Mycelium Network: Doug Finkelstein & Empathic Health

Written by Justin Belko

Doug Finkelstein is the founder of Empathic Health, a vibrant community for those interested in psychedelics and plant medicine as a part of their self-growth journey. Utilizing his experience with plant medicine as a healing modality and his background in business Doug is able to foster a lively and intimate community.

Justin: What's your story, and what brought you into the psychedelic space?

Doug: My journey started when I was 13 and started taking preventative hair loss medication. As male baldness runs in my family, I reasoned that if I took this medication my problems would be solved. It sounds great in theory, except it didn’t work that way. I experienced horrible physical and psychological side effects that I experienced for nearly a decade.

Eventually, I found an online community of people that were also taking the same medication and they shared their horror stories, many much worse than mine. It helped open my eyes to the horrible effects this medication had on my mental state. Motivated to pursue a path to self-betterment, I quit taking the medication the very next day and a couple of months later began meditative practices.

I became more motivated and outgoing, striving to explore life and all its various opportunities and experiences, one of those experiences being psychedelics, specifically mushrooms. This led to my first psychedelic experience at 25, which was life-changing.

Justin: What inspires and motivates you on a daily basis to continue your work in this space?

Doug: I love bringing people together and introducing newcomers to this space, in a sense creating communities. There is nothing like seeing the positive impact that intentional and mindful psychedelic experiences have on people.

Prior to my first psychedelic experience, I had heard a lot of misinformation about psychedelics from the government and media. That psychedelics can make you go crazy and jump out of windows, and that they’re only used by hippies and at raves —A lot of stereotypical and outright false information.

I worked to do my own research but found that factual information wasn’t very accessible. You could never tell if the information was coming from a trustworthy source as everyone was anonymous, due to the legality surrounding plant medicine.

Justin: Tell us a bit about Empathic Health. What role does it play in the psychedelic space?

Doug: Empathic Health revolves around the intention of providing people with a safe and trustworthy community. One full of compassionate people that understand the value of connecting with like-minded individuals. A place where you can provide or ask for advice and work to integrate life experiences and a place where everyone is trying to grow and become better people.

Members of the community have an experience personalized for them through a wide variety of channels. From music appreciation and art to mycology and psychedelic research discussion, there’s a place for everyone.

We host weekly events including Mindful Mondays, integration circles, guest speakers, and movie showings just to name a few. We support our members through the biweekly “Frequencies” networking program, where members are paired off based on their interests and passions, as well as our upcoming need-based scholarship program, supporting members who seek to attend plant medicine-centered events and retreats.

Justin: What event or series of events lead to the inception of Empathic Health?

Doug: It was August 2020, and I was entering my final year in UCLA’s MBA program. I was certain I did not want to go into consulting, banking, or other typical business paths, and instead wanted to pursue something I was passionate about.

I was at the end of a mushroom journey at Joshua Tree with a group of very close friends, and we were discussing life goals, values, and passions. I reflected on how I would love to create a shared space for people to explore psychedelics and grow. A place where people can connect and access trustworthy information and resources. I also knew how hard it was for me to find a safe community and quality information, a place where I could express myself and not have to hide behind an alias.

As the conversation progressed, I realized that there were probably other people like me that didn’t have a community to turn to and if there was ever a time to take a risk and follow my dream, it was now.

Justin: Where do you see Empathic Health going in the next decade and beyond?

Doug: Community is our product, so in addition to always improving our current community features, EH will also be undertaking new initiatives over the coming years.

We’ll be hosting our first annual community retreat in September, where members will be able to get to know each other better through various activities like hiking, yoga, and meditation.

In the coming months, we are also launching our grant initiative for community-based projects. We'll be providing financial, technological, and networking support to help people pursue their passions while bringing community members closer together.

We hope to eventually expand our in-person presence collaborating with festivals and concerts where we will have an Empathic sanctuary. It will be a place where one can decompress with food, refreshments, counseling, and anything else they may need.         

In order to facilitate and encourage collaboration amongst psychedelic organizations, we plan to design a virtual roadmap of all the organizations and initiatives in the psychedelic space, detailing their role and affiliations. We are always looking for people and organizations to partner with and our current collaborators include PsiloHealth, Gwella, Dreamglade Retreat, and the healing retreats hosted by some of our community members.

Justin: Are there any insights you are still integrating today and what does your integration practice look like?

Doug: My most recent psychedelic experience delivered insight surrounding personal success. You can put yourself in the best position to succeed through personal effort, raising the odds in your favor, but whether or not your desired outcome occurs is out of your control. You need to accept that in life you are never in complete control. Once you reconcile with this, you will find a great deal of peace and comfort. I work to realign my definition of success with: “Did I do everything in my power to achieve my goal?” rather than “Did my desired outcome occur?”.

Since I’ve started my journey, I have gotten better at internalizing and acting upon this insight, and I credit a large part of this success to having a community to turn to. Having people I trust and respect, helps me hold myself accountable. Yes, sometimes I might not want to wake up at 7 am on a Monday for our community mindfulness practice, but I do it and always come out feeling better after the practice. Being in a community where everyone is working to grow and develop themself helps empower and encourage me on my journey.

Justin: What advice do you provide newcomers to the psychedelic space?

Doug: My advice to newcomers, whether you’re on a journey for healing, self-discovery, or consciousness exploration is that what you’re looking for exists, but you need to work to find it. With all the various psychoactive medicines, dosages, and routes of administration, not to mention the effects of set and setting, you will almost certainly find what you seek, only once you accept that you may never find it.

While you need to figure out for yourself what works best for you, having a community will help guide you-- A place where you feel comfortable and confident, where you can place your trust, it will make your journey easier. We're all on a journey in life and there are lots of people willing, able, and eager to help you. That's what communities like Empathic Health are for.