Our Team
APRPC seeks out perspectives and projects that bridge a multitude of areas in psychedelic work, and our leadership reflects that. What ties us together is a strong desire to lead with integrity, heart, and good stewardship for the future of the African psychedelic movement.
Lisa Njeru, phD
Kigali, RwandaDr. Lisa Ndejuru is a psychotherapist, researcher, clinical educator, and community-based artist working across Montreal and Kigali. She is Senior KAP Clinician and co-lead on model development at the Ketamine-Assisted Treatment and Research Centre at King Faisal Hospital in Kigali, clinical director at Montreal's Black Healing Center and founder of Omora Healing. Her practice is rooted in African and precolonial healing traditions, and she brings thirty years of experience to questions at the intersection of psychedelic-assisted therapy, cultural attunement, and community healing.
Nazia Taylor, MsC
Nairobi, KenyaWith a Master's Degree in Developmental Psychology from the U of London, Nazia is also a student of Neuropsychology and Neuroplasticity. She is a licensed Child Psychologist and Psychotherapist and is the owner of Metonia Seven in Kenya. Nazia uses a multidisciplinary approach to work within the context of a child’s life, recognizing the uniqueness of each child’s capacity and potential, while maintaining a holistic view of their individual development.
Brian Stafford, MD, MPH
Brian is a licensed pediatrician, adult, adolescent, child, infant, and perinatal psychiatrist, having trained at the Tulane School of Medicine, the University of Kentucky Triple Board Program, and the Tulane Infant Institute. An expert in human development, eco-therapy, depth psychology, and non-ordinary states of consciousness, Brian weaves his time between guiding vision fasts and other nature-based and soul-oriented programs, running psychedelic preparation and integration groups, offering personal soul-guiding and mentoring to graduate students.
California, USA / South Africa
Salah Ahmed, MPH, MEd
Hargeisa, SomaliaSalah Ahmed, MPH, is the Executive Director of Acceptance and Change for Health, an international nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States and operating in Somalia. He is currently based in Hargeisa, where he is involved in research focused on MDMA-assisted therapy within Somali populations in Somalia.
Siobhan Dawson, MBChB, MRCPsych
Cape Town, South AfricaShiv is a specialist integrative psychiatrist, pattern decoder, and guide for leaders ready to live from essence — not adaptation. Her formal roots lie in medicine, trained at the University of Cape Town, with postgraduate specialisation in Psychiatry in London. Today, I work alongside visionary leaders, creatives, and impact-driven individuals, helping them illuminate the unseen patterns shaping health, purpose, leadership, and legacy.
Dale Armstrong, MD
Washington, USA / Hargeisa, SomaliaDale is Board Certified in Adult, Child, and Adolescent psychiatry. He spent the first 22 years of his career in private practice, primarily in rural Iowa and then transitioned into public psychiatry. He now lives in Olympia, WA and commutes to Somaliland to continue his work there. When in Washington state he also works 3 days a month for the Quinault Indian Nation on the Olympic Peninsula.
Cindi Cassady, phD, mA
Kigali, RwandaCindi is a clinical psychologist with over 35 years as a practitioner/scholar in the field of gender based violence, child abuse, addiction and trauma. She holds a Ph.D. and Masters degree in Clinical Psychology, a Masters in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution and a certificate in Trauma Informed Art Therapy. She is currently a senior clinical psychologist working with trauma and addiction at Centre Icyizere and Ndera Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Kigali.
Drewry Hanes, MS, MPH
Montana, USA / Hargeisa, SomaliaDrewry is a Family Nurse Practitioner, Psychedelic Assisted Therapist, and Public Health Researcher specializing in Trauma and Population & Family Health. She owns The Senah Consultancy and heads up the Research & Fundraising Departments for the nonprofit Acceptance Change for Health in Hargeisa, Somalia. She is also MAPS trained in MDMA assisted therapy.
If you are interested in joining APRPC’s membership, please reach out to us on the Contact Us page.
A Look Into Collective Member Nazia Taylor’s Practice
“The ritual is the remedy.”
Intention
BEFORE CEREMONY
Before ceremony, a divination prayer is held and the client's lineage named. The client is then prepared as part of a constellation, in relationship with the ancestors, and the ones yet to come. Intentions are set in this direction. It changes what the medicine is asked to do.
Incubation
DURING CEREMONY
The session is held within an African ceremonial container: an ancestral altar with photos, beads, soil, music chosen from the client's tradition, prayers drawn from their living cultural roots. The space is actively African. The medicine meets a person held by their people.
Integration
AFTER CEREMONY
The client returns not to an individual self but to right relationship in the continuum. What was shown is understood through a traditional and cultural relational frame, what the ancestors asked, what the lineage is ready to release, what the community can now receive.