Who Are We
Big Psych Co-Creators /
The Mycelia’s
Jade and Stig met during their senior year of high school. Their immediate bond was woven into their love for psychedelic exploration. The sharp contrast of lived experiences illuminated their quest for understanding one another. Since 2014, they have been nurturing Big Psych as a concept of change in the Minneapolis community. Sparked by their passion for psychological expansion and sustainable living, Big Psych has become a grassroots movement for exploring the intersections of mental health, social justice, and sustainability in the plant medicine community. In search of a community with these values in mind, they launched Big Psych during the 2020 Pandemic and have been building ever since. They use psychedelic exploration as a method for learning. Their philosophy is education through transparent example as they cultivate space, activate conversations, and center the everyday person in the pursuit of psychedelic liberation.
Big Psych Team/
Jade Mycelia / Co-Founder & Conceptual Architect
I’ve lived all over my hometown of Minneapolis, and happy to orbit back to my childhood home on the Northside to advocate for the lifestyle that has supported my path of self discovery. My journey of psychedelic activism was ignited through free-range experimentation starting in 2014. This independent study led me to an academic exploration of Psychology, Environmental Sustainability Studies, and AFRO Studies at the University of Minnesota. My time as Vice President of the Association of Black Psychology Students and Mental Health Advocate for adults with severe and persistent mental health matters, aided my search for improving Western healthcare systems. As an experiential learner, I enjoy exploring the diverse range of truths in this world. I’m always learning, integrating, and evolving with the help of my plant medicine friends. These teachings motivate my passion for sparking introspective conversation and organizing spaces such as Big Psych.
Stig Mycelia / Co-Founder & Fungal Shepard
I am a Minneapolis native who moved to the Northside with his wife after high school. I paved my self taught path by learning to cultivate mushrooms in the comfort of my home space before entering the commercial cultivation world at Mississippi Mushrooms. I explored traditional forms of education at the University of Minnesota and concluded that this was not the space for me. Instead, I continued to explore the culture of cultivation as an independent study, and used these pursuits to ground my stance as a psychedelic activist.
Currently, I am studying to become a Master Herbalist at the Midwest School of Herbal Studies. I am also writing a book centered on the interpersonal relationships we carry with fungi. How and why developing this union is critical to working with these medicines. What we as healers, travelers, and activists can gain and learn from this medicine outside of the experience they provide. The traits that come with cultivation help us to facilitate a mutual respect and understanding which instills reciprocal agency between humans and medicine. Understanding and respecting the connections as friends, teachers, lovers, and family we facilitate with our medicine is paramount to community based model of psychedelic healing and rejuvenation.
Jessica Nielson / Innovation Alchemist
Jessica is a neuroscientist and psychedelic researcher that has been exploring the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for the past 10 years. She is leading several psychedelic research studies at the University of Minnesota aiming to understand how psychedelics like ayahuasca and psilocybin may help with post-traumatic stress and depression, mechanisms for how psilocybin changes the human brain, and survey studies about the unique perspectives of marginalized groups often excluded or not represented in psychedelic clinical trials. She is also a sub-investigator for a phase III clinical trial with psilocybin for treatment resistant depression, is the founder and Executive Director of the Psychedelic Society of Minnesota, the Innovation Alchemist at Big Psych, co-founder of the DecriMN Coalition that recently advised Mayor Frey on the Executive Order to deprioritize entheogenic plants and fungi in Minneapolis, and was recently appointed by Governor Walz to serve on the Psychedelic Medicine Task Force.
Marcus Harcus / Minister of Adventures
I am a loving family man, writer, organizer, non-profit lobbyist, social entrepreneur, nature lover and traveler from North Minneapolis. Love, freedom and peace are my core values, so I live my life in alignment with them. I have worked mostly in the non-profit sector on a wide variety of issues including youth development, community development, education policy, housing policy, workforce policy, etc. For the past seven years, I have lobbied for the full legalization of Cannabis in Minnesota, and now advocating for decriminalization of sacred mushrooms and all entheogenic plants.
Cameron Taylor/ Kinship Curator
I was born in Kansas City, MO and moved to Minneapolis in 1993. I graduated from Minneapolis North High School, and considers myself a Northside native. I am a father, community organizer, podcast moderator, radio personality, world traveler, amateur psilocybin cultivator, and advocate for the decriminalization of plant-based medicine. I’m here to share my personal experience with psychedelics for the promotion of mental, physical, and spiritual health well being. As a menu option to help fight depression, a guide for esoteric knowledge, and a bridge to strengthen community.
Bryan Ebert/ Cognitive Liberty Liaison
I am a psychedelic therapist and drug policy activist. I cofounded the DecriMN coalition that got psychedelic plants and fungi deprioritized in Minneapolis. I also advocate for the decriminalization of all drugs. I believe that the work of drug policy activists is not over until no one has their freedom taken away for what they choose to do with their own consciousness. I am a practitioner of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, and I am looking forward to being able to use other psychedelic drugs in therapy when they become approved. I love rock climbing and spend a lot of my time going outside to our local cliffs and climbing indoors as well. I also love going to the Boundary Waters, and spending time with my wife and dog. I have been involved in various psychedelic communities since 2008, and have found that the community that has formed around Big Psych is my favorite to date!