The Inward Dive Fund · September 5, 2026
There are 1.8 million people incarcerated in the United States
That is why this fund exists. We are still accepting applications and still issuing awards, and this is what the work looked like this summer.
The Inward Dive Fund covers psilocybin services for people the justice system has impacted, and for the people who work alongside them. Grants are sized to need and paid directly to licensed providers, never a bill to the person receiving care.
The fund is open. We are accepting applications now and issuing awards through the end of the year. If you know one person, or one organization, who should hear that, this post is the thing to send them.
01 A letter from Henry
“Anyone who has contact with the justice system is holding trauma and stress”
Henry FieldsLead of the Inward Dive Fund
Hi, my name is Henry Fields.
Nineteen years ago, fresh out of rehab, I was sleeping on a friend’s couch. My friend Sam, a medium who has since passed, told me I was fated to walk the path of a healer, and to work with people who had been incarcerated.
The night I finally quit drinking, an altercation sent me toward a jail in Compton. As a Black man with substance-abuse issues, I lived with a constant fear of how easily I could end up behind bars.
Years later I became a psilocybin facilitator and chose the formerly incarcerated as the community to serve. One referral became many, returned citizens, their families, the attorneys and advocates beside them. What I learned is that anyone who has contact with the justice system is holding trauma and stress.
There are 1.8 million people incarcerated in the United States. That is why the Inward Dive Fund exists.
Henry Fields, Lead of the Inward Dive Fund. Read his full letter.
02 This summer
Thirty forested acres, and a room where most people had been inside
In mid-July, about a dozen people came to Fernlove, a licensed psilocybin service center on thirty private acres outside Gaston, Oregon. Nearly all of them had served six months or more, most of them years, and most of that time in prison rather than jail.
They arrived on a Friday afternoon. Because a group this size cannot journey together safely, the retreat ran in two waves. One group journeyed Friday and spent Saturday in integration. The second group journeyed Saturday and integrated on Sunday. Nobody had to share a room with someone they did not know.
Getting them there took roughly seventy applications, read one by one, with word carried through the networks of Chacruna, Galaxy Gives, and MAPS. The retreat itself was fully covered. Nobody received a bill.
03 The research beside it
Why a fund about access is also doing science
Our mission is to widen access. Access arguments get won with evidence, and the evidence for this population barely exists. So we built a study to sit alongside the retreat, and most of the roughly dozen people who came chose to take part.
It is observational. The researchers did not provide the psilocybin, did not administer it, and did not change the retreat. Taking part was entirely voluntary, and saying no had no effect on anyone’s ability to attend. The retreat came first and the study fit around it.
It is run by researchers affiliated with the Center for Collective Healing and Yale University, and led by Dr. AZA Stephen Allsop. It looks at social connection and social perception, alongside distress, anxiety, mood, and connection to nature. Participants filled out questionnaires and did a short social-connection activity before and after, and wore two noninvasive sensors, a Muse headband and a heart monitor. Follow-ups continue at one, three, and six months.
Research information is tied to coded participant IDs, not to names. Results are expected later this year.
One thing we did not expect: several people told us the presence of the research made them feel safer, and that contributing evidence was part of why they came.
04 Three of the people behind it
Named here, and many more who are not
Henry FieldsA trauma-informed healing practitioner, justice-reform advocate, and one of Oregon’s first state-licensed psilocybin facilitators, who founded Inward Dive and leads this fund.
Dr. AZA Stephen Allsop, MD, PhDAn artist, neuroscientist, and psychiatrist at Yale School of Medicine who directs the Center for Collective Healing at Howard University, studying how music, mindfulness, and psychedelics shape social connection.
Marik HazanAn engineer, entrepreneur, and investor who leads the Energia Foundation and founded the first startup incubator focused on psychedelics.
Three names among many. The licensed facilitators who held the sessions, the foundation staff who built the retreat, and the rest of the research team are not listed here, and the work would not exist without them.
05 What clients say
From clients of Inward Dive, the practice this fund grew out of
- “I have experienced a level of healing, peace, and joy that I never knew was possible.” Tarra S.
- “One of the most life-shifting experiences I’ve ever had. Since my session, my depression has significantly lifted.” Selena H.
- “I credit Henry’s guidance and wisdom in helping me address deep-rooted trauma. I truly feel rejuvenated, seen, and understood.” A.
- “I walked in at one of my lowest points and walked out excited to get my life back.” David C.
Individual experiences, shared with permission. Outcomes vary from person to person, which is exactly why we are building the research.
Our one ask
Tell one person. Or one organization.
The fund is open, and we are issuing awards through the end of the year. If you know someone the justice system has touched, or a reentry program, a public defender’s office, a parole officer, or an advocate who works alongside them, send them this.