Sequoia Center
Our mission is to make psychedelic-assisted therapy accessible, through direct service, community collaboration, and education.
ABOUT US:
Sequoia Center is a 501c3 nonprofit, providing low-cost, sliding-scale psychedelic-assisted therapies and related services in Portland, OR. Our organization was founded in 2022 by two LGBTQIA+ identified therapists as a response to the growing disparity between increasing demand for psychedelic-assisted therapies and low accessibility for those most in need.
Our mission is to increase accessibility to psychedelic healing for individuals historically underserved within the traditional healthcare system (e.g., those identifying as LGBTQIA+ and/or BIPOC, those with complex or persistent mental health concerns). Our direct services include ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, psychedelic integration and harm reduction counseling, community education, and case consultation for prospective clients, providers, and organizations seeking guidance on access to psychedelic services, treatment planning, or program development.
Sequoia Center exists as a community hub where individuals from all social locations have access to affordable psychedelic-assisted healing services that meet their unique needs. We aim to return personal empowerment to individuals where it has been taken away by harmful systems of oppression and abuses of power. In the context of our mission, “accessibility” refers not only to financial accessibility, but also to the availability of providers who “match” with different client identities or lived experiences, and services that are rooted in trauma-informed and client-centered care. Accessibility is also increased through collaboration with similar values-based organizations; for this reason, we aim not to work in isolation, but through partnerships with other community organizations, so that clients can be more fully supported across the arc of their healing journeys.
OUR APPROACH AND IMPACT:
Sequoia Center prioritizes individualized care, where services are adapted to meet each person’s unique needs. This is accomplished through deep listening and meeting people where they’re at, and through careful assessment, preparation, care coordination, and open communication.
Our direct services are offered through a restorative justice subsidized care model, which empowers recipients to choose their own hourly rate for services (considering not only income, but also historical and systemic factors that lead to health inequities). We do not require lengthy applications or proof of income/financial hardship for clients to receive subsidized services. We pay all our therapists the same hourly rate no matter what hourly rate their clients have chosen. This program has thus far been quite successful and has created a positive impact track record for our community and donors.
Since our inception in 2022, nearly 75% of our total client base identifies as BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ and received reduced-cost ketamine-assisted psychotherapy services through our subsidized care program. The most common indication treated was complex trauma & PTSD; others included eating disorders, addiction, severe anxiety, medical trauma, and relationship issues.
OUR VALUES:
At Sequoia Center, we believe that psychedelic-assisted therapies can offer healing from trauma through re-connection to ourselves, others, communities, and the world. Further, we believe that organizations providing psychedelic-assisted therapies have a duty to create equitable access for communities who experience disproportionate levels of trauma and systemic inequities in healthcare access.
We chose the name Sequoia Center because Sequoia trees propagate by fire - a beautiful metaphor illustrating our belief that challenges and difficulty can often transform into beauty, growth, and resilience, especially when we are witnessed and held through the fire and pain. We view healing as a collaborative effort; every person within our organization who interacts with a client plays a role in supporting that client’s healing process. Our team is interdisciplinary by design, as we believe that each person’s unique training, experience, and perspective contributes to a rich and holistic healing environment, where we are all able to learn from one another. Furthermore, we believe in the importance of including a client’s support system (e.g., family members, friends, other healing professionals) in the arc of treatment, as well as in the importance of ongoing community connection and support in maintaining healing and wellness.
We highly value diversity, and as such, we actively recruit team members with a diversity of backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. As a team of community members and allies, we diligently work to create, and operate from, policies and practices that ensure equal access, representation, and cultural sensitivity. We also value creative “outside of the box” thinking and visioning and are continually working to adapt our services and internal processes to most efficiently and effectively meet the needs of our communities (including our team members and the clients we serve).
WHY DONATE TO SEQUOIA CENTER?
We have established experience supporting LGBTQIA+ communities, as that has been a primary focus of ours since our inception in 2022. We believe strongly in the importance of affinity matching (i.e., providing clients with the option to work with therapists who share aspects of their identities and/or lived experiences). Currently about half of our therapists identify as LGBTQIA+ and specialize in working with queer communities.
As bridge builders between local and national psychedelic communities and the health care system, our network reaches far and wide. We are regularly approached by a wide variety of individuals and organizations looking for services, education, training, and advising in adapting psychedelic services to their particular needs. Our mission is first and foremost about accessibility, not just within our own clinic walls (i.e., through making our own services affordable and available to all), but beyond - through helping individuals find the route to psychedelic services that is best for their unique needs. Often, this means getting creative and collaborating with other providers, organizations, and resources, and facilitating communication and cohesion among people with different backgrounds and approaches.
We are a heart-centered team with a wide diversity of skills, expertise, and training backgrounds, including clinical psychology, social work, psychiatry, naturopathic medicine, shamanic healing, art therapy, harm reduction, and peer support. We value bringing together our diversity in the service of a truly interdisciplinary approach where all perspectives are not only valued but viewed as crucial to success.
We value public education and training for new practitioners; our team has vast expertise within these arenas. We are actively building out a robust training site for graduate students, interns, and new practitioners to gain hands-on experience in psychedelic modalities. This will not only keep our costs down, allowing us to serve a higher volume of clients, but it will provide crucial experience and supervision for trainees.
We value real-world research, particularly where psychedelic services are being offered in new or innovative ways that differ from how they are offered within existing clinical trials. That is, we aim to improve our own services while simultaneously contributing to a greater understanding of the effectiveness of psychedelic services across contexts. Data is only ever collected with full consent from the clients we serve and never used or shared for commercial purposes. We view participating in outcomes research as a commitment to our own ongoing learning as well as to improving results for the clients we serve.