Meet our team
Not one great practitioner — all of them. Our facilitators are hand-selected experts with decades of clinical, somatic, and therapeutic experience, training across multiple Indigenous lineages, and a track record of supporting Senators, CEOs, professional athletes, veterans, artists, and high-achievers across industries.
MEDICAL TEAM
Dr. Dave Rabin — SANCTUM Chief Medical Advisor
Dr. David Rabin is a board-certified psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has spent more than two decades studying the biology of stress, trauma, and human resilience.
As the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Apollo Neuroscience and the Executive Director of The Board of Medicine, he is a leading architect of evidence-based psychedelic standards and ethical clinical practice worldwide.
Dr. Rabin turned toward psychedelic medicine after years of watching conventional treatments fall short for those carrying deep trauma — recognizing that these medicines may finally offer the consciousness shift required to move from managing symptoms to achieving true cures.
At SANCTUM, he oversees our medical and safety architecture — including tapering and screening frameworks — and guides our science-based research and continuous learning process. His leadership ensures that every protocol, outcome, and experience is studied, refined, and elevated, keeping SANCTUM at the forefront of safe, effective, and ever-evolving psychedelic-assisted transformation.
Dr. Kena Westergaard - SANCTUM Medical + Safety Screener
Dr. Kena Westergaard is a clinical neuropsychologist and the founder and Clinical Director of Neurobehavioral Consultants, with more than 30 years of experience treating complex neurological and psychiatric conditions.
Trained at the University of Illinois at Chicago and through a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University, she is recognized for her expertise in neuropsychological assessment, concussion and TBI evaluation, cognitive and learning disorders, and mind–body health, integrating mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, family systems work, biofeedback, neurofeedback, and empirically validated mind–body practices.
She was drawn to psychedelic medicine after decades of seeing the limits of conventional treatment, recognizing its potential to catalyze deep healing when held in a safe and intentional container.
At SANCTUM, she leads our medical and safety screening process with a rare blend of scientific rigor and extraordinary bedside presence, serving as the perfect first touchpoint who sets the tone of safety, humanity, and profound care that defines the SANCTUM experience. Namaste.
FACILITATORS
Trained through a rigorous three-year Integrated Psychedelic Therapy program with AWE (now Ecstatic Mysticism) she blends attachment-focused, trauma-informed clinical frameworks with Indigenous ceremonial lineages, having studied and dieted with the Yawanawá and Huni Kuin tribes of the Brazilian Amazon, as well as within the Santo Daime and Tz’utujil Mayan cacao traditions. She has supported hundreds of veterans navigating PTSD and C-PTSD..
Her call to medicine emerged through her own recovery from chronic illness, cancer, complex PTSD, and treatment-resistant depression
At SANCTUM, she specializes in supporting guests navigating complex PTSD, attachment wounds, spiritual crisis, and major life transitions—bridging clinical care with the ceremonial traditions that shape her path.
Krystal Penrose - SANCTUM Facilitator
Krystal Penrose brings nearly 15 years of experience guiding individuals, couples, and groups through psychedelic healing, trauma recovery, and deep ceremonial work.
Mary Cate Hauenstein, MA, LPC - SANCTUM Facilitator
Mary Cate Hauenstein is a Licensed Professional Counselor and trauma specialist with over 15 years of experience integrating evidence-based therapy with yoga, breathwork, and emerging psychedelic modalities.
Her work bridges ancient wisdom and modern science, empowering clients to reconnect with the intelligence of the body and the peace of the present moment. Her approach provides a synthesis of depth psychology, somatic healing, and Vedic practice. Born and raised in Aspen, she carries the Hauenstein family’s legacy of civic leadership and the town’s mind–body–spirit ethos, further shaped by years living and serving in China, India, and other cultures.
Called to this path through her own nonlinear healing and years of global service, Mary Cate views medicine as sacred collaboration between mind, body, and spirit - she seeks to elevate mental health care into a ritual of remembrance—helping people return to their innate wholeness and, through that awakening, ripple healing and compassion outward into the world.
At SANCTUM, Mary Cate serves as a clinical facilitator supporting guests with higher-scope needs, anchoring each container with safety, depth, and grounded compassion.
Skippy Mesirow - SANCTUM Facilitator + Owner
Skippy Mesirow is a public-service leader and strategist with more than 20 years of experience spanning presidential campaigns, statewide races, nonprofit leadership, and elected office
He is the creator of The COURAGE Method™, a whole-human leadership framework that has trained more than 1,000 public leaders nationwide, and the host of the top-10% global Civic Courage Lab Podcast, featuring guests such as Byron Katie, David Allen, and Rick Doblin.
A psychedelic healing retreat in 2019 changed his life as he witnessed these treatments transform—and even save—others. Determined not to wait for federal action, he helped establish the nation’s first municipal therapeutic model in Aspen and later served on Colorado’s Natural Medicine Advisory Board, shaping the framework SANCTUM now operates under.
At SANCTUM, Skippy focuses on guests seeking leadership development, peak performance, and team optimization. He holds the strategic vision and relational gravity that enable SANCTUM to achieve peak excellence, creating a field of connection, coherence and transformation aligned with the Aspen Idea.
INTEGRATION SPECIALISTS
Sophia Green MSW - SANCTUM Preparation + Integration Specialist
Sophia Green is a Licensed Master Social Worker and certified Psychedelic Guide with deep expertise in Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic healing, and evidence-based preparation and integration.
Widely regarded as Aspen’s favorite psychedelic resource, she is the author of a longstanding column in the Aspen Daily News and has supported clients navigating trauma, spiritual inquiry, and mind–body reconnection with clarity, groundedness, and compassion. Her work integrates clinical training with spiritual modalities, including Akashic Records and unattached burden exploration within the IFS framework.
Called to this path through her own journey from disconnection to self-return, Sophia is committed to helping people remember their inherent worthiness, belonging, and inner guidance.
At SANCTUM, she serves as our Prep & Integration Specialist, ensuring guests enter ceremony grounded and supported — and leave with the insight, stability, and direction needed to bring their transformation back into their lives and leadership.
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Patrick Brady - SANCTUM Communications Director
Patrick Brady is a seasoned marketing strategist with deep expertise in digital communications and brand growth across the health, wellness, pharmaceutical, and hospitality sectors.
He has led high-impact initiatives with a blend of analytical rigor and creative precision, translating complex ideas into clear, trustworthy, and resonant messaging.
Beginning his journey with psilocybin therapy in Costa Rica in 2022, Patrick witnessed its transformative potential firsthand and became committed to helping others understand what this approach can offer and to expanding access for those who may benefit.
At SANCTUM, Patrick leads our communications strategy and storytelling — articulating our mission, attracting aligned guests, and amplifying the broader societal impact of this work. His leadership ensures SANCTUM’s voice remains coherent, ethical, and deeply resonant, reaching the leaders ready to heal, grow, and transform the world
LIMINAL LIAISONS
Jamie Butemeyer - SANCTUM Liminal Liaison
Jamie Butemeyer is a transformational coach, speaker, and creative visionary with more than a decade of experience guiding high-performing leaders, artists, and entrepreneurs through identity expansion and emotional mastery.
Her work blends embodiment, artistry, and entrepreneurship, rooted in her Trinity of Transformation methodology — Unraveling, Becoming, and Embodiment. As a trained Zendo Project sitter, Jamie excels at holding grounded, compassionate presence in altered states.
Her own healing from perfectionism, burnout, and creative suppression led her to psychedelic medicine, where she recognized its unique power to restore authenticity, vitality, and inner truth.
At SANCTUM, she serves as our Liminal Liaison — guiding guests across thresholds between the default world and SANCTM environment, and as Skippy’s wife and partner in this work, anchoring the environment in a deeply relational and familial field that helps every guest feel held with warmth, humanity, and genuine connection.
Tatum Rees - SANCTUM Liminal Liaison
Tatum Rees is a rising facilitator in the field of psychedelic-assisted healing, currently completing her training through the InnerTrek Psychedelic Facilitator Program as she pursues state licensure as a psilocybin facilitator.
Having left the corporate world to pursue her dharma and to focus on helping others, she is now the Director of Community & Culture at Aspen Shakti, and feels passionate about consciously cultivating environments where people feel connected, grounded, and supported in their personal evolution.
Her journey with psychedelic medicine began as an exploration of expanded states of consciousness and evolved into a path of profound emotional healing and clarity, inspiring her to support others as they move through their own thresholds of growth.
At SANCTUM, she serves as a Liminal Liaison — guiding guests from the default world into the sacred container, holding space with gentleness and grounded presence, and ensuring each person feels safe, welcomed, and deeply cared for as they begin their journey of healing and transformation.