Ibogaine Uncovered

Four years ago this week, Courtney Barnes walked into Beond as one of the country's leading psychedelic policy attorneys.
Talia Eisenberg and Courtney Barnes discuss the part of the ibogaine story that rarely gets told: everything that happens after. The conversation covers preparation and what she wishes she had done differently, the long work of integration, what she had to give up, and where ibogaine policy is heading in the United States.
Courtney Barnes is a partner at Feldman Legal Advisors and an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, licensed in California, Colorado, and Texas. She was a lead drafter of Denver's psilocybin decriminalization initiative and serves as general counsel to veteran focused psychedelic organizations including Heroic Hearts Project. She came to Beond in 2022 while researching ibogaine for a nonprofit client.
Timestamps
(02:00) Why an attorney working on ibogaine policy decided to sit with it herself
(06:00) Heartbreak in LA, two oracle cards, and the question she carried into the room
(09:00) Arriving at Beond underprepared, and coming off fourteen years of Vyvanse
(12:00) Meeting her inner child and the memories she had completely repressed
(17:00) The difficult first year, and the support system she wishes she had built first
(22:00) Two months later, when her inner voice said no more to Vyvanse
(29:00) Four years out: rebuilt relationships with her mother and sister
(35:00) What she would tell someone who feels called but afraid of what they might find

📋 Book a consultation call with our clinical team: ⁠⁠⁠https://rebrand.ly/beond-spotify⁠⁠⁠
🌐 Learn more about Beond: ⁠⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com⁠⁠⁠
📋 Beond Treatment Programs & Pricing: ⁠⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-cost/⁠⁠⁠

👥 Meet the Beond clinical team: ⁠⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/our-team/⁠⁠⁠
⭐ Read Beond testimonials: ⁠⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-reviews/⁠⁠⁠

📖 How to choose an ibogaine provider: ⁠⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/blog/selecting-the-ideal-ibogaine-provider/⁠⁠⁠
🎙️ More episodes of Ibogaine Uncovered: ⁠⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/podcast/⁠⁠⁠

Follow Beond:
Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠  / beond.us  ⁠⁠⁠
TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠  / beond.us  ⁠⁠⁠
YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠   / @beondibogaine  ⁠⁠⁠
Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠  / beondtreatment  ⁠⁠⁠

Ibogaine Uncovered is an educational podcast. Nothing shared in this episode constitutes medical advice. Always consult a qualified medical professional before making any treatment decisions.

A new mother walks through the one-way door of postpartum and loses the thread of who she was. She came to Beond to find her way back.
Melissa Pruett joins host Talia Eisenberg to share a story of becoming rather than being broken. One year postpartum, she opens up about the moment her body couldn't produce milk and the perfectionism it exposed, the postpartum depression she was slow to admit, and the "surrender moment" that led her to ibogaine. She describes a flood dose with no visuals, just an intimate question-and-answer with her "higher mind" that answered the fifty questions she'd written down and delivered one core truth: just how enough she already is. She shares the song "Truth Teller" that poured out of her between journeys and plays it live, the second journey's confronting blind spots, a ten-year dream that resurfaced, and the honest, unglamorous reality of integration back home.
Melissa Pruett is a mother and entrepreneur who founded her beauty and wellness practice in Arizona more than twelve years ago. She is now expanding into a holistic space in Austin built around helping women uncover their own natural essence. She lives with her partner Andrew and their son Ever.
Find her on Instagram at @melissapruett24.

Timestamps
(01:00) Who Melissa is and why she came to Beond
(02:00) Postpartum and the milk that wouldn't come
(06:00) A surrender prayer and the sign at a birthday dinner
(15:00) Arriving at Beond and the power of peer community
(20:00) The flood dose and "just how enough you are"
(35:00) "Truth Teller," the song that poured out
(52:00) A ten-year dream resurfaces
(59:00) Integration, grace, and advice for new moms

📋 Book a consultation call with our clinical team: ⁠⁠https://rebrand.ly/beond-spotify⁠⁠
🌐 Learn more about Beond: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com⁠⁠
📋 Beond Treatment Programs & Pricing: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-cost/⁠⁠

👥 Meet the Beond clinical team: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/our-team/⁠⁠
⭐ Read Beond testimonials: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-reviews/⁠⁠

📖 How to choose an ibogaine provider: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/blog/selecting-the-ideal-ibogaine-provider/⁠⁠
🎙️ More episodes of Ibogaine Uncovered: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/podcast/⁠⁠

Follow Beond:
Instagram: ⁠⁠  / beond.us  ⁠⁠
TikTok: ⁠⁠  / beond.us  ⁠⁠
YouTube: ⁠⁠   / @beondibogaine  ⁠⁠
Facebook: ⁠⁠  / beondtreatment  ⁠⁠

Ibogaine Uncovered is an educational podcast. Nothing shared in this episode constitutes medical advice. Always consult a qualified medical professional before making any treatment decisions.

Hilda Sánchez has been quietly doing some of the most important work at Beond since she joined the team. She came from traditional hospital medicine, where the job is to intervene, stabilize, and move to the next patient, then she walked into a psychedelic treatment center and everything she knew about nursing got turned inside out.
Today, Talia and Hilda talk about what it actually looks like to keep someone safe during an ibogaine treatment. From the moment a guest is medically approved through arrival, pre-treatment assessment, the treatment itself, and every hour of their stay after, safety is the thread running through all of it. Hilda walks through the certifications nurses complete, the cardiac monitoring protocols, trauma-informed consent forms, and the difference between flood and fractional dosing. She also talks about how protocols have evolved over several thousand treatments and the guests who shaped her along the way. This is a conversation about what it means to grow as a practitioner inside a team that grows together.
Hilda Sánchez is a lead nurse at Beond Ibogaine Treatment Center in Mexico. She trained as a nurse in Puebla and worked emergency and operating rooms across Tulum, Nayarit, and Puebla before joining Beond three years ago. She has supported thousands of ibogaine treatments and helped shape the clinical and trauma-informed protocols the Beond team uses today.
(2:00) Why Hilda became a nurse and what brought her to Beond
(6:00) What shocked her: psychedelic nursing vs. hospital medicine
(12:00) Nurse training: ACLS, trip sitting, and cardiac monitoring
(16:00) Trauma-informed intake: consent forms and customization
(22:00) Flood dosing vs. fractional dosing
(33:00) Treatment-day protocols: EKG, UDT, and the treatment room
(43:00) Code blue training and emergency readiness
(52:00) Personal breakthrough and advice for those on the fence

📋 Book a consultation call with our clinical team: ⁠⁠https://rebrand.ly/beond-spotify⁠⁠
🌐 Learn more about Beond: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com⁠⁠
📋 Beond Treatment Programs & Pricing: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-cost/⁠⁠

👥 Meet the Beond clinical team: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/our-team/⁠⁠
⭐ Read Beond testimonials: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-reviews/⁠⁠

📖 How to choose an ibogaine provider: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/blog/selecting-the-ideal-ibogaine-provider/⁠⁠
🎙️ More episodes of Ibogaine Uncovered: ⁠⁠https://beondibogaine.com/podcast/⁠⁠

Follow Beond:
Instagram: ⁠⁠  / beond.us  ⁠⁠
TikTok: ⁠⁠  / beond.us  ⁠⁠
YouTube: ⁠⁠   / @beondibogaine  ⁠⁠
Facebook: ⁠⁠  / beondtreatment  ⁠⁠

Ibogaine Uncovered is an educational podcast. Nothing shared in this episode constitutes medical advice. Always consult a qualified medical professional before making any treatment decisions.

Parkinson's disease has no cure, but ibogaine may be quietly rewriting what's possible for the 11 million people living with it.
Today on Ibogaine Uncovered, Talia Eisenberg talks with Tobias Erny, a researcher and practitioner with nearly two decades of experience working with iboga, about the science, the stories, and the honest limits of this emerging therapy. They cover the case of Patient D, whose motor function transformed after ibogaine treatment; the published case report documenting 50%+ improvements across motor, mood, and quality-of-life measures; the pharmacology behind why it might work; low-dose protocols; who responds and who doesn't; complementary lifestyle support; and how to pursue this path safely and responsibly.
Tobias Erny is trained in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry and works at the intersection of neuroscience, lived clinical experience, and psychedelic science. He is a lead author on one of the first published case reports exploring ibogaine for Parkinson's disease, and is developing a placebo-controlled clinical trial with the University of Zurich.
Timestamps
(04:00) What Parkinson's disease actually is: dopamine loss, stages, and progression
(07:00) Environmental toxins and elevated Parkinson's risk in farming and golf course communities
(10:00) The pharmacology of iboga: GDNF, dopamine transporter chaperoning, and antidepressant effects
(16:00) The published case study: 80 days, five validated instruments, 50%+ improvements
(23:00) Who responds and who doesn't, and plans for a clinical trial in Zurich
(27:00) Complementary support: movement, nutrition, sleep, and lifestyle
(31:00) Safety, sourcing risks, medical screening, and setting honest expectations

Case Report:  https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2025.00478 

Ibogaine for Parkinson's Disease - Tobias Erny - Psychedelics as Medicine Iceland 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMvSV8IQsKk

📋 Book a consultation call with our clinical team: ⁠https://rebrand.ly/beond-spotify⁠
🌐 Learn more about Beond: ⁠https://beondibogaine.com⁠
📋 Beond Treatment Programs & Pricing: ⁠https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-cost/⁠

👥 Meet the Beond clinical team: ⁠https://beondibogaine.com/our-team/⁠
⭐ Read Beond testimonials: ⁠https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-reviews/⁠

📖 How to choose an ibogaine provider: ⁠https://beondibogaine.com/blog/selecting-the-ideal-ibogaine-provider/⁠
🎙️ More episodes of Ibogaine Uncovered: ⁠https://beondibogaine.com/podcast/⁠

Follow Beond:
Instagram: ⁠  / beond.us  ⁠
TikTok: ⁠  / beond.us  ⁠
YouTube: ⁠   / @beondibogaine  ⁠
Facebook: ⁠  / beondtreatment  ⁠

Ibogaine Uncovered is an educational podcast. Nothing shared in this episode constitutes medical advice. Always consult a qualified medical professional before making any treatment decisions.

Women veterans face a war that never makes the headlines, one fought inside the ranks against sexual assault, toxic leadership, and a system that demands silence. Lorna Sturchio served six years in the U.S. Navy, survived two deployments, and came home to battle invisible wounds that no amount of medication could reach.
In this episode, host Talia Eisenberg and Lorna discuss the largely hidden experience of women serving in the military. They cover how the VA system often fails veterans with complex trauma, what the path into plant medicine can look like, and what ibogaine treatment at Beond made possible. Lorna also speaks to her work supporting other women veterans and the creation of a dedicated healing program built specifically for them.
Lorna Sturchio is a U.S. Navy veteran who served six years, including two deployments with the Naval Coastal Warfare unit. After her own ibogaine healing journey at Beond, she became a coach and facilitator and helped design Beond's women veteran service program — the first all-female cohort of its kind — where she now supports other women veterans in reclaiming their voice, their nervous systems, and their lives.

Timestamps:
(2:00) Double standards, toxic culture, and the cost of speaking up
(6:00) Sexual assault in the military, silence, fear, and the 1-in-4 reality
(9:00) TBI, medevac, opioid dependency, and a system that cut her off
(17:00) VA treatment failures and a 2018 suicide attempt that changed everything
(20:00) First steps into plant medicine: ayahuasca, psilocybin, and learning set and setting
(23:00) Ibogaine at Beond: processing trauma, healing TBI, reclaiming sovereignty
(29:00) Building Beond's first women veteran cohort

📋 Book a consultation call with our clinical team:
https://rebrand.ly/beond-spotify
🌐 Learn more about Beond: https://beondibogaine.com
📋 Beond Treatment Programs & Pricing: https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-cost/

👥 Meet the Beond clinical team: https://beondibogaine.com/our-team/
⭐ Read Beond testimonials: https://beondibogaine.com/ibogaine-treatment-reviews/

📖 How to choose an ibogaine provider: https://beondibogaine.com/blog/selecting-the-ideal-ibogaine-provider/
🎙️ More episodes of Ibogaine Uncovered: https://beondibogaine.com/podcast/

Follow Beond:
Instagram:   / beond.us  
TikTok:   / beond.us  
YouTube:    / @beondibogaine  
Facebook:   / beondtreatment  

Ibogaine Uncovered is an educational podcast. Nothing shared in this episode constitutes medical advice. Always consult a qualified medical professional before making any treatment decisions.