Adrienne Mitchell
Adrienne was raised in Ipswich, Queensland, where she grew up on a single-parent family farm alongside her mother and Filipino grandparents. From a young age, she learned about tropical and sub-tropical plants through everyday experience, helping to care for fruit trees, orchids, and a range of other sub/tropical species. This early exposure fostered a quiet but steady interest in horticulture, particularly in plants valued within her family’s heritage.
Adrienne’s journey with teacher plants began somewhat unexpectedly in 2011 at the age of 21. At a crossroads in her academic path and contemplating a return to university to study microbiology, she instead embarked on a trip to Peru with her partner at the time, a journey which proved to be profoundly transformative. While travelling through the northern Amazonian regions, they stopped over in the town of Iquitos where a spontaneous invitation led them to participate in an Ayahuasca retreat with the Shipibo people. At the time, her familiarity with psychedelics was nescient, but the experience was life-changing and sparked a new-found curiosity, respect and connection with plant medicines.
Since then, she has gradually expanded her knowledge and practical experience, maintaining and propagating a personal collection of ethnobotanical plants, including but not limited to P. viridis aka “Chakruna”, B. caapi aka “Ayahuasca” and various mescaline-containing cacti such as San Pedro and Peyote. Over the years, she’s also had experience in supporting others, informally providing guidance and support to friends exploring psychedelics and volunteering in harm reduction roles at festivals like Esoteric, Rainbow Serpent, Tanglewood and ConFest. She has also contributed to DanceWize Victoria, providing harm reduction education, monitoring psychedelic experiences and assisting at-risk individuals in collaboration with first aid teams.
Currently residing in Melbourne, Adrienne is completing her Honours in the Bachelor of Biomedicine (Psychology major) at the University of Melbourne. She is an active member of the Australasian Research Group on Psychedelic Science headed by Dr. Paul Liknaitzky of the Clinical Psychedelic Lab at Monash University and Dr. Vince Polito of Macquarie University. With aspirations to pursue a PhD in psychedelic research, Adrienne remains dedicated to working with entheogenic plants and psychedelics both therapeutically and academically. Ultimately she hopes to combine traditional knowledge, lived experience and scientific inquiry to foster a more informed, respectful and connected culture surrounding plant medicines.
