Meet the Directors
Behind everything we do is a team of people who truly care. We bring our full selves to the table. Open-minded, collaborative, and ready to make something great.
Martina Ercoli
I am Martina, and my path into this work has grown from a deep and long standing curiosity about the human mind, the search for meaning, and the conditions that help people heal, grow, and transform. My academic background brings together philosophy, neuroscience, and psychedelic studies, fields that have helped me explore what it means to be human and how change becomes possible. I hold a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Tor Vergata University in Italy, a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Neuroscience from King’s College London, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Psychedelics, Mind, Medicine and Culture from the University of Exeter, where I am continuing my studies at MSc level. I have also recently begun training as a Transformational Coach, which feels like a natural extension of my commitment to supporting change in a thoughtful, relational, and grounded way. My hope is to work with people who have encountered altered states of consciousness, supporting them to turn insight into meaning and help people find paths for sustainable transformation.
Alongside my academic work, I bring more than 17 years of experience in workplace people management, wellbeing, psychological safety, and inclusive culture building within the tech & pharma sector. This has shown me how deeply wellbeing is shaped by relationships, systems, and community, not only by the individual.
At Karuna, I bring strategic thinking, psychosocial insight, and a deep commitment to ethical, accessible, and culturally sensitive practice. I care deeply about helping shape spaces where healing can be held with integrity, inclusivity, and genuine human warmth.
Kate Buchanan Phillips
I joined Karuna Communitas with a determination and a passion to make plant medicines safer and more accessible.
Following the PG Cert in Psychedelics at Exeter University, where I met my fellow Karuna directors, I also completed a Certificate in Psychedelics with Clerkenwell Health. This confirmed my conviction that many psychedelic clinical trials are showing how effective these medicines can be and that access should be widened. Currently I help screen participants for a psilocybin clinical study at UCL and I am also a member of the Institute of Psychedelic Therapists.
As a therapist, I know how hard it is to heal some mental health conditions and emotional wounds. Having worked in a drug and alcohol recovery centre, at MIND and with refugees, I now work in private practice in Central London where I see many clients who have experienced trauma. I believe that psychedelic assisted therapy could help some people more than talking therapy alone. Karuna can call for changes to the law.
Karuna can also develop preparation and integration models as harm reduction for those who have chosen to attend retreats.
I am keen to use my experience as a therapeutic supervisor to create a network of peer supervision groups. Supervision is essential to safe practice and yet existing supervision models do not include psychedelic related issues.
Before training to be a therapist, I worked in voluntary sector marketing and public relations and I have an MSc in Voluntary Sector Organisation which, I hope, can be of use as Karuna evolves.
Damian Guy
I am a founding director of Karuna Communitas, with a path centred on human connection, healing and community care.
My interest in psychedelics began in my teenage years, following an experience that shifted me from a place of anger and disconnection into a deep sense of belonging and connection to something greater than myself. That experience quietly shaped the direction of my life.
In my early forties, as my children grew up and began leaving home, I found myself questioning my sense of purpose. Attending an ayahuasca retreat with Sacred Voyage was a turning point. It allowed me to see myself with compassion for the first time, deepened my sense of presence, and helped me reconnect with the people I love.
I felt called to move towards work grounded in care and relationship, which led me to complete the Postgraduate Certificate in Psychedelics: Mind, Medicine and Culture at the University of Exeter, and to begin training in counselling.
I have now completed two modules of Sacred Voyage facilitator training and have a growing interest in facilitating groups and supporting collective healing processes. I will be continuing my training in integrative therapy, psychedelic space holding and energy work in 2026.
Through Karuna Communitas, I hope to help create spaces where people can connect, feel supported, and experience meaningful, lasting change together.
Amalia Izzo
Hi, I am one of the co-founders and Directors of Karuna Communitas. Our vision is shaped by conversations with fellow students at the University of Exeter who, like me, felt the need for spaces that honour preparation, integration, cultural sensitivity, and the healing strength of communitas. I am energised by the possibility of widening access to psychedelic support for those who might otherwise be excluded, and by helping to build structures that reflect compassion, integrity, and inclusivity.
I am also the Event Coordinator for West and Central London for The Psychedelic Society, the UK’s largest organisation dedicated to fostering deep connection, awareness, and transformative experiences through the exploration of psychedelics, embodied practices, therapeutic modalities, applied psychology, and consciousness expansion.
I am currently an MSc student in “Psychedelics: Mind, Medicine and Culture” at the University of Exeter, immersing myself in frameworks that span science, history, philosophy, and indigenous knowledge. At the same time, I am training in curanderismo in the Shipibo tradition under the supervision of Maestro Heberto at the Onikano Centre in Peru.
After a 20-year career in investment banking, I transitioned into the field of psychedelic science and community-based wellbeing, with a commitment to widening access to ethical, safe, and culturally sensitive care.
As a lifelong learner, my interests span psychedelic ethics, cross-cultural approaches to healing, Native American cosmology, and meditation. My lived experience informs my passion for sharing knowledge about the transformative potential of psychedelics and helping to reduce stigma around their responsible use.
Faye Vallance
Hi, I’m excited to be part of this community as a co-founder and director of Karuna Communitas. I’m also a psychotherapist, sole parent, gardener and keen runner. Outside of work, you’ll often find me out on the South Downs, spending time with friends, or relaxing at home with my son and our cats.
After more than twenty years working in mental health services, supporting people through a wide range of challenges, I’ve seen first-hand how deeply our society is in need of change. As life becomes increasingly fast-paced and disconnected, many of us are losing touch — with ourselves, with each other, and with the natural world around us. The sense of community and belonging that helps people feel grounded and supported can often feel absent.
My own experiences with meditation, nature connection, and altered states of consciousness led me to explore psychedelic-assisted therapy as a way of helping restore that connection. As I discovered the growing body of evidence-based research in this field, I became increasingly inspired by the healing potential of alternative states, whether accessed through meditation, breathwork, or psychedelics.
This journey eventually brought me to the University of Exeter, where I completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Psychedelics: Mind, Medicine and Culture. It was during my studies that I met others who shared similar values and passions and a supportive and nourishing community was formed. From that community, Karuna Communitas was born — with a shared commitment to creating legal, financially accessible, evidence-based psychedelic and altered-state experiences, grounded in preparation, integration, and community care.
I’m excited to be stepping into this new chapter and helping to nurture a space where people can grow, connect, and flourish.