About Me
Psychedelic support and coaching grounded in experience, presence and relationship
I’m Twocats, AKA Brian, a psychedelic support coach based in New York’s Hudson Valley. I began my own journey with psychedelics in 2015 with my first plant medicine ceremony— a powerful experience that offered, for the first time in years, a clear vision of my life’s potential, unobscured by limiting beliefs and behaviors.
I’m also an award-winning photographer, composer, filmmaker, actor, director and writer, and have spent much of my adult life as a core member of an internationally acclaimed New York-based theater company. More than two decades and thousands of hours performing in improvisational settings across 20 countries have cultivated a deep sensitivity to presence, relationship and embodied connection—qualities I now bring to my work with others.
Over time, and with patience and attention, my own psychedelic work has led to welcomed shifts in perspective, greater intimacy and an expanded capacity for being human. These have not simply come from individual psychedelic experiences, but from the ongoing integration of those experiences: reflecting, attuning and attending to my own mind, my relationships and the world around me. This process has gradually given me an increased willingness to hold life with a bit more grace, compassion and humor. Put simply, I laugh more easily now.
My background includes extensive training and hands-on experience in traditional plant medicine work in South America, where I participated in scores of ceremonies and undertook in-depth “dietas” with teachers from the Shipibo, Quechua, and Santo Daime lineages. In 2020, I completed a three-year intensive, mentored psychedelic guide-training program with the School of Consciousness Medicine, rooted in the Mazatec tradition of Mexico. My work has also been informed by the study of contemporary somatic therapeutic approaches, including NARM (Neuro-Affective Relational Model) and Hakomi.
These days, I live in a cottage in the woods with my wife, where I write, photograph, hike and chase squirrels away from the bird feeder. I also work one-on-one with people who are curious about psychedelics, sharing what I have learned through years of training, personal experience and continued exploration.
My work includes preparation, risk reduction and integration support for people exploring psychedelics with curiosity, respect and care.
I have met the vetting standards of the Psychedelic Passage Network, where I am listed as one of their few professional facilitators serving the northeastern United States.
Coach, Guide, Facilitator?
The language around psychedelic support is still evolving. You may encounter terms such as psychedelic coach, psychedelic guide or facilitator and psychedelic therapist to describe this kind of work. I generally describe my own work as psychedelic support and coaching, informed by years of personal experience, traditional plant-medicine work and a three-year mentored psychedelic guide-training program. My work is relational, rooted in tradition and ceremony rather than medical treatment or clinical care.
