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

I’m an accredited psychotherapist, sole parent, keen gardener and avid runner. I can usually be found running over the Downs, connecting with friends or chilling with my son and our cats.

The importance of connection has always been key in my life, with nature, people and animals. This led to a career in mental health, where I witnessed what happens when we lose connection from our community, ourselves as well as the world around us.

After two decades of working in different therapeutic roles within the NHS, I recognised that the treatment model needed to change if we are going to stand a chance of supporting those in need. Having had a lifelong interest in meditation, alternative states as well as learning, I became increasingly interested in the emerging research and development in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy. I was fortunate to meet a community of others who shared the same passion at Exeter University and was able to combine everything together to help develop Karuna Communitas.

I’m excited to be starting this new life chapter and help this exciting community grow and flourish.