ABOUT KEN

I believe in the strength of lifelong learning and it is a guiding principle in my approach to life.

For the past 20 years, I have offered compassionate care for a wide variety of Bay Area clients who are looking for something more from their lives. I have a deep reverence for Spirit, while acknowledging that each of us must find our own way of making sense of the experience of being human.

I’ve been a licensed clinical social worker since 2005 and a registered yoga teacher since 2006. Ever curious about the intersection of yoga and psychology, I completed my 500-hour level yoga therapy teacher training at Ananda Seva in 2010. I was one of the first professionals to become a Certified Yoga Therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) in 2016.

In more recent years, in an attempt to understand my own being human and help clients understand themselves, I have immersed myself in thanatology (the study of death and mortality) and non-ordinary mind states. I am deeply passionate about nudging the Western mental health paradigm in regards to safe, legal, and ethical integration of sacred plant medicines, or psychedelics.

As I continue along my own lifelong path of studying, learning, and evolving, I will continue to passionately share my collected knowledge and wisdom with others.

  • Master of Social Work with an emphasis on Children, Families and Youth, Washington University in St. Louis (1999)

    Licensed Clinical Social Worker in California (2005)

    Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher (2006)

    500-hour yoga therapy teacher training, Ananda Seva (2010)

    Certified Yoga Therapist, International Association of Yoga Therapists (2016)

    Master’s certification in Thanatology, Marian University (2018)

    Certification in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy, Salt City Psychedelic Training and Research Program (2020)

    Certification in Death Doula, International Association of Professions Career College (2023)

    Certification in Plant Medicine Harm Reduction (aka Ayahuasca Safety Course), ICEERS Academy (2023)

    Certification in End of Life Psychedelic Care (2023)

    INELDA-trained EOL Death Doula (2024)

  • National AIDS Fund/AmeriCorps in Washington, DC

    Washington University in St. Louis Children’s Hospital

    UCSF Medical Center, Department of Neurosurgery, San Francisco

    Children’s Hospital in Oakland

    Alameda County Child Protective Services

    Alameda County Health Services Agency

    Vital Life Services in Oakland

    College Internship Program in Berkeley

    Civicorps School in Oakland

    The Institute on Aging in San Francisco

  • Facilitator of Yoga for Grief and Mindfully Mortal Workshops

    Presenter at Association of Death Education and Association Annual Conference

    Clinical Supervisor at Liberation Institute in San Francisco

    Process Group Coordinator and Facilitator at Salt City Psychedelic Training Program

    Adjunct Professor at Marian University Thanatology Department

  • Red Cross in Kobe, Japan

    Amnesty International in Okayama, Japan

    Living/Dying Project in San Francisco Bay Area

    Continuum Hospice in Oakland

    Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

    Decriminalize Nature

    Sacred Garden Community

    Lake Merritt Clean Up Crew

    Trees for Oakland (Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation)

    Chacruna Institute

 “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”

— Søren Kierkegaard