psychedelic assisted therapy, anthropology, and clinical practice.
Names are presented in alphabetical order, without hierarchical ranking.
Dr. Adrián Navigante
Dr. Adrián Navigante is an Italo-Argentine poet, philosopher, and depth psychologist whose work bridges Jungian psychology, anthropology, and the study of non-ordinary states. He studied classical philology in Argentina and England and earned a PhD in philosophy in Germany. His research focuses on transcultural approaches to traditional healing systems, religious experience, and altered states of consciousness, drawing on long-term fieldwork in South Asia, West Africa, and South America. Navigante’s theoretical interests lie at the intersection of post-ontological anthropology, depth psychology, and ethnopsychiatry. He has taught depth psychology for over fifteen years at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, taught philosophy at several German universities, and founded Interstices: Center for Transversal Thinking in 2024.
Dr. Andrea Jungaberle
Dr. Andrea Jungaberle is a medical doctor and psychotherapist with board certifications in CBT and group therapy, and a clinical specialist in anaesthesia and emergency medicine. She completed her doctorate in psychosomatic medicine in 2004 and worked in somatic medicine environments from labour ward to intensive care for a decade before practising psychotherapy. She is currently certifying in palliative care medicine. Between 2015–2022, she trained in psychedelic therapies and breathwork. She is a founder of the MIND Foundation and medical director and CEO at OVID Clinic Berlin, offering Ketamine and Psilocybin augmented psychotherapies. As a clinical researcher, she has contributed to studies on psilocybin, 5Meo-DMT, and LSD and serves on the faculty of the MIND Foundation’s Augmented Psychotherapy Training.
Dr. Ana Luísa Teixeira de Menezes
Dr. Ana Luísa Teixeira de Menezes is a psychologist, Jungian analyst certified by IJRS and AJB, and professor of psychology and graduate programs in psychology and education at UNISC, Brazil. She holds a PhD in Education from UFRGS and completed postdoctoral studies at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia. She is deputy leader of the CNPq research group PEABIRU: Amerindian Education and Interculturality and coordinates the project Indigenous Mythologies and Biocentric Education. Her work integrates analytical psychology, indigenous mythologies, community psychology, education, and spirituality. She is a Biodanza teacher and author of The Girl and the Jaguar, Letters to Aphrodite, and several co-authored volumes on Amerindian education and community psychology.
Dr. Anja Loizaga-Velder
Dr. Anja Loizaga-Velder is a German-Mexican clinical psychologist and psychotherapist with a humanistic orientation. Parallel to her psychotherapeutic practice, Anja has been learning from and collaborating with Indigenous healers who specialize in the therapeutic use of sacred plant and fungi medicine for over thirty years. She has also dedicated part of her professional life to the scientific research of the therapeutic potentials of entheogens and the training of psychedelic-assisted therapists. She is a founding member and director of research and clinical services at the Nierika Institute for Intercultural Medicine in Mexico, an NGO dedicated to support the preservation of Indigenous traditions with sacred plant medicines and research around their therapeutic applications in treating mental health challenges.
Dr. Anne Flynn
Dr. Anne Flynn is a Jungian analyst with the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association in New York. She holds a Certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies from Naropa University including specialized MAPS training, A co-author of a chapter on the Integration of Jungian and Psychedelic Training and Practice in the Chiron publication Psychedelics and Individuation, Anne also possesses MFAs in Art Therapy and Fine Arts/Painting, alongside a JD from Fordham University School of Law. She is currently based in Sarasota, Florida.
Prof. Christopher Bache
Prof. Christopher Bache, PhD, trained in philosophy of religion at Brown University and is devoted to exploring the cosmological and philosophical implications of deep psychedelic states. He is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University, where he taught for thirty-three years. He has also served as adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Director of Transformative Learning at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and Advisory Board member of Grof Legacy Training. Central to his work is an intensive LSD journey undertaken between 1979 and 1999. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, he is the author of four books addressing reincarnation research, psychedelic philosophy, collective consciousness in education, and the mind of the universe. He lives in Weaverville, NC, and continues writing, teaching, and public dialogue through lectures and publications worldwide and conferences.
Dr. Claudia Diez
Dr. Claudia Diez, ABPP, is an Argentinean-American, board-certified clinical psychologist based in New York, with over two decades of experience in clinical settings, depth psychotherapy, and couples work. Her orientation integrates Jungian psychology, relational and psychodynamic frameworks, trauma-informed practice, and selected Eastern contemplative traditions. She has extensive training in psychedelic integration, approaching non-ordinary states of consciousness as catalysts for insight, meaning-making, and psychological integration. Her work is informed by archetypal theory, symbolic imagination, and careful attention to relational dynamics before and after psychedelic experiences. She is also a sound meditation practitioner with a focused interest in the effects of sound and resonance on mental states and subjectivity. Drawing on a multicultural life history and diverse areas of experience, she brings a psychologically rigorous and ethically grounded perspective to Jungian psychedelic integration, clinical education, and interdisciplinary dialogue.
Dr. Craig Chalquist
Dr. Craig Chalquist is program director of Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation at National University. A former associate provost and several other administrative and leadership roles, his background includes public presentations, group counseling, depth psychology, dream studies, mythology, ecopsychology, terrapsychology, and philosophy and wisdom studies. His first PhD is in Depth Psychology, and his second in Philosophy and Religion. He presents, publishes, and teaches at the intersection of psyche, story, nature, reenchantment, and imagination. He has published more than twenty books, including Terrapsychological Inquiry, Myths Among Us, and the hopeful Lamplighter Trilogy. He runs Lampcove, an online community for practical visionaries. His motto is: “Converse with everything!” Visit Chalquist.com.
Prof. David Luke
Prof. David Luke is Professor of Exceptional Experience at the University of Greenwich, UK, where he leads the Psychedelic and Exceptional Experience Lab. He is a Perrott-Warrick Senior Researcher via Trinity College, Cambridge, researching altered states and psi. His work explores transpersonal experiences, anomalous phenomena, and altered consciousness, particularly psychedelics, having published more than 100 academic papers in this area, including thirteen books, such as Otherworlds: Psychedelics and Exceptional Human Experience. When he is not running clinical drug trials with LSD, studying lucid dream precognition, or exploring apparent weather control with Mexican shamans he manages a small ancient woodland and is a cofounder and trustee of Breaking Convention: International Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness. He lives life on the edge, of Sussex, England.
Prof. David Lukoff
Prof. David Lukoff has been an active proponent of spiritual competency in the field of psychology with 80 articles and chapters on spiritual issues and mental health including spiritual emergencies related to psychedelic drug use.. He is a Professor Emeritus in Psychology at Sofia Institute and a licensed psychologist in California. He is co-author of the DSM-IV and DSM 5 category Religious or Spiritual Problem and has been an active workshop presenter providing training in areas such as spiritual assessment, loss and grief, death and illness, spiritual problems and struggles in over 25 countries.
Dr. Deborah Bryon
Dr. Deborah Bryon has undergraduate degrees from UCLA in Psychology and Metropolitan State College of Denver in Art. She received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Denver, before becoming a diplomate Jungian analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts (IRSJA) and a member of the International Association of Analytic Psychology (IAAP). Deborah has been studying and working with Peruvian paqos (shamans) for over twenty years, bringing groups to Peru to learn from the Andean paqos. She is the author of four books and multiple articles bringing the practice of psychoanalysis and Andean shamanism together. She is a frequent lecturer in the international psychoanalytic analytic community. Deborah has a virtual private practice and lives in Madeira, Portugal.
Dr. Eduardo Drivon
Dr. Eduardo Drivon is a former tenured professor with more than twenty years of experience in higher education. He is the author of published work and was twice honored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, holding national grants, fellowships, and recognition for teaching excellence. His academic work spans the classical humanities and has included contemplative curricula. He completed formal preparation in yoga and mindfulness, including monastic formation, and has pursued Jungian studies at the C. G. Jung Institute Zürich, as well as a certification program at the C. G. Jung Institute of New England. His work has included teaching, counseling, and mentorship in prisons, with women experiencing domestic violence and substance addiction, and among homeless populations. He has held academic residences in the United States, England, Scotland, and Denmark.
Dr. Elisabet Domínguez Clavé
Dr. Elisabet Domínguez-Clavé is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and psychotherapist based in Barcelona, Spain. She holds a doctorate in Pharmacology integrating scientific rigor with depth psychology perspectives. Her work explores the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, including ayahuasca and psilocybin, alongside mindfulness-based interventions and personality development. Elisabet has participated as a co-therapist in clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant depression and has published research in the field. She currently serves at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, lectures at UNIR (Universidad Internacional de La Rioja), and is President of the Spanish Society of Psychedelic Medicine (SEMPsi). In private practice, she integrates clinical expertise with a compassionate, holistic approach to mental health.
Prof. Erika Dyck
Prof. Erika Dyck is a Professor and a Canada Research Chair in the History of Health & Social Justice at the University of Saskatchewan. She is the author or co-author of several books, including Psychedelic Psychiatry (2008); Managing Madness (2017); The Acid Room (2022); and Psychedelics: A Visual Odyssey (2024). She is the co-editor of Psychedelic Prophets (2018); Women & Psychedelics (2024) and Expanding Mindscapes (2023). She is currently the President of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society.
Fiann Paul
Fiann Paul is the world’s most record-breaking explorer, whose favorite frontier is consciousness. He is a Jungian psychoanalyst, leadership consultant, and multi-disciplinary artist. As founder of the IJPA, he brings a rare synthesis of depth psychology, visionary practice, leadership, and lived initiation into the unknown. His background includes what he regards as three forms of experiential education: completing the Ocean Explorers Grand Slam (rowing all five oceans), living on six continents, and twelve years of personal and clinical work with plant medicines and psychedelic-assisted therapies, alongside four academic degrees.
Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley
Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley is a Neuroscientist with 12 years experience researching cannabis, cannabinoids, and psychedelics. Grace completed her PhD in Neuroscience at King's College London and currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at NWPharma Tech. She is the Research Director at Heroic Hearts Project, a charity that supports combat veterans with psychedelics and is also the founder of Hystelica, a community focused on understanding women's biology for safe and effective psychedelic use. In addition, she has served as an officer in the British Army Reserve. Grace advocates for the therapeutic potential of these substances and strives to advance the field of psychedelic research. Her work contributes to promoting a better understanding of women's biology in relation to psychedelics.
Dr. Haukur Ingi Jónasson
Dr. Haukur Ingi Jónasson is an Icelandic psychoanalyst in private practice with a Jungian orientation. He is a professor in the Department of Engineering at Reykjavik University and director of its Advanced Master in Project Management (AMPM). He is an ordained minister with a PhD in Psychiatry and Religion from Union Theological Seminary. He received clinical training at the Harlem Family Institute and Lennox Hill Hospital in NYC. Jonasson has studied at the University of Iceland, Indiana University, Heriot Watt, and Stanford. He is co-founder of Nordica Consulting and CEO of the Icelandic Psychoanalytical Institute. He is a member of the International Coaching Federation and Association of Psychoanalysts in Iceland, and has co-authored four books published by Taylor and Francis.
Dr. Ido Hartogsohn
Dr. Ido Hartogsohn is a historian and sociologist of psychoactive substances whose work examines how cultural, psychological, and symbolic contexts shape drug experiences and their meanings. His research focuses on psychedelics, exploring how factors such as expectation, narrative, ritual, and social setting influence both therapeutic and non-therapeutic outcomes across diverse sociocultural environments. He is the author of American Trip: Set, Setting, and the Psychedelic Experience in the Twentieth Century (MIT Press, 2020), a historical study of how psychedelic experiences have been shaped by changing cultural frameworks. Hartogsohn is a senior lecturer in the Graduate Program in Science, Technology and Society at Bar-Ilan University.
Jerome Braun
Jerome Braun is a licensed California Marriage and Family Therapist and English- and Spanish-speaking Jungian psychoanalyst in Northern California. Since 2016, he has focused on psychedelic-assisted treatments and pre- & post-psychedelic integration. Jerome trained at the C. G. Jung Institute Kusnacht, Zurich, Switzerland, taught at the Zurich Jung institute for two years, as well as having given presentations in the U.S. and internationally. In 2019, he completed his training in Psychedelic Research & Therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Jerome has contributed chapters to edited books on psychedelics and Jungian psychology. Jerome is deeply involved with Shipibo-Konibo Indigenous healers in the Peruvian Amazon. He blends Jungian psychology with Indigenous healing practices.
Prof. Jeffrey J. Kripal
Prof. Jeffrey J. Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he convenes the Archives of the Impossible conference series and helps host the Center for the Impossible, the physical collections professionally curated and stored by Woodson Research Center. He also co-directs the Center for Theory and Research at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Jeff is the author of numerous books, most recently How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else (Chicago, 2024). He is presently working on a three-volume study of paranormal currents in the sciences, modern esoteric literature, and the hidden history of science fiction collectively entitled The Super Story: Science (Fiction) and Some Emergent Mythologies. His full body of work can be seen at http://jeffreyjkripal.com. He thinks he may be Spider-Man.
Dr. José María Fábregas
Dr. José María Fábregas is a psychiatrist and founder of the ICEERS-associated Clinica CITA in Spain, where he has pioneered the integration of traditional plant medicines with modern psychiatry. With decades of clinical experience in addiction treatment and psychedelic-assisted therapy, he has been one of Europe’s most visible advocates for responsible, evidence-based use of ayahuasca and ibogaine. His work has influenced both clinical practice and public policy, bridging indigenous knowledge with medical science. As a teacher, clinician, and researcher, his vision is to expand access to safe, ethical psychedelic treatments while cultivating a culture of respect, rigor, and healing.
Dr. Kelley O'Donnell
Dr. Kelley O'Donnell is a psychiatrist in New York City, and the Director of Clinical Training at the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine. She completed undergraduate studies at St. John’s College, received her MD and PhD (Neuroscience) degrees from the University of California in Los Angeles, and completed her psychiatry residency at NYU. She has been a therapist, co-investigator, and clinical supervisor on over a dozen trials of psychedelic treatments for various therapeutic indications. In addition to traditional academic settings, she has taught in psychedelic therapist training programs at the Integrative Psychiatry Institute, Polaris Institute, and the MIND Foundation, and she was a lead trainer and clinical consultant in the MAPS MDMA Therapist Training Program.
Kylea Taylor
Kylea Taylor, M.S., LMFT, is a licensed therapist who has been thinking and writing about ethics for over three decades. She founded and teaches InnerEthics®, a self-reflective, self-compassionate, approach to relational ethics, a model she is teaching now in many psychedelic practitioner trainings. In 1984 Kylea started studying with Stanislav Grof, M.D. and Christina Grof, pioneers in training practitioners of psychedelic and extra-ordinary states of consciousness. Kylea worked with Dr. Grof as a Senior Trainer in the Grof Transpersonal Training throughout the 1990s. She is the author of Peer Consultation Groups & Ethical Awareness Tools for Psychedelic Practitioners (2024), The Ethics of Caring: Finding Right Relationship with Clients (2017), a book of poetry, and several books about Holotropic Breathwork®.
Mary Cosimano
Mary Cosimano, LMSW, Psychedelic Support and Integration LLC. Services include psychedelic harm reduction, integration, training, mentoring, consulting, the Death/Psychedelics Workshop, and general coaching. She worked at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research from 2000–2024, serving as Director of Clinical Services, Psychedelic Session Facilitator, and Research Program Coordinator. She participated in multiple psilocybin clinical trials and conducted over 500 study sessions, including Club Drug studies with Salvia Divinorum and Dextromethorphan. Mary trained postdoctoral fellows, faculty, clinicians, and research assistants as guides. She completed MAPS MDMA/PTSD therapy training and PRATI’s KAP foundational training, joined the PRATI team. She is a teacher and mentor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research certificate program.
Dr. Michael Mithoefer
Dr. Michael Mithoefer, MD, is a psychiatrist in Asheville, NC. With his wife, Annie, he completed the Phase II clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and has worked for twenty-five years as a therapist, trainer, supervisor, and medical monitor in Phase II and Phase III studies. After emergency medicine, he completed Grof Transpersonal Training and psychiatric residency, including a Jungian analysis. His work focused on trauma and therapy. He trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia and Psychiatry at MUSC, is certified in Holotropic Breathwork, Internal Family Systems Therapy, and EMDR, is board certified in Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine, and Internal Medicine, a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Affiliate Assistant Professor at MUSC, and Clinical Assistant Professor at Columbia University.
Dr. Nancy Swift Furlotti
Dr. Nancy Swift Furlotti is a senior Jungian analyst based in Aspen, Colorado. She is a past president of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, where she trained, and a founding member and former president of the Philemon Foundation, which published C.G. Jung’s Red Book. She serves on the board of Pacifica Graduate Institute and is a member of the C.G. Jung Institute of Colorado and the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. Dr. Furlotti established Jungian endowments in neuroscience at UCLA and Oxford University (Linacre College). She lectures internationally on dreams, symbolism, mythology, particularly Mesoamerican-trauma, creativity, and psychedelics. Her books include The Dream and Its Amplification, Eternal Echoes, and The Splendor of the Maya.
Dr. Reed A. Morrison
Dr. Reed A. Morrison is a licensed psychologist practicing clinical psychology and depth psychotherapy. He was, for 30 years, a private practitioner in Jungian-oriented psychotherapy, specializing in the treatment of addiction and trauma. In addition, he co-founded a publicly-funded, non-profit, drug treatment program in Baltimore City, founded a regional employee assistance program, founded a national drug-free workplace company and served on the psychiatry faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. More recently, he served as a session facilitator as a member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, 2019-2022. During graduate school in the 1970s, his faculty and mentors were psychedelic researchers at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.
Prof. Richard Kearney
Prof. Richard Kearney is the Charles B. Seelig Chair of Philosophy at Boston College and has served as Visiting Professor at University College Dublin, the Sorbonne, Australian Catholic University, and the University of Nice. He has authored over twenty-six books on European philosophy and literature, including novels and poetry, and edited or co-edited twenty-three further volumes. Recent works include Anatheism, Reimagining the Sacred, Carnal Hermeneutics, Twinsome Minds, Touch, and Thinking Film. Kearney has served on the Arts Council of Ireland, the Higher Education Authority, and as chair of the Irish School of Film, and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy. A public intellectual, he contributed to proposals for Northern Irish peace agreements, presented television series on culture and philosophy, and broadcasts widely. He directs the Guestbook Project and lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his family today.
Prof. Romano Màdera
Prof. Romano Màdera is a philosopher and Jungian psychoanalyst. He founded the method of Biographical Analysis of Philosophical Orientation (ABOF), along with its training institute and professional society, SABOF. He served as Full Professor of Moral Philosophy and Philosophical Practices at the University of Milan-Bicocca until 2024, having previously taught at the University of Calabria and Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. A member of AIPA, IAAP, and the editorial board of the Rivista di Psicologia Analitica, Màdera is also a founding voice in Italy’s movement for philosophical practice and a co-founder of Philo, School of Philosophical Practices. His work integrates depth psychology, symbolic imagination, and secular spirituality into a rigorous, transformative approach to personal and cultural meaning.
Dr. Saliha Afridi
Dr. Saliha Afridi is a clinical psychologist, Jungian Diploma Candidate at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich, and a certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy practitioner, who has worked clinically over the past 18 years. She is the Founder and Chairwoman of The LightHouse Arabia, one of the first and now one of the largest mental health centers in the United Arab Emirates. Under her leadership, the center pioneered and introduced International Mental Health First Aid to the country, training tens of thousands of individuals in essential early-intervention skills. Dr. Afridi has facilitated numerous psychedelic journeys and guided clients through the integration process. She is also a sought-after speaker and a respected media voice on mental health, wellbeing, and psychological transformation.
Dr. Sharon Martin
Dr. Sharon Martin is a Jungian psychoanalyst trained at the C.G. Jung Institute Zurich. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Emory University in the Psychosocial Nurse Practitioner program, with advanced certifications as a Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist. After starting a private practice in Atlanta, she moved to Charleston, SC, where she co-founded the Charleston Jung Society and worked in Veteran Mental Health Services. Introduced to psychedelic therapy through colleagues involved in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, she later trained extensively in the Mazatec plant medicine tradition in Huautla de Jiménez, Mexico. Dr. Martin is a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute Zurich and the Interregional Society of Jungian Analysts. She lives and practices in Asheville, NC.
Dr. Tom Cheetham
Dr. Tom Cheetham holds degrees in philosophy and biology. He has written five books on the imagination in psychology, religion, science and the arts, and one book of poems; Boundary Violations (2015). He taught natural science and the humanities at the college level for 20 years. Currently a Fellow of the Temenos Academy in London, he teaches and lectures regularly both online and in person. He and his wife live on a homestead in rural Maine, USA. They have two grown children.
Prof. Veronica Goodchild
Prof. Veronica Goodchild is a Jungian psychotherapist, Professor Emerita at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and Affiliate Member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. Raised in England, she studied theology at London University before moving to New York, where she earned a master’s degree in clinical social work at Columbia University and later a PhD in Clinical Depth Psychology. Alongside clinical practice, she has taught, written, and pursued lifelong study of Carl Jung. Her travels to sacred sites worldwide and two solo Caminos in France inspired pilgrimage journeys integrating mythic and archetypal themes. Veronica’s work explores spirit and matter, the psychoid, synchronicity, near-death experiences, and sacred plant ceremonies. Author of Songlines of the Soul and Eros and Chaos, lives in France currently.
Dr. Walter Boechat
Dr. Walter Boechat, MD, is a Jungian analyst trained at the C.G. Jung Institute Zurich and a founding member of the Jungian Association of Brazil (AJB-IAAP). He served as AJB representative to the IAAP Executive Committee and as IAAP Co-Regional Organizer for Latin America. He holds a PhD from the State University of Rio de Janeiro and is a member of the Bioethics and Applied Ethics Center at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Dr. Boechat is part of the editorial team responsible for the Brazilian editions of Jung’s Red Book and Black Books. He has published widely, including The Red Book of C.G. Jung: A Journey to Unknown Depths and work on ayahuasca and Amerindian perspectivism. He teaches and supervises internationally.
Dr. Will Van Derveer
Dr. Will Van Derveer, MD, is a psychiatrist and author of Psychedelic Therapy: Restore Your Mental Health and Reclaim Your Life which will be released by Shambhala Publications March 31, 2026. He is co-founder of Integrative Psychiatry Institute, which has provided comprehensive training for 2500 mental health professionals in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy several thousand professionals in other continuing education programs. In addition to his clinical practice and teaching, he has staffed clinical trials sponsored by MAPS, investigating MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD. Dr. Van Derveer is co-host of the Higher Practice Podcast, where he explores what it takes to achieve optimal mental health.