Support Darian's Education

Darian and I (Sarah Tooley) are launching this fundraiser to invite folks into supporting Darian’s education.

In Sarah's words:

I have known Darian for 12 years. I’m so excited for them on their decision to further their education and enroll in this intensive program. The 1st year has not always been easy but Darian stuck in there and has gotten and given so much to this program and their own learning. Darian is a gift to this world and with this training will tap into new potential pathways for healing and liberation.

As a white person on my journey to work towards undoing white supremacy, putting the ideals of beloved community into action, and learning history and analysis to support collective liberation, I'm excited to join Darian in this effort to source funding for their education where traditional avenues are not available.

As a debt-free white college (undergraduate and graduate) educated person I am personally disturbed by the inequity across racial lines when it comes to student loan debt and found the following information in a study recently published by Melanie Hanson very informative.

(Hanson, Melanie. “Student Loan Debt by Race” EducationData.org, May 17, 2023, https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-by-race)

Will you join me in contributing to a world where Darian can graduate school free of student loan debt?

In Darian's words:

Hi, I'm Darian (they/he/we), a Black & Indigenous (Choctaw), AUDHD, gender non-conforming, kinky, non-monogamous, relational alchemist. Rooted in compassion, curiosity, creative dreaming, reimagining & collective liberationism I tend to relationships of many sorts in the community, garden, behind the chair (13 yr Hairdresser specialized in curly hair), and even the jungle. I recently finished the first of 3 years of a psychedelic therapy training program, which is the most, rigorous and elaborate training of its kind. At an intensity of 1400 hours (which happens to be more hours than required for most police officers) it’s considerably more than its counterparts; offering as little as 10 days or perhaps 3 weekends.

I joined this program to deepen my personal healing practice of ending epigenetic trauma cycles and just as importantly to further position myself as resistant to the status quo. Steadfast in my personal and collective commitment to access for those of us (esp ND, QTBIPOC) who otherwise would be overlooked despite being the most affected.

During this so-called “psychedelic renaissance,” (another name for late-stage capitalism, exploitation, and gatekeeping) therapists are granted the ability to charge $2,100-$13,000/session for treatments under this umbrella after participating in training (almost exclusively requiring certain letters behind your name) that are as little as 12-200 hours. It seems clear that more of the same oppressive practices are poised to expand and intensify as various medicines become increasingly available to the public. Akin to many other areas, those most affected are and will be overlooked, forgotten, priced out, left without access, and in the worst cases criminalized.

Today I come to you with an invitation. I am in need of your support to remain in my program. It's been incredibly stressful showing up every day, subject to imperialism, and racism, all while working a full-time job (there's no PTO in my business), and remaining committed to self-healing, studying, and attending classes, paying tuition, and covering travel costs for our intensives. To cover my first and second semesters, I took out a combination of personal loans and nearly emptied my IRA (a relic of my days in Corporate America). In one semester, I've been able to leave this continent twice (which I'd not experienced before) and begin learning about Transpersonal Therapy, Psychopharmacology, Ethics, Harm Reduction, History of Psychedelics, and Entheogenic Shamanism (to name a few). It has been abundant, transformative, healing, joyful, and celebratory to travel and learn from Indigenous relations (plants, animals, and human ancestors).

I'm asking for your support for the remaining two years of the program.

2nd-year Tuition $8,000

3rd-year Tuition $8,000

Educational Intensive travel to host communities in:

Colombia: $1,100 x 2 = $2,200

Gabon, Africa: $2,988

Wirikuta, Mexico: $1,082

Total = $22,270