The Inward
Dive Fund

The Inward Dive Fund supports justice-impacted individuals by reducing financial and logistical barriers to accessing state-legal plant medicine facilitation services.

The Inward Dive Fund is open to everyone who is 21 years or older, has been justice-impacted, has financial need, and is anywhere in the United States and beyond.

In addition to the primary criteria of being justice-impacted and having financial need, the Fund prioritizes applicants who come from communities that may not typically have access to this form of healthcare, which we define broadly (e.g. where someone lives, age, race, ethnicity, cultural barriers, occupation, physical and/or cognitive ability, gender, sexual orientation, etc.).

To summarize, applicants will qualify for financial support if they:

• Are 21 years or older
• Live anywhere in the U.S. or beyond
• Identify as justice-impacted (broadly defined)
• Have financial need
• May not otherwise have access to this form of healthcare

A "justice-impacted" person is anyone who has experienced incarceration, arrest, probation, parole, or the collateral consequences of a criminal record — as well as their family members, legal advocates, and others who bear the emotional and systemic burdens of the justice system.

If you have further questions about what qualifies someone as justice-impacted, please email us at info@sherieckert.org. If you think you might qualify even if you don't neatly fall into a category, there's a good chance we'll deem you eligible.

While research reveals a strong safety profile, psilocybin is not for everyone, and some conditions may be disqualifying. Eligibility depends in part on the Psilocybin Facilitator or Service Center. The following conditions or situations may be contraindications to receiving psilocybin services:

• Mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, major depressive disorder with psychotic features, psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, mania, delusional disorder, any dissociative disorder, substance-induced psychosis, or severe paranoia
• Current drug or alcohol withdrawal symptoms, or active/severe drug or alcohol misuse
• Cardiovascular conditions such as poorly controlled high blood pressure, prolonged QTc interval, congestive heart failure, history of cardiac arrest, history of ventricular arrhythmia (V. Fib/V. Tach), presence of an AICD, coronary artery disease, angina, tachycardia, arrhythmia (e.g. atrial fibrillation), Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, heart valve disease, artificial heart valve, cardiac hypertrophy, cardiomyopathy, aortic disease, or aneurysms
• Gastrointestinal conditions such as moderate to severe liver impairment or gastric outlet obstruction
• Dialysis or severe kidney disease
• Neurologic conditions such as dementia, cognitive impairment, seizure disorders, epilepsy, history of stroke or transient ischemic attack, or cerebral aneurysm
• Taking medications such as lithium; two or more medications affecting your serotonin system (e.g. SSRI, SNRI, SPARI, TCA, and MAO inhibitors); or medication for angle-closure glaucoma
• Pregnancy
• Tuberculosis, COVID, and other highly contagious diseases
• A first-degree relative (parent, sibling, child) with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or any psychotic or dissociative disorder

If you are living with any of the above and cannot resolve the condition or situation before receiving psilocybin therapy, we recommend that you do not apply, as there is a high probability you will not be deemed eligible to receive services.

We are not making any decision or confirmation that someone should receive psilocybin services. We are determining whether an applicant is a good fit to receive a grant from us, so they can pursue a licensed facilitator — where both the client and facilitator will decide whether to work together.

In 2020, voters in Oregon passed Ballot Measure 109, also known as the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act, allowing the "manufacture, delivery, and administration" of psilocybin within licensed service centers, supervised by licensed facilitators. In 2022, Colorado became the second state to establish a legal regulated access program for psilocybin and other related psychoactive plants. While psilocybin is legal for use within the Oregon and Colorado state-regulated models, it remains a federally illegal Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

The Inward Dive Fund is an initiative from the Sheri Eckert Foundation (SEF), in partnership with Henry Fields, an Oregon-licensed facilitator and integration coach.

SEF is committed to creating a future where Oregon and Colorado's evolving psychedelic ecosystem is accessible to participants from diverse backgrounds, financial means, and geographies around the state and country. Learn more about SEF here.

Our Board of Directors is David Bronner, Tom Eckert, and Nathan Howard. Our team consists of Nathan Howard, Executive Director, and Lorena Dame, Director of Operations and Development. We also work with an organization called Magical Teams to support our application process.

Final grant amounts will vary, but we anticipate the average grant size will total $500–$2,000.

The grant supports the cost of facilitation; it does not cover the cost of plant medicine. The cost of psilocybin ranges from potentially being donated to costing around $100. Inward Dive Fund grants do not cover any costs related to travel, food, lodging, or anything besides facilitation.

The actual funds are directed to the facilitator and/or service center, which must be licensed by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). Once you and a facilitator agree to work with each other, we direct the funds to the facilitator. Grant recipients have the ability to be referred to Henry Fields or one of our "Recommended Facilitators."

Our goal is to award initial grants in late spring of 2025 and to continue awarding grants on a rolling basis over the course of 2025 and 2026. We communicate with all applicants over email.

Grants are awarded through a competitive application process, since the number of applicants may exceed the funds we can distribute. Selection criteria is primarily based on the applicant's financial need, whether they belong to an underserved population (e.g. geography, race, ethnicity, cultural barriers, occupation, physical and/or cognitive ability, age, gender, etc.), and a demonstrated understanding and readiness to receive psilocybin therapy. Each of these categories is detailed in the application.

The Fund is currently designed to support groups of 4–6 individuals undergoing two days of psilocybin facilitation. Cohorts of leaders from similar backgrounds or communities may be self-selected or grouped by the Fund's reviewers based on appropriateness of fit. We believe the cohort model fosters peer support and the opportunity for ongoing community following the psilocybin services. Through a group model, our goal is to increase the quality of care while bringing down overall costs for grant recipients.

If there is any reason an applicant would prefer not to participate in this cohort model and would require individual care, there is a chance to indicate so within the application, and such a request will be considered on an as-needed basis.

Why group over one-on-one?

In very recent history, group work has become less common, in part due to a Western approach to medicine driven by the FDA's approach to drug development. For this reason, most people in the United States are less accustomed to group work and less likely to be comfortable with it.

However, psychedelics — especially psilocybin — have a long and successful history of being used in group settings, including not just in a clinical context but also in Indigenous cultures going back thousands of years. Not only does group work save time and money, but studies show that when people feel part of a community, it improves their psychological well-being and connectedness.

We believe this is one reason people who begin with a preference for individual work often end up strongly preferring group after they experience it. We know from research and firsthand experience that individuals rarely heal or thrive in isolation. For more, see the research from the National Library of Medicine on combining psychedelics with group psychotherapy.

Visit the State of Oregon's official website for Oregon Psilocybin Services, which contains many resources about the model and sample forms, including the Informed Consent and Client Bill of Rights forms.

You can also read the OPS Fact Sheet, review the Scientific Literature Review, or consult the comprehensive Healing Advocacy Fund Client Guide and a sample Client Intake & Screening form.

Any information you share with us is strictly confidential and will not be shared with any person, for any reason, without your written (or electronic) permission. Submission is voluntary, and refusal to provide information will not subject you to any adverse treatment.

The Sheri Eckert Foundation will only use, process, and store your personal information for the purpose of reviewing, managing, and executing the program. Your information may be processed and stored on IT platforms and accessed by SEF employees and contractors for this purpose. We do not share, sell, or lease your personal information to third parties for other purposes unless required by law. (At the time of this update, we have never received a legal request for personal information.)

All workstations and Typeform devices are fully encrypted to guarantee the confidentiality of the information they contain. Typeform's data protection standards are HIPAA compliant.