Sunrise Ranch
Loveland, Colorado
Sunrise Ranch is nestled in the picturesque foothills of the Rocky Mountains, approximately one hour from Denver. In addition to being a resort and retreat center, it is also an intentional spiritual community and a working sustainable ranch. The food served is both delicious and thoughtfully prepared, made with love and attention to quality.
In addition to paying registration fees to PRATI, all participants must register separately with Sunrise Ranch. You will receive an email with a link to secure your accommodations with Sunrise Ranch after completing your PRATI registration.
Accommodation prices range from $91 to $207 per night (roughly $360-$820 for a 4-night stay), with a variety of options including camping, dorm style arrangements, and private rooms in shared apartments. These fees include all meals provided while onsite at the training.
To ensure safety and foster group cohesion, all participants are required to stay onsite for the duration of the training. Family and friends are not permitted to stay at Sunrise Ranch during the training, as this could disrupt the supportive environment we strive to create.
Training Director: Stephen Thomas, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and KAP practitioner based in Fort Collins, Colorado. With a background in nonprofit development, Stephen has spent over a decade actively promoting psychedelic medicines through media, education, and events. Trained in MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy by MAPS, Stephen has contributed to clinical trial research on both MDMA and LSD-assisted therapies. He also served for six years as a board member of the Nowak Society, a Colorado nonprofit dedicated to fostering community and advancing meaningful dialogue within the psychedelic movement. Stephen is passionate about the potential of psychedelics in addressing psychospiritual distress and healing the disconnection at the root of ecological, social, and political crises. As the Director of PRATI's Foundational KAP Training program, Stephen combines his expertise with a love for music, curating therapeutic KAP playlists to enhance growth and transformation.
Medical Lead: German Ascani, MD, has a broad range of clinical experience having worked over a decade in public psychiatry, community mental health systems, and private practice in California. In his current Colorado practice he uses an integrative approach and uses Ketamine, including Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. He is a study physician and MAPS trained therapist working on the phase 3 study on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. German has particular interests in the potential for psychological, emotional and spiritual healing that new and emerging psychedelic medicines bring to the mental health field. He supports the clinical use of these powerful transformative tools to open up a process of deep exploration, self-reflection and lasting growth.
Wilhelmina De Castro, LCSW, (she/they) serves as PRATI's Executive Director and is trained in KAP (Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy) through PRATI and MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy through MAPS. They support organizations in building justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, systems, and cultures. Wilhelmina also works as a lead therapist in a Psilocybin Phase 3 Clinical Trial for Treatment-Resistant Depression and sits on the Advisory Board for Thank You Life. As a Queer, Filipinx, non-binary person, they are deeply committed to anti-oppressive work, diversifying the psychedelic space, and uplifting the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQIA2s+ people. Wilhelmina is currently practicing KAP with individuals, groups, and families, and offering low-cost/donation-based KAP. She specializes in the areas of anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions. She has significant experience in working with the Queer folx and People of the Global majority and communities that have been impacted by global and systemic oppression.
Christine Pateros, RN, is a Shamanic Energy Medicine practitioner and ketamine therapist guiding and teaching private clients and groups to connect to their inner wisdom and essence. After “dying” in the Amazon jungle in 2011 in her own life affirming psychedelic journey, Christine’s course as a healer was transformed from nurse and clinical drug researcher to Cranio Sacral therapist, energy healing practitioner, and psychedelic therapist. Christine’s deep interest in research and the healing powers of psychedelics fuels her work so these medicines may be accessible to those they can help.
Scott Shannon, MD, has been a student of consciousness since his honor’s thesis on this topic in the 1970s. Following medical school, MDMA assisted psychotherapy became a facet of his practice before this medicine was scheduled in 1985. Scott has been a transformative agent in mental health and a visionary leader in integrative medicine for over two decades. He is a cannabidiol and MDMA researcher as well as a sought-after trainer and speaker. Currently, Scott works extensively with a broad range of ketamine services including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in his large innovative clinic. He lectures all over the world to professionals interested in a deeper look at mental health issues, ketamine, psychedelics and a paradigm shifting perspective about transformative care.
Arsalan Azam, MD, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician with am interest in mental health and wellness. He began his career practicing in deeply underserved communities in Cleveland, OH and Harlem, NY. Dr. Azam pivoted to working with mental health and psychedelics when he founded Daydream MD in 2022. Daydream is focused on developing scalable models for integrating psychedelic medicines with traditional behavioral healthcare, and delivering these services to marginalized communities. Dr. Azam works extensively with ketamine and has provided consulting services for practices working with psilocybin, 5 MeO DMT and ibogaine.
Jason Sienknecht, LPC, CAC II, is a psychedelic psychotherapist with an interest in the potential for expanded states of consciousness to bring about healing and wholeness. He is a trained ketamine-assisted therapist and currently uses oral and intramuscular ketamine to help people heal from treatment-resistant depression and PTSD. He is also a MAPS trained MDMA-assisted psychotherapist.
Danielle Wise, PhD, (she/her) has an MA in counseling psychology, an MA and PhD in depth psychology and somatics, is a certified Embodied Imagination Therapist, and KAP trained with PRATI. She has been a coach for over 30 years, a psychotherapist for 20, and was an adjunct professor at University of Denver, UCOL for 10 years. She has worked with at-risk youth, gangs, domestic violence, individuals and families, and advised businesses on intra and interpersonal communication. Danielle has also worked on the Denver decriminalization campaign, as an advisor with US and Canadian companies, and is a consultant for Psychedelics Today.
Event Coordinator: Stephanie Thomas, PharmD, NTP, CGP, is a pharmacist, a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and a certified GAPS practitioner focusing on the interplay between nutritional and mental health. In conjunction with the experience she has gained through her 400-hour Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training, she is well versed on the delicate and complex synergy between the gut, mind and body and is passionate about the healing potential these holistic treatment modalities can provide.
Dr. Jennifer Tippett: Volunteer, is a licensed clinical psychologist and Director of Psychotherapeutic Development for atai Life Sciences, creating therapeutic protocols and providing facilitator training for psychedelic clinical trials. She
previously held an academic appointment and served as the Director of the Substance Use Disorder Specialty Program for the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology, training students in addiction and the neurobiology of trauma. Dr. Tippett’s early career focused on working with incarcerated populations as well as individuals struggling with severe and persistent mental illness, providing high quality therapeutic services in limited and under-resourced systems. This work became a driver to explore innovative means of delivering mental health care, to include psychedelic medicine. Dr. Tippett studied psychedelics through the lens of shamanistic/indigenous traditions as well as gaining formal certifications from Fluence, Polaris, MAPS, and Integrated Psychiatry Institute. She is also a level 1 Internal Family Systems provider and is dedicated to combining psychedelics and evidence-based therapy models. As the psychedelic field rapidly expands, Dr. Tippett continues to focus on removing barriers to cutting edge and effective mental health interventions to those who need them
most.
This training expanded my understanding of the potential for psychedelic medicines to be integrated into mental health care. The group learning, experiential, and integration sessions were powerful and illuminated the wide range of possibilities with this medicine while reinforcing that this can be all be centered around self-awakening and growth. My group was profound and healing for me, and I would encourage anyone who has an interest in ketamine and/or psychedelic medicines to join PRATI on their journey to help restore connection to the sacred: self, community, nature, and spirit.
- Anuj Khattar, MD
The most valuable training experience I have ever known. All levels were addressed. I was affected both personally and professionally in an extremely profound way. Unforgettable. Thank you so much!
- Evonne Halligan, LMFT
After having several experiences where I felt ignored and/or harmed in psychedelic training spaces as a Black woman, coming to PRATI was a healing and corrective experience I am so happy to have had. The only program I plan on doing psychedelic trainings with going forward. Thank you!
- Mercedes Hightower, MSW, LCSW-C
The PRATI KAP Training was excellent. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to train with them, and learn from their experience and their example.
- Joe Tafur, MD
Words of gratitude don't do justice for the appreciation and respect I have for the PRATI KAP training. The staff were able to create a safe, welcoming, environment, where I was able to explore my joy, sorrow, and darkness. I felt completely safe and in good hands throughout the entire training. PRATI helped us to come together as a group. I came to this thinking I would leave with some KAP skills, but I left having found a new community in KAP. Thanks PRATI!
- Eric Pierce, LCSW
This experience created a turning point in my life, both personally and professionally. The training itself is one of the most thoughtfully prepared and masterfully implemented I've attended, and the staff/presenters of PRATI are kind, fun, and experts in their fields. What I didn't know to expect was the deep, lasting, and very real impact the work would have in my own life. This will change how I work with clients forever, and has reignited a love for myself, my community and this beautiful world in which we live.
- Jason Gruhl, MA, Psychotherapist
The PRATI group of professionals helped to bring the spirit of this work to life over the course of the training. They approached this work through a multi-faceted lens, offering a clinical, medical, experiential, natural, and spiritual experience which helped integrate the training in a very meaningful and impactful way. This training has helped me feel confident about entering into this area of my field as a clinician, and for me it also regenerated vitality towards this very important work. I feel grateful for this group of professionals, who more than anything showed their humanity and compassion towards the trainees, and made this feel like a family focused on the goal of healing and hope. I would highly recommend this training to anyone interested in working with psychedelic medicine in any capacity.
- Ibrahim Choudhary, LCSW
PRATI’s KAP training gave me the knowledge, skills, and experience I needed to competently and confidently offer this potentially life-saving and life-changing therapy right away to my clients in only a few days! Every staff member was clearly passionate and excited about sharing and offering this powerful, transformative medicine as a tool with the mental health community. They each had unique offerings and contributions which blended and overlapped in a comprehensive, professional, fun, and exciting way. I feel grateful and hopeful to bring this holistic, integrative, and innovative therapy to my community.
- Darlene Egelhoff, LPC, LAC
PRATI offers an excellent training that is truly holistic considering the whole person. I am leaving the training feeling inspired and knowledgeable to start offering KAP. But even more important, I feel transformed on a personal level by the experientials and the deep connections I made. I am very grateful for this sacred experience in community.
- Lauren Going, LCSW-C
The PRATI team and their foundational Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy training is a phenomenal experience for learning and growing my potential as a future KAP therapist, and simultaneously is a wonderfully impactful personal growth exploration. The setting, curriculum, experiential component, and the people who gather for this training make for a particularly unique and special collective journey. I would call it a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience, except for the fact that I'll probably return for another PRATI training in the future – after I've been able to implement the many skills and experiences I now feel confident in delivering to/with my clients. 10/10 recommend!
- Amy Bingham, CMHC, EdD
