This event was recorded on June 6, 2026 at the Wheeler Opera House, in partnership with Aspen Public Radio, Aspen Psychedelic Resource Center, and Healing Advocacy Fund.
This talk explores the evolving relationship between psychedelics and leadership development—from the Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece to modern neuroscience and clinical research.
Skippy Mesirow spent over 20 years in high-level public service—including presidential campaigns, statewide races, and elected office—while navigating his own experience with addiction, anxiety, and unresolved childhood trauma. That work reshaped his understanding of leadership and led him to found the Civic Courage Lab™, where he created The COURAGE METHOD™ and has trained more than 1,000 leaders nationwide in whole-human leadership.While serving on Aspen’s City Council, in a community with four times the national suicide rate, he facilitated the creation of the nation’s first city-level model for therapeutic psychedelic access. He currently serves on Colorado’s Natural Medicine Advisory Board and is the founder and facilitator at SANCTUM, where his team accelerates the COURAGE METHOD with careful, legal psychedelic retreats with leaders and changemakers — to manifest collective human flourishing, seeing each other’s differences as strengths, to come back into one global family.
Click here to explore the entire 2026 Program Book, including speaker bios and additional resources.
The 2026 Aspen Psychedelic Symposium was held on Saturday June 6, and Sunday, June7, produced by Aspen Public Radio, Healing Advocacy Fund, and the Aspen Psychedelic Resource Center in partnership with the historic Wheeler Opera House in the heart of Aspen, Colorado. This two-day gathering showcased expert panels, groundbreaking research, and firsthand insights into the transformative world of psychedelic medicines.