Grof Psychedelic and Breathwork Training Academy

Instructor(s)

Neil Hanon, MD, FRCPC, is a psychiatrist based in Kelowna. Recognized for his teaching excellence, Dr. Hanon has received the Undergraduate Psychiatry Clinical Teaching Award from the UBC Department of Psychiatry in 2011 and 2023, along with the Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching from the Faculty of Medicine at UBC in 2018. Dr.Hanon, Neil, got involved in Holotropic Breathwork first as a participant to help with his grief after the death of his 17 year old son. He discovered that conventional psychology and psychiatry had no coherent strategy to help him in his grief. Through extensive reading he discovered Stan Grof’s writing on novel theories of the human psyche and was able to attend a breathwork retreat led by Stan and Christina Grof. He found the breathwork so beneficial for his grief that he continued on training and in 2015 become certified as a Holotropic Breathwork facilitator. Driven by his own journey, Neil developed a keen interest in treating grief and spiritual emergence. He co-founded Relief for Grief, which evolved into Jamaica Grief Retreats, offering legal psilocybin mushroom journeys to parents who have lost a child. He also served as the medical director for TheraPsil, assisting patients with End of Life Distress to gain legal access to psilocybin mushrooms. During his time with TheraPsil he was one of 19 Canadian clinical professionals who were granted permission by the Federal minister of Health to legally possess and take psilocybin mushrooms for educational purposes. In 2021 Neil was invited by Stan and Brigitte Grof to co-lead the Canadian arm of Grof Legacy Training International. In late 2023 Grof Legacy Training Canada separated into breathwork and psychedelic streams. Neil leads both the Psychedelic Training, and Grof Breathwork Programs in Canada. With his extensive background of curriculum development and teaching skills has developed the coursework with emphasis on its application to psychedelic medicine work, and Grof Breathwork.


Instructor(s)

Dr Ingrid Pacey MBBS, FRCPC Ingrid is a psychiatrist who had a private psychotherapy practice in Vancouver for 47 years. She retired from private practice in 2019. She worked mostly but not exclusively with women, and her practice came to focus on trauma survivors especially of early childhood sexual abuse. In addition to traditional psychiatric training, she sought additional training in Gestalt Therapy, Bioenergetics, Art training and eventually in 1987-1990 in Holotropic Breathwork with Stan and Christina Grof. She attended numerous conferences on trauma therapy, complex PTSD and dissociative identity disorders. She facilitated monthly weekend Holotropic Breathwork groups from 1989-2004 mostly with her partner Wendy Barrett and also with Jane Cooper. Ingrid and Wendy pioneered ongoing Holotropic Breathwork groups for trauma survivors. From 1990-2004 they facilitated annual 5 day Holotropic Breathwork groups at Hollyhock, some with meditation and periods of silence, and some with a focus on creativity. With her experience in Holotropic Breathwork and trauma therapy, Ingrid became involved with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy research for trauma survivors, for MAPS (US). She was the Principal Investigator for the first research study in Canada 2012-2016. In 2021 she became a trainer for Therapsil, a BC organization advocating for legalization of psilocybin and for training in psilocybin -assisted therapy for end of life distress. Ingrid is now a trainer for Grof Legacy Training, in Canada led by Carolyn Green and Dr Neil Hanon. She is again facilitating Holotropic Breathwork groups in the context of training. Her chapter on MDMA and Holotropic Breathwork appears in “Psychedelics and Psychotherapy”ed Dr Tim Read and Maria Papaspyrou. She lives with her spouse of 40 years, Wendy Barrett. She has 2 children and 3 grandchildren and a malamute named Misty.