Our Team
Shauna Gourley
Click the picture to be taken to Shauna's Website, http://www.shaunagourley.com
My journey into the healing arts, like many others, was borne out of frustration with the current Western medical model. After having my second child at the seasoned age of 39, I never fully recovered. By the time I was 41, I was navigating through what can only be described as hormone hell, alongside the trauma of being gaslit by physicians who told me the symptoms were all in my head. Sleepless nights and anxiety-filled days had me searching for answers, which under the current system, were limited to prescriptions of antidepressant meds, sleep meds and a host of junk diagnoses like IBS, fibromyalgia and "PMS Bitch.” Yes, I was actually called that by a doctor.
Frustrated, I decided I would take my health into my own hands, and at 45, I went back to school. Over the last 13 years, I have been studying and have certified in various science-based modalities, including: holistic nutrition, functional diagnostic nutrition, clinical methylation and nutrigenomics and human potential coaching. It was also during this time that my 16-year marriage dissolved, and I was thrust into my new life as an unsupported, single mother; all of this while trying to launch a new career.
I’d like to tell you that I navigated this time in my life like a superstar, but that wouldn’t be truthful. It was only through a series of falling down and getting back up again that I was able to come out of a very long and dark night of the soul. Actually, to be fully candid, it was more like long and dark years here.
This series of adversities, however, led me on a profound spiritual journey, and ultimately to the healing power of plant medicine. In 2018, I attended Rythmia Life Advancement Centre in Costa Rica, where I legally and safely (medically-supervised) participated in four ayahuasca ceremonies. The pictures here were taken during my integration, which I was gratefully able to do with a few extra days on the beach in Tamarindo.
While I could speak into this transformative experience for hours, the short story is that this master plant medicine confirmed to me that I was more than my physical body. It also showed me from where it was I came, and to where I would return, whilst simultaneously removing the fear of death, restoring my faith in humanity and the connectedness of all things, and healing my broken heart. Seriously, just wow!
Alongside my ongoing healing with functional medicine, I continued to incorporate micro and macrodosing other plant medicines like psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and MDMA, and in 2022 I was guided to complete my training in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. This training has allowed me and my partners to provide a safe space (harm reduction) for people to experience their own inner healing, and assist them in integrating this deep work into their everyday lives.
Wellness is a journey, and it is my intention to offer this online space for people to be able to find their own medicine. As your coach, I will always endeavour to meet you where you are. Whether you're ready for functional lab testing to start looking for physiological healing opportunities, or education around microdosing psychedelics as a tool for managing depression and anxiety, or are ready to experience your own inner-healing with these sacred plant medicines, it would be my honour and privilege to be your guide.
Leslie Grover
Click the picture to be taken to Leslie's Website, humanessense.com
If you would like to book an intro call, please go to https://calendly.com/humanessense.
I am a Creative Arts Therapist and combine my skills using creative and experiential modalities to assist clients in individual and group settings. My approach is inquiry-based, and I, as your companion, and you, as the inquirer, work together in the relational space, allowing for a rich co-creation to emerge.
As someone who appreciates working holistically with clients, I recently completed my Psychedelic Assisted Therapy certification and work with people who want to try a different approach to learning more about who they are by using creative and experiential modalities to understand and integrate their experiences. There is a rich tapestry of inner knowing with this type of exploring and having access to different ways of making meaning allows for a deeper and more expansive understanding of your experience.
Most of my education has been completed in Australia through the lens of experiencing and creating. I am a Masters Candidate with MIECAT and continue to work with clients in my private practice in Cochrane, Alberta, as well as Online, as we meet together in the space with curiosity and wonder.
You can find more information about me and how I work with clients on my website Humanessense Inc.
Alfieri Negro
I have an HBSc Major in Psychology, Minor in Biology from the University of Waterloo and over 30 years experience studying the human mind and working with expanded states of consciousness. I offer a compassionate, trauma-informed approach that combines a strong foundation in Western neuroscience with experiential knowledge of Buddhist, Taoist, Yogic, and Shamanic philosophy and practices.
Although there is variation in the language and models between these different schools of thought, at their root, they all describe the process of self-actualization. Abraham Maslow, who coined this term, described it as “the process of becoming everything you are capable of becoming.”
My eclectic experience with Chi Kung, Breathwork, Shamanism, Yoga Nidra, Western Hermetic Magick, various forms of meditation, and movement-based somatic practices, equips me with a broad tool kit of offerings which will allow us to collaborate and personalize an approach tailored to your specific goals and needs, with the modalities that resonate with you.