Our Story
Our Vision
To enable people to become “agents of connectedness” in their inner and outer worlds, together creating a global network of care.
Our Mission
To provide widespread access to a global online community with local in-person hubs, based around nature’s principles, to foster positivity and emotional resilience for the future.
Our Roots
Qualitative research after a psilocybin trial showed that participants felt more connected to self, others and world (particularly nature). However, that feeling of connectedness diminished after a few weeks or months. Our founder, Dr Rosalind Watts, wanted to put in place a framework and a community that would help to nurture and maintain that sense of connectedness over a much longer period of time.
After successfully testing this process with a group of participants from the Imperial Psilocybin for Depressions trial, which was hosted by the Synthesis Institute, Dr Watts launched ACER Integration to bring the benefits to a much wider community around the world.
Guided by Nature
The Twelve Tree Teachers form a continual cycle of learning, a spiral of deepening enquiry to be repeated year after year. We start off with one of the trees from the Maple or Acer category: the Field Maple. This tree teaches us the fundamental principles of the ACER approach (Accept, Connect, Embody, Restore) and then we move into the cycle of meeting a new Tree Teacher every month.
The idea for the Twelve Tree Teachers came after Dr Watts had a profound experience of connectedness with a Field Maple tree during a ‘dark night of the soul’. She became immersed in the wisdom of trees, finding her way to the Celtic Tree Calendar, the work of Glennie Kindred, Ian Siddons Heginworth and John O Donahue. As working with trees gradually revitalised her, she created a Twelve Tree Cycle that could guide others on an ongoing journey of reconnection.
A fated meeting with Philip Carr-Gomm enabled Dr Watts to align the ACER Cycle with the ancient wisdom of Druidry, and the Eightfold Wheel of the year. The current Twelve Tree Cycle includes Trees native to the British Isles, USA and Canada, but the spiral of enquiry they provoke can be embarked on by anyone, anywhere.
Meet the Team
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Dr Ros Watts
FOUNDER
Dr Ros Watts is a clinical psychologist, a mother and a nature lover. Dr Watts has been named as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Psychedelics as well as one of the top Top 16 Women Shaping the Future of Psychedelics. Ros’s favourite Tree Teacher is the Rowan (or Mountain Ash). Rowan teaches that Grief and Love are two sides of the same coin and that our deepest suffering can be the place where our most important offering can spring from, if we are connected to enough support and care to nurture this alchemy.
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Lee Mendeloff
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Lee is a therapist, yoga teacher, breathwork guide. Her favourite tree is the Redwood. As ACER’s resident embodiment enthusiast and somatic practitioner, Lee loves how the Redwood teaches self-soothing. The Redwood reminds us that, no matter how strong we appear externally, our inner child—the sapling within—still needs care and nurturing. Tending to this part of ourselves builds emotional resilience and fosters nourishing relationships with both ourselves and others.
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Philip Carr-Gomm
FACILITATOR AND CONTRIBUTOR
Philip is a psychotherapist, and previous sharing circle facilitator on the first ever ACER cycle. Philip studied Druidry as a spiritual path with Ross Nichols, the founder of The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, and in 1988 was asked to lead The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids himself. “There is something about a birch tree lit up by the sun against a deep azure sky that just makes my heart soar. In the Druid tradition it represents new beginnings - the paper-like quality of the bark evoking the excitement of the blank page inviting new creation!”
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Tom Rickey
HEAD OF MARKETING AND PARTNERSHIPS
Tom is an ethnomusicologist with a natural talent for nurturing community. Tom manages our communications and partnerships. Before joining ACER, Tom worked in sustainability and climate, and in his spare time he is an African music enthusiast, radio presenter and DJ. Tom’s favourite Tree Teacher is the Hawthorn which teaches of the power of forgiving ourselves and others, like sunshine that transforms a barren landscape.
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Ona Praderas
SHARING CIRCLE FACILITATOR
Ona Praderas is an embodiment wellness coach, with over 8 years of experience blending modalities such as movement, breath, creativity and Gestalt therapy to foster deep personal growth. Her favourite tree is the Oak, it reminds her that this shall pass and balance will return no matter what. It helps her make peace with those parts of her that need pampering and love.
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Caroline
SHARING CIRCLE FACILITATOR
Caroline is a clinical psychologist and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapist who lives in the beautiful Blue Mountains of Australia, raising children and mugwort and trying to mindfully embody a bridge between the sacred and clinical worlds. Her favourite tree is the Apple, reminding us of the way life feeds back into itself, where past experience and the skins we shed become compost and nourishment for the next chapter, and the next, both internally and in relationship.
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Nii
SHARING CIRCLE FACILITATOR
Nii is a mental health, technology and psychedelics advocate and has spent the last 22 years working in mental health. He believes that strengthening our connection to nature and our authentic selves offer us the best chance of living fulfilled and aligned lives. The redwood reminds him to find stillness in challenging times, to look after himself by engaging in activities that regulate the nervous system and to find strength through an inner pillar of core values.
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Ruth
SHARING CIRCLE FACILITATOR
Ruth works in the creative sector but has always had an interest in psychology and mental health. She believes in an holistic and embodied approach to healing - one that includes every aspect of our humanity whether it be storytelling, art, movement, music, talking, thinking and connection to nature all have their part to play and are amplified when worked out within a supportive community.
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Leonie Schneider
SHARING CIRCLE FACILITATOR
Leonie is a mental health and psychedelics advocate, passionate about connecting authentically, building and supporting communities. Following her participation in two clinical trials using Psilocybin and DMT for depression, Leonie took part in the ACER pilot which offered her a deeply felt experience of connection, belonging and purpose. She has since co-founded the Psychedelic Participants Advocacy Network (PsyPAN) and is also the Community Manager for Alalaho Psychedelic Retreats.
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Ian
SHARING CIRCLE FACILITATOR
Ian has been working in journalism, charity communications and advocacy work for many years, all with the unifying aim of connecting people. Ian’s ongoing personal journey has included being a participant in two psychedelic clinical trials to treat his depression, which inspired him to co-found the Psychedelic Participant Advocacy Network (PsyPAN). His favourite tree is the Yew as it reminds us all to slow down, and to take the time to breathe and live more in harmony with our natural rhythms.
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Claudia
SHARING CIRCLE FACILITATOR
Claudia stands at the crossroads of shamanic energy healing, Jungian dreamwork, psychic development, and psychedelic integration, and is the author of a newsletter called Many-Worlds Vision. Her favorite tree is the Rowan, which has taught her that the wind's assaults can be a gift, helping us root deeper into this Earth, and deeper into the depths of our own hearts.