2023 Community Grant Recipients

Courtney Watson, LMFT, CST
Access to Doorways

Courtney Watson founded Doorway Therapeutics, a group practice employing physicians, nurses, and therapists. Since then she has also founded the non-profit, Access to Doorways. The mission of Access to Doorways is to connect QT/BIPOC clients with clinicians who can best support their unique needs and provide the care they deserve. To efficiently connect clients seeking treatment with providers who can offer it, they have created a directory that allows users to search for providers based on various criteria. Their directory includes search options for language, spiritual background, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Additionally, clinics with providers and research teams seeking diverse subject pools have the option to become members of our directory, which helps ensure that as many clients as possible are served through as many modes of service as possible. Beyond connection, to better meet the needs of underrepresented communities in the psychedelic space, also offer a blog section with psychoeducational resources specifically aimed at providing education needed in Queer and BIPOC communities around the benefits of psychedelic psychotherapeutic services.

Marty Otañez, PhD
University of Colorado, Denver

Marty is the Chair and Associate Professor of the Anthropology Department at the University of Colorado, Denver. In response to the appointed 15-member board which is designed to create the legal rules for the newly passed Proposition 112 in Colorado, Marty has put together a community project to act as a response to the 15-member board with insufficient BIPOC and local community representation. The project will create a repository of ten educational webinars (1 hour each) featuring ten citizen scientists and sacred plant medicine stewards who devote their labor to BIPOC-related psilocybin issues pertaining to Prop 122 in Colorado. Video themes will cover a range of issues that are determined by presenters, including harm reduction, trauma-informed care, decoloniality, indigenous rights and reciprocity arrangements, spiritual grief, structural racism, white supremacy, access, micro-dosing, and corporatization. Each webinar will be free, with in-person and remote options, and include a one-page companion handout/policy brief. The project will strengthen connections among BIPOC psilocybin supporters to ensure Prop 122 benefits under-served and under-represented individuals and communities in Colorado.